I'm new to GMing and RPGs in general, but I'm willing to start a complete campaign after a few sessions with the intro adventures. I'm thinking of using The Enemy Within as a story guide and replace/convert NPC to 3e.

The thing that's really unclear for me is how do I prepare for the story driven part. Do I read the whole book for the campaign and take extensive notes - I'm sure I will forget a lot if I get to read it all at once, even with notes I'm afraid it would still be overwhelming - and even then would the notes be enough? Do I break it into chunks of a session size and read each one thoroughly a couple of times? Is it right if during the session I get to reread parts of the adventure text for myself?

Firstly welcome to the forum and i hope you find some of what i am about to say useful.

A skill that comes with time is pacing basically in your skill set is an ability to slow or speed things up. So what i would suggest is the following create a flow chart and aim to keep it on one piece of A4 paper. On it create a flow of the story your about to run and all the various directions you think the players might go off in .

Here is an example

Players heading to atldorf along middenheim road - possible ambush - or reach the safety of the seven spokes inn - what happens when they reach altdorf who might they meet and why-

So very quickly you understand the flow of the story personally i would not bite of to much if you are thinking of converting the enemy within. Learn well the flow of the overall story about how the players get to boggenhaffen Session one. Unless you are playing a mega session i would be surprised if they reach there in one session and this is were pacing comes in makes sure they don't. Gives you time to read the next bit and build your second flow chart around there time in boggenhaffen.

You are in control so even if the game wraps up early just say the players did things you were not expecting and you want time to properly think through what happens next. Even if this is a lie its another tool at your disposal players will think they have done something brilliant and will not mind waiting.

Gives you a chance to catch your breath.

The following are very important learn to ad-lip (the art of making things up) if you can roll with whats happening and create things instantly your world will seem very real.

If your not good at this its all about preparation have a list of names handy for all races and some quirks for each.

For example Otto Boganlar merchant(thief) softly spoken - fidgets all the time

Gives you an instant character to work with and who knows the characters might turn your improvisation into a memorable npc or main villain.

Write notes to keep things consistent again if your no good at this record the session dictaphone style to make notes later then you will have all the things you said to hand makes you seem uber prepared.

Dming is smoke and mirrors let them see what you want them to see and hide the rest.

Hope that helps p.s. i am always available to help

my email is [email protected] me a message if you need further help.

Hello and welcome!

Everyone GMs slightly differently, so what you need may be different from what someone else needs. I wouldn't take hundreds of notes on background detail; you'll just get tangled up in them. If you're worried about "breaking the storyline," you might start off in a city/place that's not on the official map. That way, you'll have complete freedom to make up what you want and what you don't want.

For each adventure, I have two or three places I think the PCs will visit and three or more 'encounters' ready that they'll do there. One place might be an investigation, another might be a fight, and the third might be plain roleplaying. I make basic notes about who's there, what the PCs need from them, and, if necessary, their fight stats. I tend to make up everything else on the fly, but I've done a lot of thinking about it ahead of time, so I have the sets firmly in my head.

The biggest bit of advice I have is not to assume things will take the amount of time you think they'll take! If you write an encounter you think will be "quick," your players will take four hours to do it. If you have something planned for all day, they might decide to wrap it up in half an hour with some weird solution you didn't consider. When that happens, don't get frustrated. Just have some sliding encounters ready that could slot in anywhere, in any city or any rural area, and throw them at the gang.

Remember, too, that what might seem boring/obvious to you because you've thought about it for hours and hours and hours will seem MUCH more interesting to your PCs.

I prepare a LOT when I GM because I like intricate stories. At the same time, I have to allow for the characters to head off in an entirely different direction than I'd planned, so I always have a few alternatives ready for them; if one adventure hook doesn't 'grab' them, I might have another ready. Never forget, too, that you can create the 'illusion' of choice. Two adventure hooks that look very different might just end up leading to the same adventure. One might be the 'bad' guy hiring them, one might be the 'good' guy, but both will lead to the same location with the same items and the same fights. That way, your PCs feel like you gave them a choice, but you don't have to prepare twice as much!

If you think it would be helpful to see a set of my notes, I'd be happy to show you. Just let me know!

I favor these days "Grand Theft Auto" style adventure structure in which a grand campaign is split into small missions given by or otherwise triggered by main characters and factions. I don't even plan ahead the whole story-arc but I run 1-3 missions per session and write more from there for the next time. This also creates a nice touch of dynamic story progression where players actions and mission outcomes have a real meaning.

Hey,

Thanks a lot for the great answers and tips - it's all appreciated!!

Today I ran the first chapter of the Eye for an Eye intro campaign without having any notes (I thought it was easy enough to remember everything from a couple of readings beforehand) ... that was a mistake!! I slipped a couple of times - forgot to mention some simple facts, NPC's forgot to share certain bits of info, got the chase sequence with the beastmen slightly wrong. Surprisingly it all came together quite nicely and nobody seemed to notice. Luckily the guys made a few interesting calls that broke the scripted flow anyway and the reaction it caused in certain NPC's lead them to interesting (and wrong) ideas about the situation!! ...and I initially though that the story is quite plain and predictable!!

Anyway, I'll take some notes for the second part and make a flowchart so I don't miss any steps of the story. It will still require quite some reading on the fly as I'm certain I won't remember who is who and where he is and what each clue was!

And for the future I think I'll stick to more free form adventures based on scribbled notes and dynamic character/encounter generation. I actually started writing down some ideas I got - some inspired by what I read here, some based on books I read recently and by Warhammer lore in general... I can't wait to finish the intro adventure so I can start with these!!!

Again, thank you for the help!!

It's best to take a post-it and put the crucial things you have to get across to the players.

I also tend to write in the margins of my scenarios

jh

As already said, everyone has their own way. Take notes in a way which you find useful and keep them only as detailed as necessary (don't go overboard).

Also, I would heartily recommend working on your improv skills as these are some of the most useful tools for a GM. If you forget a couple details or skip something over don't sweat it, just roll with it and keep throwing interesting things at the PCs.

Another technique which I would heartily recommend is asking for the players input. The PCs do something crazy and you're not sure where to go from there? Ask the group. Seriously, say "So what would you guys like to see happen next?" Go with the coolest idea someone throws out.

Along the lines of that last point, an Indy RPG by the name of "The Mountain Witch" has an excellent technique expressed in the GM section which has been labeled "The Mountain Witch Trick". Basically, say your players decide to search the bookshelf in the evil cultists bedroom (perhaps the guy's bedroom in the Eye for an Eye scenario), instead of simply telling them what they find - ask the players. "Ok, you want to search the book shelf, tell me what you find. It can be whatever you want, you want to find incriminating evidence? Illegal scripture? A note detailing an planned assassination attempt of Baron von Jungfreud?"

Let the players steer the story and they will have immense pleasure actually being able to dictate what is going on in the game, you will have a great deal of enjoyment from reducing the amount of time you have to spend prepping and spend more time playing, and the best part of all is that the story will go into wildly unpredictable directions. But you're guaranteed that those unpredictable directions are fun because your players and the group wanted to go in that direction.

If all of this is too much and not what you're looking for, well then I'd simply advise to not worry about making mistakes and don't try to hard to be brilliant at the table.

charlest said:

Boy thats dangerous i think that is a can of worms.in the hands of experienced players deadly or devisive. Who deciedes the loudest for a new dm i would be very careful. As i always say i am in control of the assylum. Also i would add that if you take into consideration how weird players can be this would most likely de-rail the game completely. My advice you keep control however its an interesting idea with an experienced group.

boggle said:

Yeah, if you don't trust your players my suggestions won't work. If you're playing with mature people who want the same thing out of roleplaying you do though, you shouldn't have a problem. It does depend what your groups roleplaying goals are; if they see the GM as an adversary to provide a challenge for them in a competitive manner - my advice won't work. If everyone sits down at the table with the agenda of placing the story at the forefront of the game - then it will work as long as you keep communication open and make sure everyone has those same goals in mind.

charlest said:

Fwiw, although I agree generally with what you're saying, it's worth mentioning that this style of gaming isn't for everyone, even mature and experienced players. Some players, it seems to me, do not want to have an ooc say in the world or the story or the plot. They want it to be their characters against the rest of the world and they want their GM to be the rest of the world, and they trust their GM enough to give him free rein in that respect without needing or wanting to have their say in it. That doesn't make them immature or competitive or adversarial, it's just a different (and probably, ime at least, the most common) way to play. And you still end up with a story at the end of it. Offering one style as more mature than another doesn't really help anything.

monkeylite said:

You are right and I did not intend to frame my advice as the only or best way to roleplay. I do want to point out though that I did not say my suggestions were the only way for Mature people to play, and playing in a competitive or more common style was immature. I merely said that if you have a mature group, the way I suggested will work; that doesn't imply a mature group won't enjoy a different way more.

I just thought the original poster should be aware of the wide spectrum of styles out there. I didn't discover my suggested methods until 10+ years of roleplaying and it completely reinvigorated the hobby for me.