I just want to mention that dm preparation can look very different than what bufo bufo does. (Which I appreciate, her adventures are great)
What I usually do is take one quest from any computer game you played and take that as the thread that leads this adventure. And then let chaos lead from there.
I am still very much interested in any tips I can get (though probably more interested in oneshots since I donāt plan to start a campaign), it really just comes down to the date you have in mind and if I can make time on that date
I would say dungeoncrawl is the thing I would benefit from the most since I have no idea how to do those. Friday 2nd would work, Sunday 11th not unfortunately
Since DM chat seems to be much in demand around here, if anybody wants to talk DMing or other RPG stuff, Iāll be hanging out in front of the Parliament building at 6 today and going for a little stroll afterwards. If anybody wants to come - or is going anyway and wants to meet up - drop me a line, although Iām afraid my useful advice will be limited to āThink about what a DM is before looking for tips on minor detailsā, āScrew your stupid set pieces,ā and āJust do it.ā
When? On a VALUE friday or some other day in my lair.
What I will play? You can choose:
A Most Potent Brew (A nice, little T1 beginnerās adventure with an alchemistās dungeon that offers a lot of options for cool homebrew mechanics - pun intended )
Death House (Yes, that one. That classic dungeon crawl from Curse of Strahd).
White Plume Mountain (An old schoon dungeon crawl for T2 or T3 characters, unforgiving and deadly, but in my opinion also a good introduction into that style of play - bear in mind that those dungeons are often too big to be run in a single session, this one most likely takes three - but multi-session games are quite common at VALUE)
Donāt Say Vecna (A T4 adventure for those who like an introduction into high-level DnD and want to see various ways of making fun and challenging encounters at these levels)
Or maybe something else? Going to prepare the Tarrasque Task of Moreen Trask soon (T2).
Some things I can tell you about:
Combat encounter design, monster design and balancing
How to make rulings and how to apply the rule of cool
Resurrecting this thread as finally my calendar clears and we have a date:
When? 12th May at 1200 (Sunday afternoon) - likely to be Sagewerks
What will I prep Sit in on my prep for the next VALUE session, see my process and ask any questions you like.
This would be me taking a new written adventure, working through it to set up for the session, see how I do it, what I prepare for, how I plan to manage time, etc. Happy to run through it in a ābackstage viewā way and talk through what I would see as the edges and corners to watch and answer any questions you might have.
If folk are interested, I will run another DM prep workshop/clinic.
When/where? 4th Jan at 1200 (Sat afternoon) at Sagewerks - Iāll be there ~2 hours, you do not have to be there for all of it.
What will I cover Session zero, pacing a session, managing combat, making combat interesting and general DMāing issues. Happy to take any questions you might have
Happy to talk through either campaign or session set up and what I would see as the edges and corners to watch and answer any questions you might have.