Reddit guide to political capaigns

https://www.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/9ldeo3/how_to_run_a_political_campaign/?utm_source=reddit-android

Creating interesting combat

Combat can be fun, but if you do the same thing over and over again it gets tedious.

Try the following items to shake things up.

• Everyone has an objective, total annihilation of your opponent rarely is the real one
• Very few creatures will actually suicidally fight until they are dead or their opponent is dead. They will often flee when it looks like they don't have the advantage
• Fight for something. Maybe you are just trying to steal something and get out, or just assassinate one of many characters.
• Have some dynamic locations, maybe a rolling ship or a place that has moving mine carts or lava flows.
• Have the battlefield change somehow during the fight. Maybe a wall falls down that suddenly has a lot of men with guns on the other side. Maybe a super powerful cannon is revealed halfway through that changes the tactics
• Give environmental hazards. It makes combat a lot more interesting when you are trying to knock each other off of airship platforms than just trying to club each other over the head. This gives you a chance to use special rules like grappling or pushing

Encounter structure

Every encounter needs
1. A hook or motovation
2. A finish line or ending condition. Not necessarily the how. This is The dramatic question that the PCs need to answer.
3. A structure to know how to meet the condition.
4. One or more decision points

For combat this is all pretty easy. But for other types it is a bit harder to come up with.

You need to create decision points. The more decision points The more significant the encounter. One decision point and two to three dice rolls make a simple encounter.

For example, deciding to chase the bad guy or try to take a shortcut to intercept the bad guy is one choice. Chain a few together to make it interesting.

The decision on whether or not to pick a lock is not a decision point it is just an obstacle.

Example
Johnny Barbarian and Jimmy Bard need to free a damsel from the ogre at the bottom of the cave.

Dramatic question: can the PCs rescue the damsel before the ogre eats her tonight. The encounter will end if the woman is free.

Hook: The village chieftain will make the PCs official councilman if they can reduce his daughter from the Ogre. They start out at the mouth of the cave.

Decision Points: How do they go into the cave to rescue the princess? Of the PCs don't have any ideas then give some background.

There is dry hay going into the cave, it could catch fire but might also cook the captive.

The cave has some rubble over the opening that could be used for a cave in to trap them.

They could always just charge in

They can try and hire a guide to find a back entrance, but that might take more time.

All of test equal ONE question.

Structure
My favorite structure is simple but can be used over and over again. The five node mystery from the alexandrian.

http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/37903/roleplaying-games/5-node-mystery

The basic idea is that you need to follow the three clue rule to make sure that any important piece of information is found and interpreted correctly by the PCs. By presenting three clues in each scene and pointing those scenes at each other, you can create a complete adventure.

Encounter design

Adventures are made up of stringing encounters together. If you want a good adventure, you need good encounters.

It is an easy trap to fall into. For example fighting monsters just because they are there can be fun. But it also can get old fast, especially if there is no real reason why you are fighting.

The Angry GM has four tips to make encounters not suck.
http://theangrygm.com/four-things-youve-never-heard-of-that-make-encounters-not-suck/

1. At the start of each encounter ask yourself a dramatic question that the PCs don't necessarily know the outcome to.

For example, can they defuse the bomb before it goes off? Can they escape the cave before the troll finds them? Can they get the suspect to reveal the location of the mob boss hideout?

If the question isn't interesting DONT DO THE ENCOUNTER. If they have to get past a slide don't mistake it the question how can they kill the spider. They are not the same.

2. The encounter requires some sort of opposition to make it interesting. This could be a person, monster, trap, or even the environment.

3. There needs to be some sort of interesting decisions to be made by the PCs. If they run out of practical decisions or if they just keep doing the same thing for no reading then it is time to end it and move on. It is interesting if something changes as a result of the decision.

4. Provide some structure so you know how things are going and how to answer the question. Like tracking distance in a chase scene.

Adventure Design

 It’s okay to plan adventures. It’s okay to wing it. It’s okay to plan the broad strokes, but improvise the individual scenes. It’s okay to plan out the scenes in detail. As long as the players have decisions to make and those decisions carry consequences, it’s completely okay.

From the Angry GM.
http://theangrygm.com/every-adventures-a-dungeon/

Coming up with ideas

How to come up with adventure ideas

Sometimes you run out of ideas and need to come up with something new.

Below are some ideas to help.

Brainstorm Campaign Ideas

Steal shamelessly from media

The obvious: think of cool movies, books and video games you have seen.

Ask the PCs for their ideas.

Image Searches

Do a Google search of images in the genre. I particularly like doing this for fantasy.

Here are some examples after less than five minutes of searching. Each of these would be an awesome part of a DnD or Pathfinder campaign.

Look at the image, then think of what situations would cause to exist. I particularly like the one of the girl and the dragon. Why are they friends. Is she hiding him? Is the dragon hiding her? Is the girl a PC or an NPC? If an NPC how long before they find that the girl is tied to the dragon.

Look at history

An underused well is history. There are so many things that happened in the past that are interesting enough, then add a little bit of supernatural and you can do anything.

I am about to run a mini-campaign about two dangerous lions in 1898 who potentially killed over 100 people. The story is so over the top that it actually became a move staring Val Kilmer. The story is so fantastic that it doesn't even need much embellishment.

Think of one very interesting NPC

NPCs drive your story. They determine the drama and what is available/against the PCs. Think of some very interesting NPCs then create an adventure around them. This is particularly effective if you have the NPCs repeat from week to week.

Change Adventure Type

The same ideas above can also work for adventures. But since adventures work in a smaller scale you also can try to brainstorm based on adventure format. Just like in music there are really only a few rythmns that are just used in various combinations to form an infinite number of songs; there are really only a few adventure types. 

Most GMs only use two or three of these in their campaigns because they know how to do it well. Try branching out and do something different.

Pick a format and see how you can frame it in your campaign.

Investigation and mystery solving

Social interactions (confrontational, persuasive, leadership)

Exploration, discovery, and the unknown

Political situations, dealing with leaders and rulers

“High Action” (chases, bar fights, etc.)

Combat (many small fights, “boss” battles, mass combat)

Infiltration and stealth action

Being heroes vs. being mercenaries vs. being duty-bound

Capers, heists, and other “crime” elements

Having a home base vs. campaign on the road

Interacting with history and historical elements

Responsibility, accountability, repercussions for their actions

Fame, glory, notoriety, acknowledgement

Lone-wolf action vs. team dynamics

Any sort of favorite enemies or the use of a theme enemy

Taken from http://www.rpgalchemy.com/alchemists-guide-to-campaign-design-phase-one/

This is another good list that comes with twists.

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm