Nerds! Assistance please…

As for world building, I basically start from scratch. I made up a map at random and placed a few large cities at random and a few geographic features. This particular map is basically a continent, bordered to the north by ocean, south and west by hostile deserts, and east by mountains. I named the large cities and so far have really only planned out 3 of them. I do that by starting with the political areas, form of government and local power structure. Then I'll map out the cities a bit, and start baking up a handful of characters to really flesh it out. Local history is fun and a good way to introduce lore. The current city in our campaign is called Valport. Because it's a port in a big valley. Things can be as simple or as complex as desired. I have a couple other cities on the map, located on two fingers of a larger peninsula. One of them sits out into the ocean pretty far and is called Watchpoint, the other is slightly lower on the map so I called it Lower. 
 

There are no chickens in this world. They do have what I would describe as plump iguanas with useless wings that fill the same roll, as food and a source of eggs. For all intents and purposes, they are chickens, but they're not chickens. They are called draggins and are the closest anyone has ever seen to a mythical dragon, "Those are made up creatures for children's stories." Never mind that they will later be a part of the deep lore I'm still working on. For now it's just fun. 
 

Mostly I'm sharing all this to help anyone looking for ideas or wondering how to get started. I really like playing, but I prefer seeing my worlds come alive, seeing how other people interact with these things I've created. If you've ever played a ttrpg, and wondered what it would be like to run one, go for it. It's super fun. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

I've learned I do best keeping my scope very limited. I'd been making my own setting that was all going to take place in one valley, but ended up having two players drop (one because life was busy; the other because - despite my campaign primer - he thought it was going to be more Planescape and less freaky fairytale horror mashup).

I've since switched to using the campaign creation system out of the FATE Core book. It's a collaborative system that the players do about half the setting creation work. I love that this means my world creation job is easier, the world includes ideas from players that I wouldn't have thought of, and my players have a better understanding of and investment in the world than if I just handed them some document.

I suspect we may, as a group, have created a house campaign setting. Last campaign was a Steampunk Spaghetti Western. This one is Victorian Pulp set in Prague. Thematically and tonally very different, but could easily be the sort of thing where different locations in a setting have different feels, even if they're the same world.

I've also switched to using Cypher as our primary game system. I much prefer it over 5e. It provides the best balance I've found of narrative flexibility with mechanical specificity. It much easier for me to run and prep for. I can improv enemy stats on the fly rather than having to do a bunch of homework to look up and annotate stats for every monster I might conceivably throw at the party. Adventure prep is a fun creative process, rather than feeling like homework.

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

I'm nervous and excited about next session, because I have NO idea what is going to happen next. The players dug themselves a hole and need to get themselves out of it. I should probably come up with an external force that's going to actively come after them to force them into action.

They have an alchemical man (homunculus - but not in the D&D sense). Only the guy who made it actually knows what it is. Several other groups know they have *something* but don't know what it is. A demon trapped in the basement of the Synagogue off the square where they live can sense its presence, and minor demons summoned by the people trying to free it have started sniffing it out.

Players were hired by the Chinese drug lord. They decided to turn over notes about the process of refining these drugs, but *not* the homunculus itself. They came up with a goofy plan to try to pass off a drugged up shaved cat as the "source" of the drugs, but lost it in a run-in with a pack of elite soldiers (who they don't know were sent by the Captain who the scientist/alchemist was working to develop the drugs for).

Now the Drug Lord has given them 6 hours to bring him the "source" that they lost fighting the soldiers.

I have no idea what the hell they're going to come up with. I want something to push them into action. Maybe the baddies in the Synagogue searching out the homunculus? And/or someone in trouble completely sideways from that situation in need of help that's making things difficult?

Going after the homunculus only works if they head back to their home base. If they start running all over the city, I'm not sure what to throw at them.

Home brew magic item ideas:

1- Homestead Key:

A magic silver key that will open any door and claim the space behind, be it warehouse, dungeon, castle, closet... as a base for whoever uses the key and whoever they allow in. One time use. 
 

Basically like the secret dwelling charm in Harry Potter, except not hidden, just magically locked, and magically contracted ie: a deed appears in whatever local office oversees such things. 
 

-2 Devils Tooth

A cursed clear gem containing a sharp tooth. Magically marks the bearer as hostile to any magical creatures nearby. Indestructible, and must be passed to another living being. 

Another session down and we've run into a common problem for newish groups. One player has kind of taken charge and is pushing hard in a direction that everyone else is too polite to say they are bored with. Essentially he is playing politics and trying to build a business empire while everyone else just wants to go adventuring. 
Now, I'm not a hugely experienced DM. I want all my players to have fun, but I'm more than a little nervous about railroading them. 
I have planted several seeds about different quests and treasures, but apparently not enticing enough. 
Ive thought of having the players kidnapped, and dumped in a strange place,or at least one of them snatched to prompt a rescue mission. Or I've thought about staging an attack on their base that would force them to flee. Or an offer of aide in setting up their empire, in exchange for performing some task for a local power. Essentially I think I need to somehow force them out into the wider world, but without actually forcing them. 
Anyone have any better ideas? 

Tomorrow is game day. I think I have a good solution to my previous dilemma. 

My players started in a large port city. I gave them each a modest 50gp in addition to their starting gear, and one player a small bag of loot from a dragons lair. That player unknowingly used one of the items from his bag to claim ownership of one of the two lighthouses, breaking the spell that kept the thing lit. Also in his dragon bag is a small pouch of money, a cursed gemstone, and a partial clue to a treasure map, which I was hoping would be a good seed to get the party out adventuring with a long term goal.

I was too generous. 
The bard decided he wanted to use the lighthouse as leverage to extort the docks/shipyard. That's the simple version, and my other players were becoming obviously bored with the scheming and politics, but we're too polite to say anything. 
 

My plan:

We left with the party out drinking and thinking they were on their way to power and influence and wealth. Well, they've made themselves a threat to the status quo, and they're about to be mugged. The player/bard cannot make it tomorrow which works well. He's going to be kidnapped and used as bait to get the party out of the city. Meanwhile, the city officials (who generally dislike magic) are going to hire an archmage to move the lighthouse somewhere, leaving the players with a base they'll have to hunt down. This will have several longer plots open up. 
1- They've placed an expensive order for some custom clothes and haven't paid fully, and by skipping town will have a small bounty placed to recover costs incurred. 
2-gotta find the tower, there's valuable stuff and lore there. 
3-The local authorities may hire the party (in the future) to rid them of the archmage who somehow exacted a higher price than anticipated to move the lighthouse. 
 

In the immediate future, the party will have to retrieve their bard from pirates (in the employ of the sailors guild) out at sea I think. Or maybe on a small island. Idk yet. Ample opportunity for a battle or prison break. They've managed to obtain a derelict ship, but it's barely seaworthy... so they are mobile but not very fortified.

As always, I'm open to ideas and suggestions. I don't want to railroad my players, but I can't think of a more likely nudge to get them out in the action. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Wish I'd seen this earlier. Simple answer is to set a guideline that he's free to politic and scheme... during downtime. But group sessions are for group activities, not personal schemes. Then let him create problems that help drive the group.

I would not do the thing of one party member getting kidnapped. Then the player has to sit and wait for the rest of the group to come save them.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Unless said player is unavailable for this session. ;) 
 

I think I will talk with him about scheming and personal vs party stuff. That's a good plan. 
 

Now, I do need to plan for the possibility that the rest of the party doesn't take the bait and abandons him to the mercy of pirates. I think that their leverage will be negated by the dock masters guild deciding to build a new lighthouse rather than paying extortionist fees. My other dilemma is a clue I planted being ignored by a different player. If I can't bait him into revealing his secret stash in the next session or two I may have to find another seed to plant. Easy enough with an NPC I guess. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

If your other players abandon him, you can let him have found a way to escape on his own, or have it turn out that it was a decoy designed to lure the players into a trap.

My experience is that players are really good at missing hints and clues. Or imagining hints and clues where you didn't mean to plant them. Either gotta slap them in the face with something, or go along with what they decided. I've kinda taken the tactic in my current campaign of giving more power to the players and frequently going, "That's not what I'd originally envisioned, but I like your version better."

Prepping my next session, and still not sure what to do. I don't think it's sunk in to my players just yet that, "You have no good options. None of these potential patrons are good people." Even though I have directly told them, "The more powerful an NPC is, chances are, the deeper and more nefarious their schemes are." So they're thinking of double-crossing the Chinese drug lord to sign up for the employ of the military captain... who is basically trying to raise a super-soldier army for Hydra.

Gotta decide what I throw at them to force them to act...

I'm thinking, I've foreshadowed that there are strange beasts that have started sniffing around their lab since they brought the homunculus home. I can make them have to fight their way into their homes to recover it. Then it's a chase across the city to carry it to the new safehouse.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Oh so it's not just my players who miss things and get convinced that every NPC is plot-critical. And here I was starting to think they were all deficient. Except my wife, of course, playing a barbarian, she shouldn't be expected to do much besides hulk-smash anyway. 
That's actually todays homework, figure out what to do if the players abandon the bard. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

It looks like the players are going to take the McGuffin to the one named NPC that they haven't met yet. Who is basically a ranking officer in Hydra.

Never mind that I have repeatedly said, "None of these people are good. The more powerful an NPC is, the more nefarious their schemes are," and told them they are free to spend narrative capital to create their own NPC patron. No? You want to bring the Infinity Stone to Red Skull because you think Yondu is too shady? Okay... that's your choice...

Now I need to decide what kind of despicable tasks he's going to ask them to perform for him.

Since the session is tomorrow, I'm leaning on making the challenge getting the McGuffin out of their lab and out of the city to the Captain's base while another villain tries to take it from them.

(He had one PC's patrons in their backstory murdered horribly, but they don't realize that yet.)

In reply to Beer Baron :

Oh they all like to assume the best. My players are in the largest port city on the continent, which is run entirely by labor unions with no government oversight. They've been shown a friendly outward appearance and seem to have zero idea about corruption, piracy, smuggling, or the black market in a city that "doesn't allow" magic and the powerful make their own rules. 
The note from the kidnappers says the bard is destined to be sold at one of the slave markets in the east. Every single NPC they've met has managed to refuse any questions or help without being bribed, including the crusty old librarians. This is not a wholesome place. 

Game report. The party split. Three ways, out of necessity. I have seven players and only four could be here tonight so I managed a way to make it work and keep the story flowing. 
The party (the 5 that have been in the first two sessions) was out drinking, when two of them decided to leave to see to reigniting the lighthouse they now own, and start some money flowing in. The bard was then kidnapped, and the two remaining decided to make haste and get a rescue mission going. They hired a crew for their new boat and discovered the two new* players below deck (having just walked through a magic door into the ship) and we're able to recognize one character from a previous adventure and join along in the rescue mission. A chase upriver to prevent the bard from being sold at a slave market ended with 6 dead pirates and a very battered bard saved. Also another boat. 
*Theyve been playing with us on the introduction adventure but haven't been able to make the first two sessions of this larger campaign. 

Of note, the Dragonborn used a combination of intimidation and creativity to grab one of the pirates by the shoulders and bbq the dudes face off. One of those things where the rules may have been bent a bit, but it was awesome and he rolled really well so I let it happen. The player is still really new to the game and he was still excited about that when he left. 

We stopped with the party having decided to continue upriver to "buy some chickens" so they have some cargo to sell back where they came from. 
The two who were left behind will have heard about their cohort being taken and hire a boat to follow and hopefully catch up to the rest of the party, which shouldn't be difficult since they've been stationary for half a day fishing corpses from the river so as not to leave a trail. 
They've discovered political corruption and we'll see what they decide to do about it, knowing that at least one of the guilds wants them gone and isn't afraid to play dirty. So next session should see the whole party reunited and I'm excited to see where it goes from here. 

Gonna be a full game tonight. All seven players will be here and provided they don't do something completely unexpected, we may actually get to the first dungeon of the campaign. Or they may try to invade sovereign territory, or fight a sorcerer. Idk. There are two parties of kobolds big enough to give some challenge, livestock to obtain, and an old church graveyard to plunder. What could go wrong?

Canceled the session for the week once again because we couldn't get a quorum of 3/5 players.

I told the group I'm done doing the work of trying to coordinate everyone's schedules. I've got the work load and responsibility of being GM. If they actually care about playing, someone else can step up to do the work of scheduling.

Scheduling is a bitch. I'm pretty lucky to be able to get my 7 players together 2-3 times a month.

I have another week to plan how to cater to a successful gambit from last session. They were supposed to decimate the kobolds and earn the gratitude of a town, instead they managed to fix the kobold issue for the town AND gain an army of loyal kobold followers..

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

I know scheduling is rough and we're all busy adults. I just don't appreciate all that work being on my shoulders in addition to GM'ing.

I've been lucky to get 3/5 players together once a month. I'd like to game about every other week to maintain story momentum.

In reply to Beer Baron :

It's a ton of work. I'd honestly rather just play, but never being able to find a regular group I ended up just having to run my own. It's fun, but it is a lot of work. Takes a lot of the fun out if you have to make a big effort to get other people to come play. It's not fun if it's just work. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

I like playing and GM'ing. I've got another group where I get to just play. That's really nice.

I just want my players to take an active role in making the game fun for everyone and easier on me as the GM.

In the group where I'm a player, I always bring drinks to share, and I've been recording NPC names and locations and keeping a log of treasure for the group to split.

It also really doesn't help that I'm frustrated with the situation at work, and two of my players are the other two founders of the company. We set up what the schedule would be based on what one person (the owner who I'm very frustrated with) said his availability would be, and he's missed most of the sessions at this point.

Looks like I'll have a full group tomorrow. 
The current situation: in an attempt to end a kobold siege on a small river town, my players decided to parlay with the kobolds rather than fight. This led them to seek out the kobold heirloom in a dungeon under the town cemetery and hand it over to the kobold leader in exchange for leaving the town alone. In doing so they earned the loyalty and future aid of the tribe, and the gratitude of the mayor for ending the siege. Win win. Punks evaded most of my traps in the dungeon too. 
I plan to try and bait them into a treasure hunt on a distant island in order to retrieve a legendary love potion for the widowed mayor "and y'all can keep the rest of what you find." Very much like the beginning of Aladdin, except there is no genie and the mayor doesn't have any hidden motives. She just has a hard time getting along with anyone and wants an easy way to attract a wealthy and elderly mate so she can retire in luxury.
 

Anyway. seafaring encounters. This is entirely new to me. My plan is essentially a shark attack on day one, starting with a small number of large sharks that will attempt to leap into the boat or knock players into the water. Being a cheaty and inexperienced DM, I'll just add more sharks until it is a challenging battle. I want to bloody the party, but I don't want to kill them. 
The second day will see the party pursued  by a hostile ship that will keep distance while lobbing flaming arrows and spears in an apparent arson-at-sea attempt. I'm hoping this either provides a challenging puzzle or a sense of urgency, and if they decide to turn and fight, they'll have to chase down a ship that will turn out to be crewed by adolescents just out to cause havoc. We'll see what happens there. If we make it past that, I predict a bad storm that leaves them washed up on the island with a badly damaged boat and a not very friendly but not outright hostile populace. Either way I think we'll graduate to level 3.

If anyone has any suggestions for sea encounters or challenges, I'm all ears. 

In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :

Something or some things that are under the water gnawing on the hull. Not malicious, just hungry. Dealing with them requires going below the water line.

Instead of presenting a threat, present an opportunity -
They see someone putting up a signal for rescue.
They see a giant see turtle (or something sympathetic) being attacked and harassed by sharks or sahuagin or something.
A dolphin (or something obviously friendly) wants to get their attention and lead them somewhere. Make it seem very "Timmy in the well." After leading them to rough terrain, it ends up taking them to a grotto or something where it has errected a statue or found a natural rock formation that is sexually explicit and it is very amused by and wanted to share with someone else. Or there is a really tasty fish that has somehow gotten caught in a tree, and it wants the people with thumbs to lower it down.

Possible complications (inspired by things I've had happen sailing):

High winds in advance of a storm. Have to reef the sails, or the force is liable to snap the mast.

Minor damage to the tiller. Lines down in the hull connecting the helm to tiller have snapped or stretched, and the ship is harder to control. Or maybe a hinge below the water line broke off. Of course something is under the water taking an interest. It is not immediately hostile but overly curious and could be a major threat if it did attack.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Excellent, thanks. Maybe a giant version of those bottom feeding fish people use to clean their tanks... makes the boat seem to pull to one side. If they can't find a way to remove the creature, the extra strain of staying on course may damage the rudder or controls...

barefootskater (Shaun) said:

I've been invited to play a new campaign this weekend and the setting is a bit unconventional. I've been told I can play either a cleric, a bard, or a rogue, but I want something unusual. For reference, one of the paladins in the party knows it's a fantasy rpg and so will be worshipping the DM as his deity. 
I like playing rogues, and I'm hesitant to try the bard thing because this group will likely be super heavy on the "act that E36 M3 out" side of the game. 
So help me come up with a character. I'm thinking with two paladins that covers religion, so I'm leaning more rogue than bard. But like a thief who insists on paying for things (steal some silver but leave a squirrel on a leash...) or something like that. Ready, GO!

I would do a bard that can't sing... because I can't!  it would be hysterical!  Or you could ham it up like in Search for the Holy Grail where the King/Father keeps popping in with "stop that, no singing!"

barefootcyborg5000 said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

Excellent, thanks. Maybe a giant version of those bottom feeding fish people use to clean their tanks... makes the boat seem to pull to one side. If they can't find a way to remove the creature, the extra strain of staying on course may damage the rudder or controls...

At some point, they need to be ambushed by a giant flounder.

That didn't go exactly to plan, but close enough to be called a success. 
 

First, I anticipated more progress. We played almost two hours more than I planned and only made it about 2/3 of where I wanted to end. That's on me. I know these loons. I know they don't play fast. 
 

Second, I'm getting better at speeding along the down time and keeping the story moving. I did this by allowing the party to split. They had just earned the gratitude of a town and wanted to all do different things in celebration. One rogue and the warlock wanted to go thieving, while the fighter and the barbarian wanted to go find a casual brawl, and the other rogue and the wizard wanted to rest and prepare. I gave the thieves some gold, the wizard some supplies and rest, and the rest lost time and then the sun was up. Here you go, let's keep moving. 
 

Third, I'm getting better at reading my players and helping everyone stay interested. Instead of a puzzle, I knew the barbarian was bored so we had a battle instead. During said battle, the bard was feeing useless and vocally complaining about not being able to do anything useful. A bit meta maybe, but a couple nudges towards being a supporting member rather than a frontline fighter helped him see different uses for his skills. The Felis rogue has been feeing almost left out. This one is harder; she's a new player and an immigrant, so there's a bit of a language thing and the mechanics outside of battle seem maybe too loose for her to stay interested, so I've been trying to point out options and interests. She seemed to have more fun tonight, so hopefully I'm doing ok. 
 

They're getting better at just playing without reading too much into nothing and getting bogged down. I'm getting better at speeding things along and making better use of NPCs. I'm also keeping settings a lot simpler than I started out doing. I gave them a few npc sailors to help run the ship and navigate, they were also used to run errands, carry messages, and find resources when the party was trying to keep a low profile in a hostile town. 
A very successful evening. 
 

As for the situation, it's what I expected but not how I expected. We're half a days journey out to sea. Fresh out of a battle with 3 sharks. My warlock saw sharks and immediately attacked. They thought of outs, but only after initiating the fight. So fight they did. We had our first KO, but teamwork pulled off two great rescues. And the finish was epic. Barbarian managed to lasso the last shark and a perfect roll allowed her to string the thing up in the rigging for the last 1hp. That is where we ended. Bloody, tired and wet. Literally, because whenever someone got hit by a shark (don't stand too close to the railing or they'll leap at you) or in the water, I used a spray bottle to make the water real. Right in the face. Except bard, because fresh perm. Also they have two pets in the party, and a fresh shark corpse in the boat. They sent a morbid message/threat to a powerful local leader, made some money, and leveled up! They learned of two subplots, and they're headed somewhere that isn't what they expect at all. Maps call it Winter Island, but everyone knows it as Dead Isle. Ghosts should be fun.