I confronted a lot of questions I had about my current story and direction in this session.
How do you define a large arc versus a small arc?
Can you delay pressure and conflict once you've built it?
How do you pace a story?
How many characters should be affected by a story arc? A session?
Should one character's background and history define an story? A session?
In short, I had a lot of questions I wanted to address.
The previous few sessions had been very player-driven and role-playing focused. This was coming off of a series of very heavy map-and-mini driven fights that I think got pretty heavy. I have an awesome group of people that I play with that are very creative and interested in role-playing. They build amazing backstories and really get in character. I love it! It also encourages me to say 'yes' and collaborate on the story.
The last few sessions have been focusing on two, maybe even three, out of four characters. This session I tried to balance that out more and get a new story going in the background, something I think will continue on for many sessions and give a new dimension.
I also tried to 'up the stakes' and make the idea of how to challenge a particular area and enemy a little harder. Specifically, the characters want to explore an area controlled by a magical, malevolent darkness. To be able to explore the area, I'm expecting them to find magical artifacts that will help them drive that darkness back.
We also had our first character death, due to a trial by combat against a mind flayer. I had concern about using a monster that included an instant kill attack. In the end, I played through it because I felt like it drove home how dangerous the combat was, the way it depicted the monsters for upcoming stories and to make the characters understand the possibilities for future encounters. I also went with it because I planned to have the very powerful NPC in the encounter resurrect any fallen PCs. This is another way in which I'm very fortunate to have creative, engaged players, because the player in question went with it and even suggested that he'd like some future consequences for the event- some disturbing memories, something like that.
We also got some definite direction for where the next adventure takes place. I like open-world, sandbox games in theory, but I was at a point where I wanted to build some stuff and create some memorable scenes. For me, that means I need some clear direction about where to go and what to do. Really it's because I'm running 2 or more games a week and I need to clear a little space and time for Infinity Tower. I could sandbox and create multiple scenarios, but I'm playing it too fast and loose for that.
My current stable of NPCs was getting overused. Despite the power of the Infinity Tower, I didn't want the Archwizard Faxburn to be the only NPC the characters ever had to interact with. I added in a few more potential NPCs for exotic knowledge, especially divine or religious subjects. I also made it clear that those were not specialties of Faxburn or his library. I want to open things up for some more interactions with exciting, interesting, powerful NPCs.
I'm looking forward to future game sessions giving me new opportunities to craft and explore interesting areas, get in touch with the characters and give players fun new challenges, while developing this larger story that frames all of our future (under current planning) 'Tier 2' play!
Also, as a final DM note, using DNDBeyond for characters and rules is great! Really enjoying this as it launched into full release the day we play! Only one character in the system right now, but it's already super helpful! Now I just need homebrew backgrounds and archetypes for our Gnome Gunslinger!
How do you define a large arc versus a small arc?
Can you delay pressure and conflict once you've built it?
How do you pace a story?
How many characters should be affected by a story arc? A session?
Should one character's background and history define an story? A session?
In short, I had a lot of questions I wanted to address.
The previous few sessions had been very player-driven and role-playing focused. This was coming off of a series of very heavy map-and-mini driven fights that I think got pretty heavy. I have an awesome group of people that I play with that are very creative and interested in role-playing. They build amazing backstories and really get in character. I love it! It also encourages me to say 'yes' and collaborate on the story.
The last few sessions have been focusing on two, maybe even three, out of four characters. This session I tried to balance that out more and get a new story going in the background, something I think will continue on for many sessions and give a new dimension.
I also tried to 'up the stakes' and make the idea of how to challenge a particular area and enemy a little harder. Specifically, the characters want to explore an area controlled by a magical, malevolent darkness. To be able to explore the area, I'm expecting them to find magical artifacts that will help them drive that darkness back.
We also had our first character death, due to a trial by combat against a mind flayer. I had concern about using a monster that included an instant kill attack. In the end, I played through it because I felt like it drove home how dangerous the combat was, the way it depicted the monsters for upcoming stories and to make the characters understand the possibilities for future encounters. I also went with it because I planned to have the very powerful NPC in the encounter resurrect any fallen PCs. This is another way in which I'm very fortunate to have creative, engaged players, because the player in question went with it and even suggested that he'd like some future consequences for the event- some disturbing memories, something like that.
We also got some definite direction for where the next adventure takes place. I like open-world, sandbox games in theory, but I was at a point where I wanted to build some stuff and create some memorable scenes. For me, that means I need some clear direction about where to go and what to do. Really it's because I'm running 2 or more games a week and I need to clear a little space and time for Infinity Tower. I could sandbox and create multiple scenarios, but I'm playing it too fast and loose for that.
My current stable of NPCs was getting overused. Despite the power of the Infinity Tower, I didn't want the Archwizard Faxburn to be the only NPC the characters ever had to interact with. I added in a few more potential NPCs for exotic knowledge, especially divine or religious subjects. I also made it clear that those were not specialties of Faxburn or his library. I want to open things up for some more interactions with exciting, interesting, powerful NPCs.
I'm looking forward to future game sessions giving me new opportunities to craft and explore interesting areas, get in touch with the characters and give players fun new challenges, while developing this larger story that frames all of our future (under current planning) 'Tier 2' play!
Also, as a final DM note, using DNDBeyond for characters and rules is great! Really enjoying this as it launched into full release the day we play! Only one character in the system right now, but it's already super helpful! Now I just need homebrew backgrounds and archetypes for our Gnome Gunslinger!
I have the same problem as Sean currently with getting on dnd beyond. But that will be remedied soon (when I'm not lazy). I also wrote out some backstory for Embers and will send it to you - I know, finally. You've asked me for it ^_^.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to it! Always good to learn more about Embers and flesh out the story! As for DND Beyond, I'm a kid with a new toy. It's cool and I hope everyone gets good use out of it!
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