Questions tagged [story]
For questions about the sequence of events that take place in the fictional environment within a roleplaying game.
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In the final act, how to drop clues without causing players to feel "cheated" they didn't find them sooner?
I'm a bit of an "on the fly" GM: in terms of writing a story, I prefer to sketch out the skeleton, and add flesh as the players move along the limbs. The quest to find the Plot Device, at ...
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How to describe a scene that a small creature chop a large creature's head off?
So let's assume a halfling (small size) wielding a Vorpal dagger attacking a storm giant (huge size), and the Vorpal ability gets triggered.
As a DM, how should I describe this scene? Would the dagger ...
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Pulp campaign - end game?
I've seen "pulp" used more and more to describe the opposite of the cataclysmic trope whereby a campaign has arch-villains threatening to destroy the world. It's not hard to see what a lot ...
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Need help writing an ending for one of my player's characters [closed]
DM'ing a game where one of my players wanted to play a custom warlock with a demonic arm. I came up with a subclass that would fit the backstory, which was that the character went to hell and a demon ...
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When should I tell my players that they have forgotten something?
My players have been operating out of a certain small town for my whole campaign. They've adventured around the area nearby quite a bit already (just finished Session 23).
Recently, my intended ...
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How to arbitrate climactic moments in which characters might achieve something extraordinary?
A common plot point throughout the kinds of fantasy literature that inspire D&D settings can be described as a central character growing beyond themselves, reaching a previously unknown peak of ...
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Possible steps for a ritual to darken the sun [closed]
I'm DMing for a group, and the campaign will soon move on into homebrew (started with a slightly tweaked Lost Mines of Phandelver, and a homebrew adventure from the internet will follow). I wanted to ...
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How do I put my own twist on prewritten adventures [closed]
I am a new DM, and I am quite good at running encounters, making interesting environments to explore and creating compelling NPCs. I struggle with the storytelling aspects of the game. I know the ...
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How can I convince evil characters to save the world?
I made a homebrew campaign with some friends and gave them a more or less summary of what was to be expected of it. When they turned in their characters, all of them were either neutral or evil.
If ...
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Good detectible magic sensor for low-level players [closed]
I'm planning a campaign in which the players stop a goblinoid host led by a wizard. The plan is for the players to help stop the host along with other conscripted adventurers. Along the way, however, ...
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How to manage both high-strategy and combat encounters? [closed]
New poster here, so any help is appreciated.
As a DM, I have 2 main groups of players in my game; the ones who like very, very high strategy (as in commanding armies on the battlefield), and the ones ...
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What was this RPG from the 1980s that incorporated plot points and a flowchart?
I remember seeing some years ago a game aid chart from a game or supplement that made me think it was published in the 1980s or early 90s. It used something it called drama / story / plot points and ...
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What would be some good monsters to stalk the party like the Nemesis in Resident Evil? [closed]
As the question states, I’m looking for a monster that can stalk the party for the latter half of a campaign I’m running. They are only level 3-4 so it would have to be something way too strong to ...
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How to get my players to open an iron flask [closed]
So my players have just found an iron flask and inside is a Lich. The Lich is going to be the next main plot driving component and I need the players to open it in order to begin this phase. How do I ...
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How does a low Strength stat translate into the narrative?
I'm having trouble with something. In a ADnD 2e campaign how should a low Strength translate into the narrative/roleplay of the campaign? It's easy to figure out how high Strength would work when ...
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How might investigating a prison break be accomplished? [closed]
I can't think of a way to concisely fit my entire question in the title, but here goes.
I'm currently running Dark Heresy 2e for my group, as my second time GMing a game (the first time was short-...
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How can I handle a PC wanting to be a "twist" villain?
My group has been following a premade campaign that has a decentralized plot structure that relies mainly on adventurers "finding their own adventure". This means that while the campaign ...
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Is there need for messengers in DnD 5e, if spell Sending exists?
In my campaign (DnD 5e) I would like to send players on a quest to save a kidnapped person. The person has high value information. He/she was ambushed and taken prisoner.
My question is: is there a ...
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Campaign in already existing world and story - fear of NPC domination
I am attempting to create a campaign utilizing a setting and lore from an already established series, World of Warcraft, but I fear my players may feel their story and characters overshadowed by this ...
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Preparing for so many quests on Dragon of Icespire peak
I am about to start Dragon of Icespire peak, and I'm a bit uncertain on how I should prepare for it: I read Slyflourish's tips for DoIP, and I'm aware of some of its pitfalls, including low leveled ...
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Mind-maps conventions, best practices and approaches
I encountered this issue when prepping for a big arc in my campaign, let me explain:
The players are entering a place where there are three main factions (A B C) and possibly minor ones (D E). The ...
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How do I get players to care about the Lost Mines of Phandelver adventure? [closed]
I'm going to be running LMoP with a group mostly new to D&D. How can I get them to care about the hook enough to be interested in the story? I tried it previously with another group, but they just ...
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How to deal with tension created between characters after role-play session?
I am the DM for a long running game, we are going on 2 years, and while there was a rough start and a few changed characters, we have been in a good place. There was a Tiefling Barbarian (original), ...
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How do I continue to progress the plot if the party kills the giants in chapter 10 of Storm King's Thunder?
The following question contains major spoilers for the Storm King's Thunder campaign.
I'm currently running Storm King's Thunder for my party. This is for a home game (not Adventurers League). I just ...
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As a DM, how can I ensure that everyone feels involved when only a single player is driving the story?
I've ran into a bit of a dilemma with a 5e campaign that's soon coming to a close. It's been running for about a year, and one of the primary goals that I had when I started the campaign was to focus ...
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How can a GM continue to progress the campaign if the player characters cause a plot-critical item or NPC to be lost/killed? [duplicate]
I'm not familiar with role-playing games so apologies if this question is poorly worded.
As an example of what I'm thinking of, suppose the player characters are on a ship, which capsizes. While ...
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What makes a convincing mafia? [closed]
I am currently in the process of creating my own world, in a Victorian Era/Industrial Revolution/Steam Age setting. It's not overly steampunk but light elements of it are acceptable, as well as some ...
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For the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist adventure, can the season be chosen at a later point in the story?
In Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, it says you have to choose the season at the outset. Is it possible to choose it at a later part in the story? Or is it possible for the players to wait for a specific ...
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Using Causal Influence Diagrams for Plots and Quests [closed]
I'm analysing the possible outcomes of certain plots in my campaign. At some point I realised that keeping the possible causes and effects in purely text form was inconvenient. Luckily, thanks to an ...
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One shot - how important is a happy ending? [closed]
I’m drafting a one-shot D&D/Pathfinder concept and the more time I spend writing it, the more I feel like the prospect of a downer ending is inevitable.
The story concept revolves around someone ...
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How do I as a player encourage the DM to add better drama?
My DM is running the Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage campaign, which is notoriously catering to murder-hoboism. We have currently went from level 1 to level 9 over 12 weeks. This quickly went off ...
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Is this a plot hole in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure?
I'm DM'ing for the first time with a group playing for the first time (Table of Noobs). In the 1st chapter of Lost Mine of Phandelver, the characters come across dead horses, are attacked by goblins, ...
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How do I plan sessions that are still fun even if they don't move the plot forward?
I'm fairly new to DMing, but I really enjoy it. My campaign is still pretty early in, and plot is moving forward pretty well; last session actually revealed a huge chuck of the relevant current events....
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How to include real presents as end-of-session loot? [closed]
I'm DMing one shot for my little sister's birthday with my family. I had the idea that at the end of the game, we can give her presents to her similarly to how I usually give players a reward at the ...
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How do I develop my character's story without spoiling myself on what's about to happen? [closed]
Today, at the table, we reached a point where we have no more goals in sight, and need to think of how we continue the game from this point onward. We are all level 6.
The problem I'm facing here is ...
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3
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How to keep players on the plot? [closed]
I'm a new GM and am having problems with a particular character in my campaign. The character is very impulsive. I really like the character and tried building the world around the way they play. I ...
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What is a good storytelling way to change a characters class? [closed]
So let's say I am playing a bard.
But now my bard is level 7 and I would like to change the class because I'm just not feeling it anymore. Now I want to play the same character. I still want the ...
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Is it feasible to let a newcomer play the "Gandalf"-like figure I created for my campaign?
I'm writing and DMing a campaign based around members of a nonprofit organization in a province of a decaying empire undergoing a civil war.
The premise
The player characters are new members of the ...
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First time PCs and Information Gathering - should we have done more?
My party and I are all beginners in the RP world. We've started playing vanilla Pathfinder a while ago, and have come across some issues with gameplay. Our DM, who's also relatively new, has been ...
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How do I reduce plot stalling in a collaborative roleplaying game?
My first attempt at running a session of Storybrewers' game Good Society completely stalled out in terms of plot. Good Society is a collaborative storytelling-style game. The facilitator's role is ...
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How can I convince my players that this evil character is good for the duration of the campaign until the big reveal?
There is an NPC that I want to introduce soon, but I don’t want the PCs to be suspicious of her until a later big reveal that she is a major villain.
The NPC
My game has a woman who is a noblewoman. ...
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What's the earliest instance of a "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" reference to beholders?
Is there any recorded use of the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" being used in a commercially available D&D campaign or any rulebook of any edition, specifically to reference (...
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Can I make an object, so that when the characters touch it they are teleported somewhere else?
I want it so I can teleport characters to the top of a tower in D&D 5e. They will then battle their way down the tower. My idea is that they touch an object and it teleports them there. Is this a ...
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As DM, how do I deal with PCs that expect everything in the game to be relevant to the story?
I've started DMing a new group. We've only had two short, 2hour sessions, and most players are new to DnD. I've been a DM before (though just a dozen or so sessions) but in those cases it was with a ...
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How do I make a player feel important when their skills don't affect the campaign? [closed]
You know how sometimes a character takes Dwarvish as their second language but you have no dwarves in your campaign? Or a Cleric specializes in killing undead when your campaign revolves around ...
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1
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Planned action encounters in town [closed]
I'm presently running a campaign in a custom sci-fi universe (using Chaosium's BRP system as a ruleset) and my party have just finished getting through the equivalent of what in a fantasy game would ...
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Is an unlikely coincidence bad storytelling?
I am the DM in a fairly new d&d 5e campaign. In it is a kobold barbarian who was once a dragon-shield in a now destroyed tribe. The black dragon wyrmling the tribe worshiped/protected is presumed ...
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Prematurely arrested players [closed]
In short, I have 2 players that had stolen some valued items that were crafty in how they would avoid leaving a trail (changing clothes, altering directions via water). Im happy to reward their ...
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What story arcs does the Tomb of Annihilation adventure (as written) fail to resolve?
I have been brought in as a substitute DM to finish the last 2-3 episodes of an almost eight month campaign of Tomb of Annihilation spanning over 30 sessions. (I was chosen to help maintain continuity ...
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How to tell a story where the players do not come out on top [closed]
I have been GMing a game for a few months now and all in all it has been a ton of fun. My party has just gotten done closing down a portal to Limbo that was being held open by a death slaad and ...
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