You can of course plan the big lines of the campaign, but the more precise you get and far ahead of the present, the more you will either lose or railroad to not lose. Both suck
this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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Enlightened DMing is to simply set up all the pieces of the BBEG's plan on the world stage in your head or documents, and throw the players at it. Obviously, ensure that the plan is something the players have enough tools and resources to overcome, and prepare for what their decisions will likely guide them towards in the next session, but...
Any old video game can run you through a story. Few video games give players choices. And no video game can be truly derailed.
Understanding that getting derailed is arguably the entire point of DnD, is DM Ascension.
Getting derailed is easy. Making it fun for everyone DM include is the challenge. That is both a skill, luck, and mental energy that not everyone can or want to put in sometimes.
But I am not agreeing with the point of dnd. The point is the exact same as videogames, other ttrpg games, other TT games period. Having fun. Its really as simple as that. Which is why everyone should aim to do something they have fun with.
Just saying thought. If derailing the DM is the fun of a player, it sounds more like belonging to a horror story.
Yeah, there's a fine line here. The DM improvising something whimsical and funny on the spot can be enjoyable to everyone, but if the party is going out of their way to do their absolute best to derail and force DM to waste any and all prepared material they're just dicks. The DM is still a player in the game doing it have fun too and doesn't owe you a campaign that bends to all whims of the party without restraint.
Also, a good lesson for GMs is to try and write any prepared material in a way that allows it to later be reused if players manage to miss it. Just because the party didn't investigate that one cave with a goblin ambush in it doesn't mean they can't run into a goblin ambush later down the line somewhere entirely different.
Yes and no. Sure recycling is good. I did it as much as I could. But sometimes you tailor make something that would be just as much effort recycling as starting over.
Mostly combat encounters taking the terrain into account. The best sort of combat.