The Campaign Builder's Guild

I completely agree. At one point, I had 4 ongoing notebooks that were (generally) cross-referenced dealing with players/NPC/Items/Locations/Miscellaneous...

Some thing like, "But didn't the blacksmith mention the Scimitar of Kalimar was forged by the dwarfs of Milkome, and then sent to the Wizard Agmomen"

OHhhh...I meant the Wizard of Kalimar created the Dwarfs of Agomen using the Wand of Milkome. And which blacksmith was that again?

I have been thinking about this...and I realize that there could be alot of misinterpretation out there about my comment... (although it's usually from the boneheads).

Let me clarify.

You must know everything about your world, including it's history... At least as far as concerned, your player's questions.

Player's may ask you...Ok, so the bartender's name is Fritz...where does he come from? How long has he been here? Why is the Green Terbitriz the greatest slab of meat in the North?

It sounds foolish, but I can tell you..it could happen.

That's why I recommend that you are well prepared to deal with player's questions and the only way to be ready is to have a fairly well developed "regional" history.

I'm not saying writing a book. Just work everyday on sorting out the "advanced" basics of where your players are located.

In any case...start small and work big.  

NOTE: I am from Bangor, Maine...now that is weird.

Where in Central America? I am in Panama...home to the crossroads of all things esoteric.

Yes to all of the above...pretty much so, anyways.

Basically, it will boil down to how much work you are willing to do and how much you think is necessary for player's enjoyment.

Generally, the more you put in, the more "realistic" things feel to players.

As a starting point, you may want to really flesh out your players histories, which should include family/local stuff. This can really add to possible adventures and develop character's immersion.

As a minimum, you need to work out the 5 basic W's of history of the player's village/town/city. Otherwise, what good is it if you are Shep the farmer, if you don't know his father/mother/neighbors/rulers/local lore/ etc...

I'm not talking about full blown detailing...but the framework to hanging the rest of the player's "knowledge" on. Spending a few hours ahead of time, can lead to literally a "life-time" of player satisfaction...which is the only reason for a GM/DM/referee to exist anyways, correct?

I could blather on for hours...but mainly...keep ahead of your players for a least a month of "game-time" (even better, decades), and keep notes...anything said can easily come back and bite you.

And never forget...the game world does NOT revolve around your players (usually, until way HIGH levels). They are but the flotsam that bounces along the universes history just like all the other DM creations.

With that said, DMing is hard work. Only the best keep players coming back to roost. You are a god, keep that in mind.

Cheers,

PS: Don't take that last comment the wrong way...those of us that have played/run games for years, and years, and years know.

Where does one find these map-programs that everyone is using to make such fine maps.

Well, gonna buy it(them) and see what happens....

I have been thinking about buying that game from Amazon, but I had read a review saying that you need the internet to register or play or something to that affect, my mainframe has no access to the internet, so, there's no way to play? Is that correct?

A quick question...

Ad&d, is that still around or is this all D&D? I've been out of gaming for 10 years now....

10 years ago, I was 32...now I'm 42...and 10 years from now, I'll be 52...ain't that a bitch...roleplaying for 30 years now...that's great. Keep it simple and live longer.

Quote from: persons's name who you are quotingwhatever text you're quoting[/*quote]. Remove the *.

Quote from: LlumWhy did "the entity" only intervene when Salusts blind rage had already gone too far? Why didn't it stop things before they reached the breaking point? Why didn't it kill Salust? For a cosmic entity/deity of balance it doesn't seem to really care about anything more than short term solutions. Why would it leave elves around when some would obviously try to bring Salust back?

You could play on the stereotype of elven longevity here. Maybe all races used to be as long-lived, but the curse cut down their life spans? For an even more sinister twist, you could say that the curse grows more powerful at each passing generation...

2). How does Salust finally figure out how to return to Parinthia, with the help of the Cult of Salust?[/quote]Why does Salust even want to return? More revenge? He doesn't need to do that personally, maybe these elves believe once they cleanse the world of non-elves Salust will raise them up to "heaven" (the moon) to live with him eternally or some junk like that.
[/quote]

Salust, with convoluted logic blames the other races for his loss of "godhood" and being banished to a barren/unfriendly moon...something along the lines of Khan (star trek)

And this is my first run at the quoting part so forgive any technical errors.
That didn't work...

Flexibility is a cornerstone of a good DM

For example, say the thieves guild was starting to establish themselves in the player's hometown and they initially send a low rank guild "boss" with a couple of enforcers. Depending on how the players deal with that, it could lead to a long-term power-play between the guild and the group. In keeping with the future time-line concept, it can already be planned that the thieves HQ intends to send a larger force once the advance party establishes the local guild. Something like that.  

Oh...I had thought that would be easier...like...computer, make that happen...I suck.

Sam was the icon of uber-loyal side-kick and co-protagonist...shame on you.