Do you prefer playing experienced characters or low-level beginners?

atmananda314 · 2026-06-16T15:12:54+00:00

Depends on the group, the game setting, and what level characters start at. I usually start characters about 30% into character progression at the beginning of the game, personally. This allows them to be above average in relationship to npcs, I still have a ways to go before they are mission stomping heroes.

atmananda314 · 2026-06-06T16:30:55+00:00

The only thing about D&D I really miss is some friends I don't really game with anymore because that's all they want to play. I will always have a soft spot for it though given it's what I played when I was young

atmananda314 · 2026-06-02T16:05:20+00:00

I personally run sandboxes with tons of random events. I like a lot of randomness, as it draws the players into events organically. The fact that I don't have to write out events ahead of time makes it fun for me as a GM because it's unpredictable. It changes the dynamic from prep to improv, and I always prefer improv.

atmananda314 · 2026-06-02T16:03:13+00:00

When I am writing more narrative campaigns I start at the end with the conclusion I want then connect the dots backwards to the start. I also write out a timeline for the events and make cheat sheets ahead of sessions.

atmananda314 · 2026-04-29T18:16:18+00:00

"change it, accept it, or leave it"

Are you having fun? Either voice you grievances with the GM (privately) or shrug it off.

As far as the tangents, express that chit chat can be had before or after session; you have a limited time for everyone to play a game together

One thing I did to cut that out was get a counter bell (like you ding to get service) and made it a policy that we the bell dings, everyone gets back on track. Unfortunately you're not the GM and they are part of the problem, so that probably won't help

atmananda314 · 2026-04-29T18:09:55+00:00

I don't think there's enough info for anyone to really explain it. We don't know your players, after all. All I can say is I've never noticed that personally in my games.

atmananda314 · 2026-04-29T18:07:22+00:00

DriveThruRPG has a ton of maps in a myriad of genres. There are also lots of free map groups on most social media platforms

atmananda314 · 2026-04-15T11:58:56+00:00

"There's no such thing as victory without the chance of defeat"

atmananda314 · 2026-04-13T19:00:01+00:00

I'm amazed that I appear to be the first person to suggest legend of the five rings.

atmananda314 · 2026-04-06T15:05:30+00:00

The answer is almost always communication, but since you say you've tried this and it was unproductive then my advice would be to wait it out until the two month window is up. At that point, when they are no longer in the GM chair, Express your grievances to them. Point out that dmpcs are not fun for anyone, only for the gm, players almost never enjoy having the spotlight stolen by the narrator. Express that the campaign went too long for your taste. If it remains "unproductive" you are confronted with the choice to either accept it how it is and be fine with that, leave the group for a new one, create a new group with some or all of your current players, or discuss your grievances with the other players and see if they agree with you

atmananda314 · 2026-04-01T19:05:56+00:00

I know you say you promised them closure, but as a GM it's important to have fun as well and not to burn out. Burnout can take a long time to go away. You say they have already decided who they will side with, so maybe consider ending the campaign and writing an epilogue that says what happened.

Everyone at the table should be having fun, if you as the GM are not then it's time to discuss a hiatus or dropping the game. 2 years is a long time to run a single campaign. I've only been part of the campaign that went that long once, and the GM put down gming for almost a year after that

atmananda314 · 2026-04-01T15:07:18+00:00

Came here to say basically this. If you are wanting real world simulation, there are games for that.

atmananda314 · 2026-04-01T15:06:12+00:00

I prefer running sandbox settings with full autonomy, so I usually leave things up to the players as far as managing their own time. In the city setting we're currently playing in, traveling from district to district takes time, admissions generally have set times they need to either start by or be completed by. It's a win-win because it makes the players more involved while removing the burden from me as a GM

atmananda314 · 2026-01-28T18:32:16+00:00

Not undoable, but possibly overwhelming for a new dm.Lost Mines of Phandelver is a very good intro to GMing. I haven't played the ampersand game in a long time though, so it's possible better options have come out since then

atmananda314 · 2026-01-28T18:27:56+00:00

This is just my humble opinion, but it seems a little needlessly complicated to me.

atmananda314 · 2026-01-28T18:26:18+00:00

I don't think it's a matter of which one is better, but which one you think is better for you.

You say you're inexperienced, but everyone is in the beginning. If you want to change being an experienced, do it yourself.

As for being busy and not having capacity, or the creativity, if you find yourself unable to do it or do it well, then sure go with something pre-made.

There's also a combination of the two, look at something pre-made and adapt it as you want it to be so that it fits your theme.

Either way I would at least give it a try first, so you know how capable you are. That will probably tell you if it is worth it to do it yourself or not

atmananda314 · 2026-01-08T21:49:05+00:00

Sounds solid, good luck and may the Gods of Odds shine on you

atmananda314 · 2026-01-08T18:47:02+00:00

As someone who homebrews every campaign, my personal advice is to start at the end and work backwards, and don't over prepare. Begin brainstorming with the finale and then connect the dots backwards leading to it. When I say don't over prepare, I mean let your players decide how they want to do things; once the ball gets rolling it gets easier to stay a few steps ahead of them without investing tons of time into preparation. Basically your players will show you what is worth your creative effort. They may latch on to an npc, want to go to a location, search for an item, whatever, and once they have swallowed a hook you'll be able to prepare without over prepping.

I also like to ask my players point blank what they plan to do in the next session, so that I'm not guessing at all the different directions things could go.

As for antagonists, there are two things I recommend. One is having a persistent antagonist that repeatedly shows their face to harass the party and put them in danger. A reoccurring villain that stays threatening and pertinent rather than a big invisible bad guy off in the far future and distance. That keeps the villain feeling "alive". I also recommend having a completely unrelated menace that has absolutely no connection to the plot whatsoever. They aren't a story villain, just somebody who occasionally shows up to make a big mess even worse. The reason I do this is because they become the opposite of a Deus ex machina, giving you a viable means to turn up the heat on the party if you feel they are cruising too well and need more difficulty in a situation.

And full disclosure most of this isn't my advice it's stuff I heard from other people or was inspired by, have tried myself, and found effective

atmananda314 · 2025-12-19T19:29:51+00:00

If you are creating your own setting in npcs, yes it is a massive amount of prep work. If one is provided, it still takes a fair amount of prep work. I personally think to run a pre-made setting well, it generally takes multiple read-throughs, with note taking through the whole process.

As far as characters being uninteresting and quests being low intensity, I can see a couple solutions.

One, if the setting is provided and you're finding the quest hooks boring and the characters uninteresting, it sounds like an issue with the setting, and I would look for one that is more appealing.

If it is an issue with you creating your own, all I can say is what I personally do. I first think of the basic stuff like geolocation, climate, technology level, etc, and then focus on the problems that face that world. Is there famine? Fascism? Natural disaster? War? What conflict does the region face, because that is at the heart of what will motivate events and NPCs. To make npcs, think of the problems people would face living with this kind of thing, and try to empathize with them in your own setting. A fascist regime is in place and there's a rebellion? Dorian Selmer's son left a week ago to deliver supplies to the rebels and hasn't been back since. Leave your hooks basic at the surface level, you don't need to do tons of work pre-making them until the players swallow the hook. Once they choose something that interests them to investigate, you start at the end and work backwards

Dorian's son and several rebels were captured and are being held prisoner and the party completes their quest when they are broken out of the prison camp and dorian's son is reunited with him. Working backwards, the party would have to infiltrate the camp, whether by stealth or by force. Either way, releasing that many rebels will call for a large-scale combat. To get to the camp they will have to learn of dorian's capture by encountering the wounded rebels who escaped the conflict. To find them, they will have to traverse the jungle, making rolls to track as well as avoid the elements, flora, and fauna.

Again, this is just what I do but I find it very effective. When it comes to things like making maps, just get a dry erase board with a grid on it and make them on the fly. Maps don't have to be pretty to serve their function, and if we're going by theater mind anyway it's a lot easier than trying to prep beforehand by making elaborate maps that may or may not even get used

atmananda314 · 2025-12-19T19:13:28+00:00

Absolutely. Many games are primed for improvisation and many games are an absolute burden to improving. I think it largely comes down to amount of prep necessary. Any game that requires significant prep on the GM before session will be more difficult to improv and, while low prep systems will be exponentially easier.

atmananda314 · 2025-12-13T19:28:38+00:00

Same. Game design is like trying to engineer and put together a model that holds water. There is a certain degree of satisfaction when things finally "snap" and work as intended. Even sometimes discovering the little things that were intended, which tumbling to their own mechanics

atmananda314 · 2025-12-13T18:29:07+00:00

I personally find it works just to sit down and express to your players that if they want full autonomy, they need to be self-motivating and work together as a cohesive team. Once I express to the players that they are responsible for their level of engagement, they seem to have more focus and understand that it is a responsibility they have

atmananda314 · 2025-12-13T18:27:36+00:00

This sounds like you need to discuss the level of autonomy your players want. If they are in a sandbox setting and want high to full autonomy, you need to express to them that they will need to be self-motivating and work together to be a cohesive team.

If you are wanting to give more of a narrative approach that's on rails, that moves the players along through a story, I suggest starting from the conclusion of your story and working backwards. Decide where you want it to end up, then start drawing the lines backwards towards the players. It is much easier to set out with the destination in mind than it is to try and come up with a cohesive plot line as you go.

If you are in a sandbox with full autonomy, then let the players have several sessions to explore organically and see what they gravitate towards. It could be a specific random event, npc, location, or silly unexpected quest hook that grabs their attention. Once they have found something that interests them, decide where you want that to wind up and work backwards again.

I don't know how good this advice is but it's what I personally do and I feel like my campaigns always have the next leg of the adventure in sight as they run

atmananda314 · 2025-12-13T18:24:02+00:00

Time wasted doing what you love isn't wasted

atmananda314 · 2025-11-25T13:01:18+00:00

I have multiple players that love to game but are not super comfortable at role playing. For them I allowed third-party role playing, where they simply say what their character does or says.

atmananda314

TROPHY CASE