Building Your Foundations

So, you've got the plans made, you're the Dungeon Master, you've got some time to prepare, and some map pieces already made up. But where to begin?

Some Dungeon Masters usually like starting things off in a tavern, but feel free to be creative. Perhaps they were escorting a caravan, and have just arrived in a town(maybe they see something happen and rush to do something about it). Maybe they were all gathered by a local noble for a task, and await his audience. Maybe they've been gathered from a prison, and are offered freedom in exchange for recovering an artifact.

But what motivates your players? Do they seek fame? Wealth? A position of power? Or do they just want to slay themselves some monsters?

Introducing organizations in the game world with their own objectives and goals can help your players set their own goals. Perhaps they decide to eradicate the Black Claw Mercs, a small outfit of Lizardmen and Half-Orcs who take any job, no questions asked. Or perhaps they may want to join and rise to the top of the Black Claws; Either way, it helps them feel like they're making a presence. Say they wipe out the Black Claw mercs to protect a small town mayor they were sent to kill. The corrupt noble who hired the Black Claws may attempt a reprisal, or perhaps another mercenary outfit decides that they like the player's bravado and offer them membership in the Red Blades. Possibilities exist as far as you can imagine.

Say you want to lead the characters to a specific point, but you don't want to drag them by the nose. You can tailor certain encounters to make them interested. A band of players who likes the idea of being mercenaries for hire may be swayed by a stranger showing up and offering them a job with a bag of gold or of precious stones as a down payment. Maybe a wounded soldier riding into town and reporting bandits having kidnapped the Duke's daughter will stir a compassionate party. Reports coming in of a terrifying fire-breathing beast will surely draw in a party interested in a good fight. But in the end, your knowledge of your players will help far more than anything I can suggest in an article.

Next time, I'll explain a bit more about NPC design, and handy tricks for making up memorable characters on short notice, and on the spot.