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unicyclehippo · 2 years

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Ollie!! hi! I followed you for your writing (mint, btw 👌🏻) but have noticed your DMing and wanted to ask for some advice. I am also a writer/storyteller but new to DMing — do you have any tips or resources to make a rich, enjoyable world? I can come up with lore all day long but find I struggle a little with translating this into useable content for my budding game.

i don’t have heaps of advice since im not super confident in my DMing in general but i guess communication is always key to me. i tend to ask my players what they want to do, see, & have. at first i thought that it wouldn’t be fun for them if they knew what was coming but if i keep my questions vague, they give meaningful suggestions & i can create something that will be fun for them.

for example, at the end of some sessions or even during, i will remind them of a bunch of little threads they could follow & they can choose what to pick up on according to what seems the most important to them. i will ask them if there’s anything they want or that would make the game more fun. i ask them what they want for their character & tailor things to support that. one of my players has been consistently asking NPCs about them feywild & looking for information, so right now i am focusing my attention on that, coming up with adventure hooks & important NPCs that might be able to get them there or information surrounding it.

i would say making sure my players have fun is my number one priority, but consequences are a really exciting idea for me too. we are playing in a world where arcane magic is forbidden so an extra little worry for the players is - can anyone see me if i cast this spell? who in this tavern would report us to the townsguard if i said something wrong or they saw my wizard hat? the tension of that has raised some interesting things in game—blackmail, secrecy, caution, fear, mistrust— & it is set to ramp up when the consequences grow more & more dire (something that i Have talked to my players about with regards to comfort levels re: talking about/“witnessing” some of the more brutal consequences)

i think what i am getting at is that we tie worldbuilding to character in order to make it feel real & interesting. you can describe a town top to bottom but the really interesting things should be tied to character, & tied to another character & another, until it all feels solidly linked. for example

Party visits the bartender for information on the string of disappearing horses. Bartender Varrelyn the half elf points them to a slumped figure in the corner, Captain Lugg, who isn’t investigating shit because she’s weeping into her tankard that her girlfriend left her. Once she’s been sobered up, or given another drink, she says she’s pretty sure it’s just the farmers wanting to make the Crown pay for their horses and they’re not missing at all but if they’re really interested they can talk to Grunch Goretusk - nicer than the name suggests - at the Goretusk farm tomorrow because she’s supposed to do it but she’ll have a hell of a headache. Now you know that the captain is a lush, and lazy, & the farmers of the surrounding area are either prone to trickery and theft of their own animals OR that’s just what the guard wants to think so they don’t have to do their job. And you haven’t even left the tavern yet! In my mind, it all comes back to character. To people.

Sorry if this wasn’t helpful? Just. Communication with your players and tie things to what they want to do. Don’t let them have whatever they want (i say, immensely guilty of this) but link things to their interests and goals and they will want to uncover things

#dnd tag

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