This session went by quickly! It was also a great example of a session where you shouldn't prep too hard. The session started on a cliffhanger, the players waiting to fight a stone construct. I had ideas of how the players would survive but I didn't plan for a real fight.
One player had a strong idea of how she would overcome the threat; something rooted in character backstory. I rolled with it, the fight never happened.
Roleplaying interactions in a session is important to me. I want it to be fun for players, I want the details to be interesting and I want to encourage players to take part in further roleplaying. I don't worry about whether a fight is avoided or overcome without dice, as long as it makes some sense.
A lot of the remainder of this session was about that same character's backstory being explained to the other PCs, giving them the opportunity to learn more about their world and their companion. It wasn't entirely comfortable and has introduced a lot of new elements into the world. This had been secret up until this time, between me as DM and the player. There's a lot of potential for hard feelings and drama in a situation like this, but I am once again blown away by my group. They are very mature and understanding individuals in and out of game. They took the revelations in stride, committed to moving forward.
A new thing that I worry about after last session is the volume of background material that a player has access to. I have 4 very creative players. Each of them has a pretty standard D&D character with a story behind it. Because of the way the narrative has grown, 1 player has an extensive family history reaching back around a thousand years, establishing a relationship that allows her to utilize powerful technology.
So I've got a choice here about how much players can affect this world we share. I'm going to say 'yes'. In this case, I'm going to say 'yes' to the other players coming up with cool fantastical background details for their characters. We might end up with all of our PCs being the scions of noble houses, capable of calling upon ancient compacts. Or not.
But instead of worrying about balance, I'm going to encourage the players to have fun and describe the way their characters inhabit the world. The best story experiences that I can think of encourage the players to have rich histories and connections to the world. We know where one character has come from; for the rest, there's no limits to the imagination!
One player had a strong idea of how she would overcome the threat; something rooted in character backstory. I rolled with it, the fight never happened.
Roleplaying interactions in a session is important to me. I want it to be fun for players, I want the details to be interesting and I want to encourage players to take part in further roleplaying. I don't worry about whether a fight is avoided or overcome without dice, as long as it makes some sense.
A lot of the remainder of this session was about that same character's backstory being explained to the other PCs, giving them the opportunity to learn more about their world and their companion. It wasn't entirely comfortable and has introduced a lot of new elements into the world. This had been secret up until this time, between me as DM and the player. There's a lot of potential for hard feelings and drama in a situation like this, but I am once again blown away by my group. They are very mature and understanding individuals in and out of game. They took the revelations in stride, committed to moving forward.
A new thing that I worry about after last session is the volume of background material that a player has access to. I have 4 very creative players. Each of them has a pretty standard D&D character with a story behind it. Because of the way the narrative has grown, 1 player has an extensive family history reaching back around a thousand years, establishing a relationship that allows her to utilize powerful technology.
So I've got a choice here about how much players can affect this world we share. I'm going to say 'yes'. In this case, I'm going to say 'yes' to the other players coming up with cool fantastical background details for their characters. We might end up with all of our PCs being the scions of noble houses, capable of calling upon ancient compacts. Or not.
But instead of worrying about balance, I'm going to encourage the players to have fun and describe the way their characters inhabit the world. The best story experiences that I can think of encourage the players to have rich histories and connections to the world. We know where one character has come from; for the rest, there's no limits to the imagination!
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