zaterdag 6 juni 2015

Blogpost #1 Welcome to Seat of the Pants DMing

Blogpost #1


Welcome to "Seat of the Pants DMing" (TM).

This blog is dedicated to the sessions of my 5th edition D&D group.


I aim to write a summary of each session we play. It should be twice a month, or at least once a month.

It's called seat of the pants dungeon mastering, because I aim for zero (or almost zero) preparation and act/react on what the players do.


This comes on the heels of an almost 3 year (very slow & irregular) campaign of the Tomb of Horrors for 4th edition D&D. that went from 4th to DnDNext and finally to 5th.

I prepared well by reading and re-reading everything, trying to remember everything (and forgetting a lot!).

Getting to grips with somebody else's material was very difficult for me, and often I didn't understand the intent or purpose of the plot/encounter. I did my best to entertain the players, but is was a difficult experience for me.

So, I decided to go for another approach, and make the world, encounters, NPCs, etc on the fly as a reaction to what the players do.

The only prep I will do is read on the notes of the last session(s),  monsters, the rules, the DM guide and jot down a few ideas I get during the day.


We already played one session like this and it was liberating! The players and I made the story as we went, and I presented them options to act upon. We laughed a lot and a gazillion sub-plots and opportunities materialized out of thin air. My mind went wild(er than usual)!

Thanks for reading,
till next time (or the one before that!).
Sjap.

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