#dm'ing

a dm’s worst fear is the pcs taking the plot where you don’t want it to go, or where you haven’t planned it to go. the instinct to “railroad” (force players onto a certain path) is strong but one of the worst things you can do - dnd is about the players’ story and choices, and taking this away from them negates the fun of the game.

improv is scary, but it doesn’t have to be! because of this i decided to put together this short guide on how best to deal with improv in your games.

leave space in your plot

the easiest way to deal with something is, naturally, prevention. if you’re terrified of having to deal with improv in your game, make sure the plot you write has space for things to develop and change in your game. if you want to set your party off on a quest out of town but are worried they won’t take the bait, set up multiple pathways to this outcome - say you want the pcs to go out of town to catch some bandits: you could introduce an npc whose relative has been taken by the bandits, or a guardsman who is putting up wanted posters for the bandits, or even a girl who says her dog ran off right to where the bandits are camping. this way, if your party refuse to speak to that Very Important npc you still have other options to advance the plot.

in my very first campaign, i needed the party to go a guard’s house to start a quest. in order to push this but not railroad, i created two stems the pc could take: upon entering town, they would see two npcs they could wish to help out, each who would eventually lead them to that house. they weren’t very detailed, just barebones in case i needed to use them. if they didn’t approach either of the npcs, i had a planned encounter where the guard stepped into town and gave a big speech and explicitly called upon the party for help. this allowed the plot to still develop even when it wasn’t going according to plan.

take opportunities

when things don’t go the way you planned, take advantage of the new opportunities you are presented with. if your pcs are spending more time with a random npc than a plot-relevant npc, tie the random one into your story - maybe they are the next victim of x’s master plan, or they happen to know information that will help the party. if the party goes a different way than you want them to, move around events and adjust them according to setting - the preacher they were going to meet in the town square to give them a prophecy now turns into a drunkard in a tavern who tells the party all the gossip he hears.

in the campaign i’m playing right now, our party ended up killing an npc and setting fire to his hut. his companion, in her grief, set off lightning strikes that scorched our hometown and killed everyone in it. when talking to the dm, i found out she never planned for that npc to die - the scorching was planned, but she had originally wanted a band of humans to come and set fire to the town while we were at the npc’s hut. but, once we killed the guy, she saw an opportunity and took it: she followed the exact same plot, but adjusted details to tie it into our choices.

speed up plot where necessary

if you’re in a situation where you have nothing for the pcs to do, speeding up your plot is a good way to ensure your party is never bored and always have something to do. for example, if a player decides to search an npc’s house and you have nothing planned for that, pull a revelation/piece of information you planned to explain later down the line and use it here. you want to reward your players for taking initative and being active, so make sure their choices don’t result in nothing. if they have decided to eavesdrop on a conversation because they thought the npcs were suspicion, use this as an opportunity to advance the plot - perhaps down the line you were going to unveil one of those as a traitor: do it now! perhaps you were going to involve them in the plot in a few sessions: do it now! 

you will, of course, have to then rearrange your plot to account for these moved details, but it ensures you are not struggling to come out with a brand new thing for your players to do/experience. 

conclusions

tl;dr summary:

- plan multiple pathways so you have more than one way to lead the party into the plot

- take opportunities that arise from the player’s actions to introduce new elements to the plot

- reveal plot elements early if you are afraid of improv’d scenes getting too stale/boring

Art by: Pauline Aillet

Name: Zrinka Cerny Race: Hill Dwarf Gender: Female Height: 4ft 2’ / 1.27m Age: 343 Class: Druid

Level: 8

AC 10 (16 with Bark skin), Hp 73 (8d8 Hit Die), Proficiency+3, Speed 25ft,

Alignment: Chaotic Good

languages: Common, Dwarven, Druidic,

Ability Scores: Str 12 (+1) 10 Dex  (+0) Con 16 (+3) Int 12 (+1) Wis 20 (+5) Cha 10 (+0)

Attacks: Sickle (+9 to hit, 1d4+1 Slashing damage)

Spellcasting: 8th level Druid, spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 16, to hit with spell attacks +8)

Spells: Cantrips (at will): Druidcraft, Frostbite, Produce Flame, Thorn Whip,

1st level (4 slots): Beast Bond, Cure Wounds, Longstrider, Speak with Animals,

2nd level (3 slots): Dust Devil, Heat Metal,

3rd level (3 slots): Bark Skin, Conjure Animals, Plant Growth, Speak with Plants, Spider Climb,

4th level (2 slots): Giant Insect, Ice Storm,

Skills: Animal Handling, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Perception

Equipment: Sickle, Backpack, a bedroll, a mess kit, a tinderbox, 10 torches, 10 days of rations,a waterskin, 50ft hemp rope,

Racial Traits: Darkvision (60ft / 18m / 12sqr), Dwarven Resilience, Stonecunning, Dwarven Toughness,

Class Features: Spellcasting, Wild Shape, Druid Circle (Circle of the Land),

PERSONALITY:

Zrinka Cerny Is a Elderly Dwarven druid who spends her days tending for the forest, she occasionally acts as a guide to individuals who require such help. Zrinka Is known for her curmudgeonly manner but despite this grumpy demeanor she’s more than willing to help those in need.

Ideal: A balance needs to be struck between nature and civilization. I prefer nature.

Bond: A blight is tainting the forest, I must find the course and revolve the matter for the sake of the forest.

1. The necromancer’s home, which had the door and windows hidden by illusion magic. (Took them 35 minutes of game time to actually try touching the walls and seeing if it was really all stone.)

2. The poison sentient vine quicksand. (nearly killed the sorcerer and the ranger, took them 20 minutes to get out of.)