I was talking to one of my friends about D&D recently. I told him about how I aimed to keep everything as open as possible (aka decisions that matter and the ability to go in any route so long as the players are aware of the consequences) and that, as a result, I can never plan maybe more than three-to-five battles at a time. The way he reacted to it, I think, sums up the workload in a word.
"That's insanity."
After taking the time to DM, if you're not using a pre-made setting or following a pre-written scripted adventure, the workload is... daunting. If you're making up your own setting, there's world-building which includes but is not limited to: cities, landmarks, continents, countries and their borders, population, demographic, factions and probably a whole lot more I missed.
If you're making your own adventure or even your own campaign, it becomes a writing exercise; at least that's how it was for me. For my campaign I wrote a very general outline, with a definite beginning point and a vague-ish goal: to collect several weapons that were used to defeat an ancient evil. It gave me a lot of leeway for what will happen inbetween, but I'm not entirely sure what the endgame will be because of all the variables.
So as a result, I generally never know what's going to happen two or three sessions in the future. I leave a lot of what I plan blank to allow for player creativity/choice. Same goes with my world-building; I center my attention on wherever the players are at currently, mostly to better their experience but also to avoid getting burned if the group somehow stops playing.
I'm hoping that's not the case, but... I've been burned enough to not keep my hopes up.
Regardless, I still really enjoy creating worlds and sharing it with people. I'm still planning on making those short stories about the player companions, despite my not-so-great writing skills. I've had a lot on my mind recently, though, but hopefully they'll be up sometime before this challenge is over.
In the meantime, transform and ROLL OUT. /baddicepuns
Eric
"That's insanity."
After taking the time to DM, if you're not using a pre-made setting or following a pre-written scripted adventure, the workload is... daunting. If you're making up your own setting, there's world-building which includes but is not limited to: cities, landmarks, continents, countries and their borders, population, demographic, factions and probably a whole lot more I missed.
If you're making your own adventure or even your own campaign, it becomes a writing exercise; at least that's how it was for me. For my campaign I wrote a very general outline, with a definite beginning point and a vague-ish goal: to collect several weapons that were used to defeat an ancient evil. It gave me a lot of leeway for what will happen inbetween, but I'm not entirely sure what the endgame will be because of all the variables.
So as a result, I generally never know what's going to happen two or three sessions in the future. I leave a lot of what I plan blank to allow for player creativity/choice. Same goes with my world-building; I center my attention on wherever the players are at currently, mostly to better their experience but also to avoid getting burned if the group somehow stops playing.
I'm hoping that's not the case, but... I've been burned enough to not keep my hopes up.
Regardless, I still really enjoy creating worlds and sharing it with people. I'm still planning on making those short stories about the player companions, despite my not-so-great writing skills. I've had a lot on my mind recently, though, but hopefully they'll be up sometime before this challenge is over.
In the meantime, transform and ROLL OUT. /baddicepuns
Eric
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