For weeks I have had anxiety about running my first 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game. I’ve been playing since 1978, but this system is so unlike any previous edition. Some of the people I’m running it for will have been playing it since it was released, so they’ll be better versed with the rules than I am. Because I’m runnnig the game at open public events and not for a home group, I also have to use the rules as written, and not house rule or fudge things. It’s been intimidating.
This required a change of perpective. Even though I don’t know the rules well, I am an experienced game master. I’ve been running games since before some of these folks were born (get off my lawn). I can play to that strength. I need to view the fact that players will know the rules better than I do as an advantage, and tap them as a resource. I realized that I can still fudge the rules on my side of the screen, and just not let the players know I’m faking it. And finally, I can always fall back on the old Gary Gygax quote about the great secret being that we don’t really need rules.
Here’s my five-part plan to prep the game without knowing what I’m doing. I think this advice works just as well for new gamemasters as well as old grognards trying to grasp the intricacies of a new system.
1. Start with the story
Forget about the mechanics all together and flesh out what the goal for the adventure is, and what obstacles the player will face. When you plot out the story, you’ll figure out what locations, flavor text, NPCs and monsters you’ll need.
2. Plan the encounters
Look up the monsters, write up the NPCs, create maps, write descriptions and flavor text. Don’t pull together or create more than the bare minimum you’ll need. Then think of any loose ends in each encounter, where the players might decide to go and what they might decide to do, and sew them up. This doesn’t mean that you need to figure out how to railroad the players, it means you need to prepare yourself for how they might go off your script.
3. Figure out what rules you need
As you know how each encounter will go, you only need to learn how that combat or Skill Challenge works, and what abilities the monsters or NPCs will be using. You don’t need to know every single ability the monster or NPC has, only what Daily Power, Encounter Power, or At-Will power they will be using for that single encounter. Check each encounter for loose ends again, and plot for contingencies in case the players swerve.
4. Make players responsible for their own rules
Before a game session, I give new players and people using pre-generated characters a few minutes to look up their abilities and how they work. They’re the ones who will be using the Feats and Powers, so it’s to their advantage to know what they can do.
If a player character has a Power you’re not familiar with, when the player declares they’re using it just ask them how it works. If it needs to be looked up, make them look it up. State that their character is now holding action, and move on to the next person in initiative order. When that player’s ready, let them jump in and explain their action. It prevents the game from grinding to a complete halt while the rules are looked up. If they take to long to find the actual rule, make a ruling and fake it and tell them you’ll use the real rule next time. If you have to make a ruling, make sure it’s fair and possibly favors the player, so no one feels penalized for being unprepared. The idea is to have fun, not make people feel stupid.
5. Fake it
You can never plot for every contingency, every plot hole you’ve overlooked, every bizarre player action, every creative use of a Feat or Power. At some point, you’ll just need to wing it. If you’ve thought through the first four steps, however, you’ll be on solid ground and shouldn’t have to improvise too much. Which leads to my Seekret Guideline Number 6:
6. Always have a monster in the wings
When in doubt, something attacks the party. Something big. Something unexpected, but something that somehow fits in with the rest of the adventure. Act like it was a planned encounter. Plot stalls? Monster attack. Player characters wandering off course? Monster attack. Have no idea how to answer the player’s question? Monster attack.
My experience with 4E was one of relief, not anxiety. Part of it was that we were playtesting the rules for our group, and so everyone was new, but a lot of it was that I took a very similar approach to what you’ve outlined. I plotted out my adventures, grabbed the monsters, I needed, and ran with it. This is as opposed to my old approach to running D&D 3.x, which was “plan everything … and then plan some more!”.
I’ve since come to realize this was a flaw in my DM style. Or if not a flaw, then a quirk that wasn’t sustainable into my mid-30s.
I don’t remember if Monster Manual 3 retained this when they rearranged stat blocks, but I liked how they gave you example encounter groups. Want to include a goblin warband? Ok, you get 4 goblins and a worg. Done.
Sure, I could have done it on my own, but it was nice having those groups of monsters ready to run. Combined with the new “all in one” statblock format and the treasure bundles, early 4E made encounter planning a dream.
I don’t know if it’s held up or not. I know that 4E ran into some design issues with solo monsters as you got to higher levels, and more classes acquired interrupt powers that shut down the big bads. In the early days though it was a hell of a lot of fun for me to GM.
Posted by Ken Newquist | November 28, 2011, 11:01 am