Index Card Tip

I get a little long winded here, so I'll just summarize this tip real quick: Use index cards to help and remind players who aren't that
familiar with the system. For example, craft an index card listing their attack options, another index card listing special abilities.

Anyways, I just finally got around to using index cards in my game, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It was a little
daunting trying to figure out how to use these things as an actual play aid rather than just another abstraction.

I think I finally hit on a good use after the game when I was helping a player make a new character. This player isn't very comfortable
with all the rules, so he's always shied away from complicated things. After a series of godly rolls though, I convinced him to give a
Thri-Kreen Monk a try (D&D 3.5 edition).

To make things simpler for him, I made cards for all his limited use abilities, such as poison, stunning fist, and various psionic
abilities, which all explained how to use them and had check boxes for keeping track of how many times he'd used them each day. The
index cards allowed me to be more verbose and clear than I could on a character sheet.

In addition, by having something tangible sitting in front of, him he's more likely to remember to use them when it's advantageous to
do so.

I also used two different cards to enumerate his different attack options, which were unusually complicated given his race and class.
He has to choose between using unarmed or natural attacks (which took me about a half an hour to figure out myself and I'm still not
positive about).

Before the next game I might create cards for all the different combat maneuvers you can make during combat, such as charging,
grappling, disarming, and give them to all the players. One tends not to remember to use such actions, and so combat can get a bit
boring and static.

Moving From Socialize To Play

Someone wrote a few issues ago they had problems with making the transition from socializing at the beginning of the game to
starting the game and getting in-character. Here's what I do.

I've got a couple of tools I use to get the players to get focused, stop talking about Lost on TV last night, and pay attention.

1) Theme Music

I can't overstate the importance of theme music in my game. It sets the mood, sets the theme, and says to the players, "This game has
begun!". Currently, I'm running a World Of Darkness game set in Modern Day America. I'm using Breaking Benjamin's 'So Cold' as
the theme song. We've played 19 sessions so far, and it's still running well, and the players love Breaking Benjamin. In a parallel story
for one of the players (same setting, same game, different character, lower mortality...) I use Evanescence's "My Immortal."

2) Introductions

This takes a little preparation, but is something that adds depth to the world, the story, and everything else. I prepare a written
introduction (usually around 600 words) before each session that deals with something else that is happening elsewhere in the game. It
doesn't even have to be relevant to the characters - just a little something that illustrates the world is populated by more than just them
and the NPCs. Consider it like that little bit you'd get at the beginning of the X-Files just before the credits.

Even better, relate it to the story. Or relate it to the characters. Or feature an antagonist. Even if the antagonist is in a bar or eating a
burger, you can also follow their inner discourse.

I use it to introduce thematic elements in the game as well...just a little something to unify the story and make it feel more complete.

I also use it to imply the characters are in danger when they're not. Even more fun.
Playing vs. Acting

DM: The guard stops you and asks you where you're going in such a hurry.
Me: I explain to him that I have urgent news for the Duke - an army of goblins are gathered and threaten to destroy the town, and that
it's of the utmost importance that he lets me pass.
DM: Okay, make me a Diplomacy check.

DM: The guard approaches you and motions for you to stop. "Halt! Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Me: "Pardon me, my good guardsman. I bear an urgent message for the Duke. My companions and I discovered a tribe of vile goblins
massing and they threaten to overrun our fair town! I implore you, let me be on my way!"
DM: Make a Diplomacy check

I prefer the first one!

For the love of God, leave Ye Olde Butchered Englishe at home. Unless you've studied medieval literature, you aren't going to sound
anything like a real medieval person... in fact, if you did sound like a real medieval person, nobody else at the table would be able to
understand you. Just use modern English and leave it at that.

Winging It

I wing it a lot (sort of).

I have a beginning and an end in mind. But how they get there is a bunch of random encounters where I thread together some
commonalities on the fly.

You'd be surprised how often this manages to resemble some tangled, complex, design of such subtlety and vision that players will
wonder how you managed to do it. (PS. Don't tell them).

Here's how you get the best out of 'Winging it' (I hate that term, I prefer Spontaneous Adventure Creation).

1. Make a list of each player's strengths (Is the Fighter a up-front tank, Bow Master; is the Rogue a master of Stealth or a Trap-Guru?).

2. Make a list of each player's weaknesses (Low Will Saves, Low Charisma, Low AC, etc).

Then, copy that list into 2 columns, one Strengths, 1 Weaknesses, but don't include the PC with it. Just make a note of how many PC's
have that particular Trait. (High AC-2, Low Reflex-3 for example). You'll know (should) which PC has which trait, but that's not the
point. The point is to create an encounter sheet which appears geared expressly to your group.

Now.

Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the strengths listed (Gives that player/s a chance to shine).

Have roughly 1/3rd of your random encounters play to one of the weaknesses (Gives the other players a chance to aid their ally).

Have 1/3rd be whatever you darn well please.

Then, just leave little clues/hints that seem random, but wait for a theme to develop (it'll come). Eventually you'll hit on something and
that which doesn't fit was just a 'Random Encounter' as opposed to the 'Plot Encounters'.

Remember to listen to the players. If you have done your job right, their paranoid little minds can come up with conspiracy theories
that's make Fox Mulder blink. (Plus, the get the satisfaction about their 'guess' being right.
Spontaneous Adventure Creation is an Art Form that takes a lot of practice to perfect. But (when done well) gives the illusion (and
effect) of having of spent hours and hours and hours crafting encounter after encounter after NPC after Adventure and Plot Hook
after......

You get the point.

If you wing it, try to tailor it to some aspect of your group.

My first suggestion is this: Throw out the module. If you write the adventure yourself, you'll be more comfortable tweaking it on the
fly.

My second suggestion: When you write the adventure, don't script out a rigid plotline. Instead, make up a general scenario, and put
together a bunch of encounters (both combat and non-combat) that you can throw at the PCs whenever it's appropriate. If you don't
have a plan to begin with, the PCs can't deviate from it.

By way of example, you could create a scenario in which the PCs are tasked with infiltrating a castle and killing the evil wizard who
rules it. The castle has a network of caves underneath it filled with all manner of aberrations and demons, the result of the wizard's
experiments in summoning and transmutation. The castle itself is guarded by the wizard's mind-controlled warriors. Being as the bad
guy is a wizard, you can assume that he's warded his castle against most forms of magical ingress *cough*teleportation*cough*;
however, the caves beneath have no such defenses.

Then make up a bunch of encounters. Have some monster encounters for the PCs to fight in the caves, and some mind-controlled
warrior encounters for them to fight in the castle. Add a few other interesting items, like an imprisoned devil that the PCs can talk to
and maybe get help from (at a price, of course), and a few warriors who've slipped free of the wizard's domination. For each
encounter, consider what might happen if the PCs try to talk, and what might happen if they try to fight.

Don't plan out exactly where to put the encounters, though. And don't figure out how the PCs are going to get into the castle. That's
their job. Let them come up with a plan and put it into action. Any time it seems like they're having too easy a time of it, lob one of
your encounters at them.

It might help to think of yourself, not as a novelist or adjudicator, but as a sadistic scientist. Your goal is not to determine the outcome,
but to poke the PCs with pointy sticks and see how they react.

I like to think of running a session as taking a test. I study before hand (game prep), by writing notes, encounters, maps, even dialogue
(like a Q&A type deal). In other words, I spend ALOT of time prepping for any possible outcome.

But when it comes time to run the game, I put away all my papers (no cheating while taking the test!). The only thing I refer to are the
stats, which are printed on index cards anyway, and a map if I have one. So during the game, I do not look at my notes at all and pretty
much go with the flow of the game.

Afterwards, when I look at my notes, many times it's completely different than what actually happened during the game.

But here is the key: I prepared (studied) ahead of time, read over the notes, and created my own "world" in my head that I was
prepared to run the game (take the test).

Dumb analogy, I know, but it works for me

Hope this helps!

Personally I am not too good at winging it. Monte Cook once said that DMs who are good at making adventures on the fly, should
spend some time preparing their adventures to even get better adventures. I agree with him. As a DM I make sure I know my players
and their characters. While they do surprise me when it comes to details, I am quite good at predicting their general actions. This does
not mean that I write everything down, most of the time I make the maps, NPCs/monsters, plot and summary. If I still have got time
left I start making more detailed descriptions of the maps and NPCs. Descriptions I have got in my head anyway, because I tend to
muse on adventures while riding to and from work. In the end, the more time I spend preparing an adventure the more fun they tend to
be. I have never completely winged an adventure and knowing myself I will never do so either.

It's the general consensus among my players that they have more fun when I have ideas but haven't written anything down. Looking
stuff up in notes sucks.

And heaven forbid I try to use a published adventure.

It's strange. It seems like when I'm sitting down trying to come up with ideas before hand they are all really bland. But when I sit
down and we start playing, my imagination goes into over-drive and everything just seems more life-like.