As Yan says, I had maybe 2 player jumping the rails so to speak and seeing a US Air Force space ship crashed on their fantasy world was one of them.

As for derailing the plot… It’s rarely major most of the time it’s some minor detail. Although, Phil once thrown at us the equivalent of nuke and we just walk bye as if nothing had happen. It was a kind of spaceship in a fantasy game we where playing with GURPS at the time.

Although I am still curious-you said your players “rarely” derail the plot, not “never.” Can you think of an example of when they did, and how you handled it given how much you prep?

I’m still relatively new to DnD in general, much less DMing (I think the combined experience of my players outstrips mine by 50 to 1), so I don’t know if the “fail to prep too hard” is actually my style, or my fallback as I’m still figuring out how to handle things.

I’ll tell you what, I’ve learned an awful lot about communication in the past year or so just by running DnD
.-= Jenny Snyder´s last blog ..A word from our sponser… =-.

@Jenny: Ahhhh, I was waiting for the ‘but I don’t prep as much’ answer! I’m glad you did.

My short answer to your question is: My player rarely if ever derail the plot. Mostly because they had a hand in influencing the story leading to the scenes I create. Mostly because they trust me.

Longer answer will partly be in tomorrow’s post title “Do you try too much?” but it comes down to the way my brain is wired… I have a LOT of ideas, many of them I find would be great at the table, if I don’t put them down in an orderly fashion, they become jumble and a mess at the table.

So brain wiring, DMing style and personal preference come in play here…

So prepping a formal plan helps me a lot.

Also, lets not confuse elaborate prepping with railroading Sandboxing can be highly prep-intensive for some.

Generally, though, I find the “less is more” approach to be best for me. I have a general idea of what’s going on in game (sort of like remembering the plot of a book, you have the major events pretty cemented in your head as you read). I have some random notes I’ve taken that I occasionally review to mine for ideas. But I mostly let my players dictate direction and content.

This requires more improvisation skills than even I have. Fortunately, between the six of us, we manage to cover the improvisation bases. My most favorite line as a DM has become “You tell me.”

As in, my player asks, “Have I ever been to this brothel before?” It wasn’t something I had considered, and rather than dictate to him, I let him dictate the story to me. So yes, he had been there before (and thus earned the title of “Best Paladin Ever!”), I gave him some diplomacy bonuses for dealing with the madam, and they managed to find the information they were looking for in a way that was enhanced because it became their story, instead of my story that they get the honor of participating in.

It’s just funny to me, that you put all this elaborate attention to detail into your prep, and I mostly just wing it. How do you handle when players wholly derail your plot?
.-= Jenny Snyder´s last blog ..A word from our sponser… =-.

The adventure plan approach allows to focus on getting your core game ready as fast as possible. Take one solid idea that survives in your mind intact more than one day (I call this the anti ADD ‘sleep on it’ method) and build your adventure plan around that.

Then focus on elements that will give you a complete adventure… then if you have time ask yourself ‘What cool stuff can I add’ and ‘How can they make sense in the structure I built’

You’d be surprised how much crazy stuff you can add to an adventure.

Hope that helps

Is this what you refer to as “getting lost in the details”? I’d be happy to set my fragile ideas aside, so as not to break them, except that I’m starting a new adventure soon and so many ideas are up in the air that I’m afraid it lacks focus (i.e. a middle, and an end.)

Probably too many questions for a simple comment. Thanks for the article, though. I’ll see if I can put those templates to use.

@BG: One Note is perfect for adventure notes. You can copy paste anything in them, including stat blocs from any available monster maker (including WotC’s)
.-= ChattyDM´s last blog ..Chatty’s Tales of the Arabian Nights =-.

I start by compiling a note point list of everything in the adventure ‘script’ then i go through each note point adding in the necessary details. NPC’s, locations, monsters, bad guys, traps, plot hooks and points of interest etc. This takes roughly 1-2 hours for a 3-5 hour game, depending on how my brain is firing on the day. After this i let my brain wabder and add in extra details and twists as they come to me, mind you i gather inspiration from the strangest places (a quick example: an economic magazine had an article on the dangers of greed within trading stocks and bam, i have an Archdevil of greed that lures people into deals to good to be true.)

On a side note, my group and i hate Dungeon Crawls, the time it consumes to move through a dungeon is way too long and any type of random encounter bores my PC’s to death. They expect every combat to be crucial to the story and have a Micheal Bay-esque feel to it, . Large Explosions, giant robots, scantily clad women, you know the type, hahaha.

Thanks Chatty

Scott