D&D Project: The Dungeonomicon

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by A real legend I didn't make up

"Many thousands of years ago, a great and powerful Dungeon Master summarized all of his teachings into one single work. He crafted the Dungeonomicon. Written in pencil and bound in spiral, this book wrought the death of thousands of innocent player characters. It contained the knowledge and wisdom of generations of great dungeon masters as they passed it down, teacher to student, then student became teacher and the cycle repeated. Years ago I was given this great and mighty instrument of the Gods. Then I misplaced it somewhere."

SUCH IS THE TALE OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL DUNGEONOMICON.

The Dungeonomicon itself was a quick reference a DM passed to me a long time ago. It was a hand-written universal tool for DMs to have that was slowly made over months of DMing games and taking notes, making sure the same mistake was never made twice. It contained things such as quick names for NPCs of various different races and backgrounds, tables for random events that can take place in various scenarios, such as a table for inside a tavern, on the road, in a city, or inside a shop. It had quick-references for a wizard or cleric's spells prepared for the day based on their alignment, level, and role so that a DM would not be caught with their pants down if a random NPC with wizard levels was forced into combat. It had tailor made sidequests that were each a story that would play out on their own even without the intervention of PCs, with multiple stages along the way that the players can discover the events and have an affect on them. It had information that would allow a dungeon master to make an entire city in the middle of the game as the players wander off the expected path, seamlessly integrating it as if it was meant to be there all along. It had instructions that would allow a new DM to give personality to each of his NPC's and roll-play them so that they feel like people in a living world and not simply guards who announce "Welcome to Corneria." There was also a "punishment table" that would be rolled on to determine some kind of random bad thing that could happen in game when players broke character too much or were acting stupid. These punishments would be completely possible and reasonable things to happen in the world, such as a random magic item in their possession which they haven't tested yet turns out to be a cursed item, or a former owner of a piece of treasure they got from a monster's hoard tracks the item to them and wants it back.

Unfortunately, I lost it.

Lately, though, I've had some rough shit going on and have decided that I need a hobby or project to focus all my mojo on.

I've taken upon myself THE QUEST TO REBUILD THE DUNGEONOMICON. If any of you DMs out there have any good advice thats not in the normal books, I want to hear it. I'm not talking about homebrew rules and things, I mean the tips and tricks that keep a game running smoothly and make the players feel like they're in a realistic, dynamic world and not a bad video game. I need those personal touches you've learned over the years that make the game great.

And yes, I know, fuck me for having lost such a treasure to the world.

[EVILNess]

Originally Posted by Pip Boy

I mean the tips and tricks that keep a game running smoothly and make the players feel like they're in a realistic, dynamic world and not a bad video game.

And yes, I know, fuck me for having lost such a treasure to the world.

Throw them in jail constantly. It keeps them in line.

Seriously though? Consequences and that actions have reactions are the two biggest things you have to teach a PC. Hell, even seasoned players tend to forget their characters are squishy dragon snacks if you let them get away with being a Mary-Sue.

[Meister]

Tip #1: play with good people.

Tip #2: there are no further tips, do #1 and you will have fun no matter what.

Tip #3: okay there are more tips, gentlemen's agreements between the people at the table trump throwing PCs in jail at every turn or having random superpowerful dragonwizardpaladins show up to keep them "in line" any time. As a DM you shouldn't set that line, you should work with your players and come to an agreement what the line is before you ever sit down and say "you are sitting in a tavern."

e: seriously: if you don't want players to break character a lot, ask them to keep things in-game before you ever start. Remember that everyone slips and if they do get carried away with out-of-game conversations every once in a while, just wait for an opportune moment to drop a friendly "let's get back to the game, okay guys?" Similarly if you don't want PCs that are stuck up on their noble values and boss around everyone else or that roast children over a fire fueled by their orphanage, say so before you start.

If you want stuff to happen where the players can't see it, just come up with something that makes for good plot development and more or less logically follows from facts the players might know. Example: the players kill a thieves guild leader far from his usual turf. When they return to his city later, they might find new gangs have risen in his absence, with his old lieutenants in charge.

If you throw PCs in jail, it should happen as part of a storyline where they break out of jail, because they will try and they will very likely succeed, and planning and executing a good breakout is more fun than sitting at the table going "well here we are in jail, I guess tonight's game sucks." Do make actions have consequences, don't make the consequences not fun because at the end of the day, you still met up to play and have a good time.

If you plan on having your PCs meet the main antagonist of the game, be prepared for an outcome where they manage to kill him then and there. If you couldn't accept this, don't have them meet him. Spending time on a hard fight with no consequences to the plot because whoops, the bad guy had a contingency teleport, isn't fun or dynamic. Also, don't let powerful allied NPCs steal the PCs' thunder.

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by EVILNess

Throw them in jail constantly. It keeps them in line.

Seriously though? Consequences and that actions have reactions are the two biggest things you have to teach a PC. Hell, even seasoned players tend to forget their characters are squishy dragon snacks if you let them get away with being a Mary-Sue.

This is something I'm working on emphasizing a lot in my side-quest section. Some of the quests are straightforward, like the players just going and rescuing a girl from a cave full of orcs, but some of them are less straight forward. For example, the man who paid the PCs to rescue that girl wasn't really her father. He was a necromancer who wanted a little girl to experiment with. Completing the quest without asking the right questions to the right people will lead to a dead little girl.

[Krylo]

The problem with that is you are assuming your PCs care past the point where they get paid.

[Meister]

You are going to include hints that there might be a need to ask further questions, right?

Cause if you're operating under the assumption that they do thorough background checks on everyone they meet as a matter of course, and they don't and the little girl ends up dead (and they care beyond getting paid), then they will start and you can never run something straightforward again without your players questioning absolutely everything.

[Archbio]

Originally Posted by Meister

planning and executing a good breakout is more fun than sitting at the table going "well here we are in jail, I guess tonight's game sucks."

Well, if it's impossible to have an adventure within the prison itself, and if the prison is one that the characters can't break out of, then you just have to time-lapse through the part where they're stuck in the jail. It enforces the reality of the prison on the characters while not penalizing the players directly. Which brings me to something that I think is a universally worthwhile D&D tip:

Don't be afraid to timelapse.

If something you're playing through is redundant, repetitive or otherwise only makes sense seen over a lenght of time, there's really no problem with summing it up. Players should understand but not experience the process of walking down a mile of underground tunnel. The same goes for some more involved, routine things.

[Pip Boy]

Originally Posted by Meister

You are going to include hints that there might be a need to ask further questions, right?

Cause if you're operating under the assumption that they do thorough background checks on everyone they meet as a matter of course, and they don't and the little girl ends up dead (and they care beyond getting paid), then they will start and you can never run something straightforward again without your players questioning absolutely everything.

The NPC who gives this quest, Jerod, tells the PCs that the orcs have a person among their number who uses Dark Speech. He encourages the players to avoid allowing any of the orcs the chance to speak, or to use a silence spell or something. Wary PCs will be suspicious of this advice. The Orcs, who aren't kidnappers at all but are sheltering the girl from a necromancer, will attempt to explain to the player characters that the girl wanted to go with them because there was something in town that she feared. The girl herself is under a Curse that makes it impossible for her to speak. The players can find an alternative means of communicating with her or they can remove the curse magically.

If the players take the girl back to Jerod, she is reported missing 2 days later. The guard attempt to arrest the player characters after Jerod spoke up as a witness, saying that the players killed the girl. The players can resist arrest or break out of jail in the night. If they don't, then they go to a trial where Jerod speaks as a witness against them. If any of the player characters was separate from the group when the arrest happened, they are free to aid in breaking out the other players or searching for evidence that Jerod is evil. A search of Jerod's basement reveals a variety of spell components, books on creating undead, and one zombified little girl. This evidence absolves the players if used in the trial.

[EVILNess]

I really want to clarify that my comment about throwing the PCs in jail constantly was kind of a joke.

The consequences thing wasn't however. You do need to keep in mind that you should try to keep the fun rolling as much as possible.

The prison break scenario is a fun night for evil pcs though (Or falsely accused good pcs) Maybe throw in a sub-plot where a necromancer is experimenting on the prisoners in the sub levels of the prison so that if they head out through some conveniently place catacombs or sewers instead of busting out the front door they would have to fight oodles of undead and a level appropriate necromancer.

[Pip Boy]

The necromancer isn't actually involved in the government at all and doesn't have easy access to the jail to do such a thing. However, the adventure is meant to be adaptable to just about any location, and it if happens in a small town he may attempt to use mind-influencing magic to try and push the judge to a guilty verdict. Larger cities will be more prepared for magic in their criminal-justice system, and will have a Cleric with an antimagic field active present at all trials.

But I agree, the fact that many of these quests have different rewarding solutions for different types of players is interesting. Evil PCs will likely fight their way out in a prison break, while good PCs will likely try to gather the evidence needed to prove Jerod's guilt. Evil PCs may even have bounties put on their heads if they do escape from jail, meaning that it could have bigger consequences down the road as bounty hunters, paladins, and vigilantes come from all over to put them to justice.