Role-playing Games

Questions tagged [story]

Ask Question

For questions about the sequence of events that take place in the fictional environment within a roleplaying game.

152 questions
Newest
Active
Bountied
Unanswered
Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
13
votes
6answers
338 views

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 ...
8
votes
0answers
301 views

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 ...
2
votes
3answers
179 views

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), ...
18
votes
1answer
4k views

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 ...
15
votes
3answers
800 views

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 ...
9
votes
9answers
3k views

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 ...
3
votes
0answers
103 views

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 ...
3
votes
1answer
189 views

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 ...
0
votes
1answer
156 views

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 ...
8
votes
3answers
239 views

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 ...
3
votes
1answer
456 views

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 ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views

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, ...
14
votes
2answers
507 views

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....
10
votes
0answers
158 views

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 ...
5
votes
2answers
162 views

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 ...
3
votes
3answers
146 views

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 ...
4
votes
0answers
171 views

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 ...
14
votes
4answers
3k views

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 ...
2
votes
2answers
286 views

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 ...
21
votes
3answers
2k views

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 ...
8
votes
12answers
1k views

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. ...
31
votes
3answers
5k views

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 (...
10
votes
5answers
4k views

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 ...
46
votes
8answers
8k views

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 ...
3
votes
3answers
294 views

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 ...
2
votes
1answer
127 views

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 ...
32
votes
5answers
8k views

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 ...
1
vote
0answers
118 views

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 ...
12
votes
1answer
2k views

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 ...
3
votes
0answers
342 views

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 ...
7
votes
1answer
137 views

Are there pitfalls to allowing for a Story with an open ending?

In 7th Sea second edition, I'm working with one of my players on a Story where their character is to retrieve a stolen item of significant value. He hasn't decided what the character wants to do with ...
6
votes
4answers
1k views

A reason someone would not just go to a cleric to resurrect a loved one in D&D? [closed]

I have been working on a scenario to play with a group of friends however I wasn't sure what system we would be using. We decided on 5e D&D but I've run into a problem with the core motivation of ...
1
vote
0answers
149 views

How do I learn to be a GM? [closed]

I have never played Pathfinder before or D&D. My friends and I started a trial run with various characters that they made and I have been directed into the GMing position. Yet I have no idea what ...
4
votes
0answers
436 views

How to teach gamers to roleplay [closed]

My question really boils down to: How do I deal with pc-gamers who want to play my game as if it were a computer game? I ran a game with several gamer friends, who were more or less new to the ...
31
votes
5answers
4k views

Is D&D a suitable tool for fleshing out my own fictional world?

So I've gone around on the web, trying to figure out exactly how D&D works, and still I'm befuddled. Let me first start by stating what exactly it is I'm trying to achieve. So, I'm an aspiring ...
19
votes
6answers
4k views

How to throw off suspicion for the big reveal in a way that it is not unfairly blindsiding them?

In my plot I have a big bad obvious "dark lord" type villain... who is the pawn of the hidden evil mastermind. Basically said mastermind created a threat to ensure that everyone bands together to ...
19
votes
7answers
8k views

How do I keep my players from investing too much time in their doomed characters?

I'm designing a campaign for a group of friends. One of the main plot hooks is a bunch of mercenaries that want to bring them to an oracle which gives them the first indication of the Big Bad. When ...
22
votes
5answers
4k views

How do I reveal the Big Bad only by foreshadowing, without the reveal being too early or late?

What I plan for my campaign is to drop hints about some greater evil, and whenever my players reach the natural point of realization, have them go off on a search to stop it. I wanna do it naturally, ...
3
votes
4answers
407 views

What can I do to give the players more freedom? [closed]

I'm a newish DM playing a fantasy RPG similar do D&D but a lot simpler, either way, it won't matter that much. I'm not very good at improvising yet and if i do it too much it may become a mess ...
9
votes
3answers
553 views

How do I make information that I give my players “accidental”?

I like the idea that the players of my campaign are meddlers. Creatures who have came upon knowledge only by accident or putting their noses where those noses don't belong. The idea that the ...
26
votes
5answers
8k views

Should I let one of my Players control his character's kids?

I have a Player whose character has kids. That's fine with me, the kids that this character has are 23, 24, and 25. The player wants to control the kids of this character whenever they show up. I'm ...
4
votes
1answer
371 views

How can I avoid metagaming and conflicting narratives when presenting parallel stories to the same players?

If you are one of my Players: "Sam, Harlan, Simon or Matt" please do not ready this. I am having the plan to run a side campaign in my World Custom 4e D&D game (Basically skins to replace the ...
20
votes
3answers
3k views

How can I add details to my character mid-campaign? [closed]

I'm very new to Dungeons and Dragons, but when creating my character, I made it part of his backstory that he had a magic amulet that he couldn't take off. It was originally a McGuffin that I used to ...
7
votes
1answer
466 views

The first story arc got too high powered, too fast. Help! [closed]

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but things are complicated! We just finished playing a 3 year long, evil PCs, highly detail oriented, deeply immersive roleplay style game. As the ...
3
votes
0answers
115 views

Help me find a recap of an adventure where different party/same players, visit village [closed]

A couple years back I found a text about a player recapping one of their most memorable pen&paper sessions. I found it in a forum thread where people shared some of their most memorable pen&...
11
votes
3answers
2k views

My PCs are getting distracted from the main storyline, focusing on their own ventures instead

Ok, I say PCs... but I actually mean PC. I am running a 1-player D&D 5e game for a friend (let's call her Jane), as a way of introducing them to the game. It was only meant to be a "non-canon", ...
15
votes
7answers
1k views

How do I correct giving the players too many plot details?

As a beginning DM, I still have to find my way in telling parts of the plot. Twice, I've said things about the plot that I later regretted - once because it wouldn't make sense for the PCs to know ...
102
votes
14answers
14k views

What do you do when your players guess your plots?

So I'm a new GM and am running my first campaign. I'm by no means running a terribly complicated game with Elizabethan parlor intrigue, but I do have a few twists that I'm excited to throw at my ...
29
votes
7answers
5k views

Who gets to write how character backgrounds tie into the game?

One of my player's character is searching for a long-lost brother whom he never knew. Who is ultimately responsible for how this NPC is written into the story? I realize that I am the DM, and ...
35
votes
3answers
6k views

How can I stress my players' resources while making the stressors feel natural without simply adding more combat encounters?

In a weekly campaign I've been running my players have recently reached levels where they are obtaining some of their core abilities. One of my players is a druid, who has chosen the wild shape-...

1
2 3 4