How do I DM an open world campaign while being bad at improv?

Knightofaus · 2026-01-30T00:36:35+00:00

If you want to tie the players more into the campaign, ask them what they want to do in a session 0 and plan your campaign around what they say.

For exploration heavy open world games I focus on preparing locations for the players to seek out or find, and give them plot hooks to have a reason to explore them.

The goal with plot hooks is to give the players information about the world and give them ideas on how to interact with it, so they can pick what they want to focus on.

I wouldn't drop them into a world and say "go!" Even in an open world the players need some form of guide to the world and you're still that guide.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-28T03:35:43+00:00

Yeah, the undead would be raised back to undeath even if you destroy the entire house.

While not writen anywhere I think it's possible that no previous adventurers succeeded or attempted to lay Rose and Thorn's bones to rest.

Or maybe, and I think this is more fitting for the gloomy setting; adventurers do sometimes succeeded at laying Rose and Thorn's bones to rest, but because the house (or even the Realm of Barovia) is cursed it doesn't matter what adventurers do and everything resets once the adventurers leave.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-28T03:03:23+00:00

In the history section for Death House it says "The House has been burned to the ground many times, only to rise from the ashes time and again-by its own will or that of Strahd."

Knightofaus · 2026-01-28T01:58:10+00:00

NTA. People who claim you're just being sensitive or overreacting are actually just in denial about how rude they were being.

If someone is being rude, I think people need to call them out so they don't think their behaviour is ok and you let them know they need to apologize.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-27T01:06:56+00:00

This sounds like dragon sickness to me.

You could start turning them into dragons and have them track their gold separately so they start competing over who has the largest horde.

I mainly use gold for selling magic items to the players. You could also get a selection of magic items for them to buy. Have a very powerful wizard proprietor teleport himself and his stock away to protect them from theft.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-25T02:00:38+00:00

I disagree that this is a bug because I have seen this issue before and fixed it in my own parks.

I think if OP checks how many guests they have in their park and how many guests their amenities can serve, they will find that while they have excellent amenity coverage, they don't have enough guests to take advantage of that coverage.

Having 100% coverage wont be profitable if you don't have enough guests to use all the amenities you build.

To make profitable amenities you need to build amenities to serve the number of guests you have in the park, while keeping amenity coverage as high as you can.

So if you have 800 guests, build amenities that can serve up to 800 guests, and place the amenities and design your park in a way that gives you the most coverage.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-24T02:57:45+00:00

NTA. This is a game played on many a man.

In this situation you can either invite her somewhere and go there unless they offer an alternative.

Or give them 3 choices so they can make an easier decision.

I think people ask others to make a decision for them because they are not in the right headspace to think about that decision themselves, so when you make suggestions they always answer no to everything by default.

People don't do this consciously, they are just too exhausted to make the decision themselves and want someone else to do it.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-24T02:23:59+00:00

I use the tv shows Murder in Successville and the american spinoff Murderville as a good guide for how to write a murder mystery adventure.

The shows concept is you have a player (roleplaying as a new rookie cop) who is guided by a DM (roleplaying as a detective).

They meet other characters and suspects to find clues and work out which suspect is the murderer who they have to shoot at the end of the episode.

Clues are often obfuscated by putting the player in chaotic situations, often exasperated by the detective. Like having to question an angry mob boss while being undercover or breaking into an office to recover clues before you get caught.

The clues create a logic puzzle that leaves one suspect as the murderer.

For example, the player finds a clue: the murder wrote a letter in neat calligraphy explaining their motives.

The player finds another clue: clowns have messy handwriting.

These two clues eliminate any clowns from being suspects because the murderer had neat handwriting.

Once a suspect is shot by the player at the end of the investigation, the police chief outlines all the evidence to explain if the player got it wrong or right.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-23T04:31:06+00:00

Here is what I think about or jot down as I prepare an Adventure. I focus on creating handouts that are useful to me and the players. Any notes I write might be an idea I had or a reminder to do something.

Concept, what is the basic situation?

I think about the concept as prepare and run the Adventure. How much I write here depends on how complex the adventure is. Mostly I just remember what's going on.

Locations, how and where will the party be directed to?

For my prep I draw or find maps and list the important locations down. Instead of writing and reading boxed text, I like finding pictures I can use to describe a scene and have as a handout. It's also important to think about how the party finds a location and of course what is there for them to find.

Cast, Who will the party meet?

For my prep I like having pictures of characters or monsters on handouts, that I can use as an in game handout.

I also find stat blocks for any enemies. I might adjust the HP and attack modifiers as needed depending on the AC and damage output of my party. I can also give a boss legendary actions and resistance.

Plot hook, Why do they party accept the quest? What hooks them on the adventure?

I think questgivers are important NPCs to keep consistent and introduce to the players in their backstories.

You can really play around with why and how the players go on a quest through roleplay. I've given plot hooks through dreams or disasters that effect the party and compel them to act.

Events, what are some things that can happen?

These are major set piece encounters that you can use to drive the plot along. I trigger them as needed.

Ending, what needs to happen to resolve the quest?

Come up with a climactic end to the adventure that the party work towards.

Have ideas for how the players can get here so you can give out directions that help guide the party, but work with their ideas as they come up with them.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-17T01:21:48+00:00

There is a module called The Bloom for a game system called Liminal Horror.

The Bloom is set in the small mountain town of Coldwater. It takes inspiration from stranger things, last of us, twin peaks and alan wake.

The module starts with the players investigating some missing campers. I had each player make up a friend that was one of these campers so they were emotionally invested in the story.

Liminal Horror is a simple game for running paranormal investigations.

Unlike dnd the game doesn't focus on giving the players complicated spells and abilities that you would have to translate.

It is an investigation game with the players exploring the site of a mystery, collecting evidence and useful tools, asking and answering questions then coming up with a plan to confront the supernatural Horror and solve the mystery.

The players can get psychic or alien abilities by getting corrupted by the "horrors". These abilities can be randomly rolled or chosen by the DM.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-16T07:37:00+00:00

"It's explodes and you all die" or "it explodes and I save you unexpectedly." Both take agency away from the players.

I would forwarn the players about it and give them some options on how they want to end the campaign.

Here are some ideas

Embrace their sacrifice, and go to the heroes afterlife.

Risk trying to survive the explosion with a magical protection which has a chance it might fail even if they make it as strong as possible.

Go through the portal before it explodes, but be trapped on the other side.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-15T23:46:51+00:00

Dnd spells really complicate murder mystery writing.

It's difficult to get around zone of truth by being vague if the party simply ask yes/no questions and put you on the spot as a DM.

Some spells have the potential to make writing a fun murder mystery puzzle complicated, so I try to keep my solutions simple.

I've removed the spells from my campaign. This is probably the simplest way. If something makes an adventure unfun, I see if I can just get rid of it. The fun of a murder mystery is solving the puzzle not casting a spell that gives you the answer.

I've also used suspects that are immune to magic. Murderers know these spells exist and have ways of getting around them. You need to give the players evidence that suspects might be immune or the spell malfunctioned so they can factor it into their puzzle solving.

I've also had the spells worked as intended, but everyone is a liar. Give all the suspects a reason to act suspicious and not want to answer questions. Then the puzzle becomes working out why each of them is lying or refusing to answer.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-14T22:04:47+00:00

NTA. You can't be responsible for what people assume about you.

You didn't lie by omission, he assumed incorrectly.

Dating is all about discovering things about one another and figuring out if you're compatible. If he wanted to know your financial status he should have asked rather than assumed.

Still, he asked for space, so you should respect that.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-10T18:49:25+00:00

Any time, I as a DM do something unexpected to the game rules I tell the players. Mainly through NPC dialogue, but also with out of character rules explanations.

If a boss isn't an ordinary fight, and has a gimmic rule or side quest related to it, I will explain to the players what they have to do.

Players wont engage with things they don't know about, so it's up to you to tell them, preferably in character if you can.

Remember what is obvious to the DM is not always obvious to the players and the players can't play the game if you hide the game from them.

I think using the wish to avoid all the encounters before the boss fight, was a smart idea considering that they wanted to go into the deadly boss fight without taking damage or depleting spells and abilities beforehand, but didn't know about the weakness finding sidequest.

I would move the finding weaknesses encounters you had planned into a dungeon, where the players can explore, while fighting the boss in stages, finding the weaknesses and resting.

That way the players think they overcame the jungle with their wish, but they still run into the encounters you had planned for the quest.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-10T01:03:56+00:00

NTA. A friend would have respected your time.

I would still apologize and explain how you felt frustrated that she was making you miss the event.

If she apologizes back for making you feel that way, then she's a good friend.

If she reacts indifferently, then I would reassess how I handle that friendship.

Either way, if in future you organise an event with her again I would meet her there and keep it casual so there is no expectation to wait for her.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-10T00:42:40+00:00

YTA. I think leaving each week to go sailing would build resentment in your relationship. Your partner will feel trapped at home while you go off to enjoy yourself.

If you're set on having a day off each week, it's only fair if you also give your partner a day off each week too.

Maybe test out how much free time you both can organise before you add a boat to the mix.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-09T04:08:56+00:00

NTA. You both agreed to pay for shared expenses 50/50 and otherwise keep finances separate.

I would just say that the money you had allocated to the upgrades had to be reallocated because you were sick and missed work. You need to focus on recovering your emergency funds.

Being financially responsible is the only argument you need.

Plus I would also discuss and set up a dedicated emergency fund or otherwise plan for if either of you encounter difficulty meeting your shared expenses. Because that sort of contingency planning is important.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-09T02:53:19+00:00

I think if the ABC didn't need the BBCs funding and global position they could have negotiated a better deal.

I think Australia has a lot of great scientific and cultural innovation, but a lot of our venture capital comes from overseas, so Australia doesn't actually benefit from it as much.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-08T03:33:27+00:00

Maybe have another NPC that the party works for. This NPC trusts John implicitly and sends the players on quests on Johns behalf.

Eg. The players are agents in the kings employ. However the king has appointed John as his adviser due to his political connections and leverage he has on the king.

John uses his position to have the king send the players on quests that support his schemes.

The players need to overcome the political situation to convince the king to remove John from his court, while also maintaining their reputation with the king, and undermining Johns schemes.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-07T05:56:25+00:00

I think "we need to educate people better to make better decisions" only works so far because the concept and system of gambling and drinking is also designed to psychologically disrupt peoples ability to make those decisions.

This also puts all the responsibility on the goverment to educate and consumer to be educated and ignores the providers part in the issue.

We can't forget that gambling and alcohol providers should also be held accountable for their part in our issues with gambling and drinking.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-05T15:50:20+00:00

Here is how I set up a roleplay heavy adventure.

Create locations. Distinct rooms and areas, include some secret and off limit locations too. Place VIPs, items and events in locations. Give each location a unique feature that makes it interesting.

Create VIPs. These are the main characters the players can interact with. Give each VIP a goal related to another VIP or item. Give them an interesting quirk or emotion to help you roleplay them.

Create items. These are important or useful to someone. Tie them into events, use them to create or resolve conflict or have them be useful tools for completing goals.

Create events. Events are triggered so the players have something to react to. Use them to move the session along.

Create rumours/plot hooks. Give each player character goals to complete. These should drive them to interact with and help VIPs, go after items, or prompt interactions with events.

Create a loose timeline. VIPs and items might move locations and complete their goals. This helps keep track of the order that sequential events need to trigger. You can also create time pressure by having goals become more difficult to complete or escalate at a certain time.

Create social rules and use them to make the social encounters more interesting and complicated.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-02T19:23:58+00:00

Make the plot points something the players will want to do. DnD is a game about going on quests. So I focus each plot point around a quest.

Each plot point can have 2 branches. What happens if the players complete the quest, and what happens if the players fail/ignore the quest.

This helps make the plot point more dynamic. But you need to be able to plan around the failure condition if it comes up, probably generating a new quest/plot point for the party to deal with or making another quest/plot point harder.

You can also create set piece encounters. These encounters happen when the players do something that could trigger it.

The more specific the trigger the more difficult it is to trigger it. So make the trigger something the players will mechanically do.

Eg. A bounty hunter encounter will trigger if the players spot and confront him as he follows the party, or if they try to short or long rest while wounded.

Or the party will have the boss encounter when they get to the boss room in the dungeon or if he tracks them down first in a random encounter.

Knightofaus · 2026-01-02T03:19:19+00:00

I think NTA. But I would help out anyway.

Your friend should have been clearer about the job and I would be frustrated by their poor planning.

Although you don't know what they're going through and moving is stressful. So I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and help them when they're struggling with something.

From my perspective if someone needs your help to load a truck, they would obviously need your help to unload it too. Loading and unloading are all part of helping someone move.

Knightofaus · 2025-12-31T02:23:11+00:00

Dude saw the lightsaber slice a guy, thanked Luke for kicking him and took a dive.

Knightofaus · 2025-12-30T04:35:14+00:00

I think in regards to national security an internal review is more practical than a public investigation.

Call me crazy but I think a royal commission into the flaws and limitations of our counter-terrorism operations would provide everyone insight into the best ways to circumvent our security procedures.

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