budfsdf

	This series of videos is about the ways that dungeons and dragons is

different than video games. and how you as a player or dungeon master can

take advantage of them to get the fullest enjoyment out of this game. In my

languare I will address you as if you were the dungeon master because that

is the role I normally play, but the things have have to say are just as

useful for players as well.  Although the diferences are many, I have

selected five of which I would like to focus on:  Npcs have exactly as much

depth as the players ask for, Problems don't come with solutions, the

players actions have consequences,  the world moves without the players, and

that enemies are people too. My name is Ed Womble and I like games and I

like story telling, I hope that I can help you to enjoy both more.

	All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays

many parts.  Well dungeons and dragons is a game and all who are inside is a

character.  the inn and the innkeeper, the evil archwizard and their goblin

minions.  every person in the town and the town itself are all characetrs.

In video games a townsperson will have a handful of dialog options, or draw

from a pool of a few generic responses to being clicked on.  the big villian

has a speech and the goblins stand still waiting for the player to come near

so they can fight to the death.  In dungeons and dragons everyone is a fully

fleshed out person who has lived a full life and will continue to live their

life after the players leave.  they have unique experiences and will react

dynamically to the players interfereance in their lives.  This is dungeons

and dragons bigest strength and the reason I love it, every single character

has exactly as much depth as the players want them to have.

	To go into detail on that point, you and your players are looking at

a table of dice and snacks or at a computer screen yet they are seeing the

very real world you have made together.  you could have a map made in as

much detail as you want, but you are never going to get every single house

and every person walking the streets.  and as much as you want to prepare

trade routes or royal families or history or anything about the characters

in your game the players will always decide who is important.  just by

saying "I stop someone on the street to ask them a question," your player

has created and npc.  when a player asks an npc "where are you from" they

have given that character a home town.  if you decided that the innkeeper is

named george and is cheating on his wife, helga, with the baker, monica,

because monica is the only person who understands his secret passion for

dance that he developed when he was a kid in baulders gate and a troop of

bards saved him from a warerat attack, well thats adorable but if the

players never ask george about himself then does any of that really matter?

My point is that although the dungeon master builds the world, the players

decide what gets built.

	Let me start giving advice because I tend to ramble when i'm just

explaining things.  As a dungeon master you shouldn't fight the players

control of the game, it's their game too, they outnumber you, just go with

it.  the game will be more enguaging for everyone if the characters that get

fleshed out are the ones the players care about.  Starting with towns and

settigns, what I like to do is keep a basic frame work on what happens in a

town or dungeon or whatever setting, something like, this town is near the

coast so it has a dock and it sees a lot of travel so they have a lot of

inns and taverns and they see a lot of adventurers so there are buisness

that cater to them and people with quests might come here.  thats all simple

enough and it's enough to answer most questions the players would have like

"where can I get a drink" "is there any work to do?" or "can someone repair

the guide shoot on my travel sized trebuchet?"  the answers would be "there

are several taverns to choose from", "very likely", and "not likely, there

don't seem to be any siege workshops in this town at all."  theres no reason

to overplan.  your players for the most part will know what they are looking

for so they will tell you what is important.

	Next you have npcs.  First you need a list of names.  I like to use

behindthename.com/random.  you can roll a few of those in advance and have

them ready to go or roll on the fly.  Next you need a reason for this npc to

exist.  Npcs exist to accomplish a goal, either yours or a players.  if a

player wants a drink then an npc can exist to serve them that drink, if they

want information then someone can give them that.  if you want the players

to go on a quest, then an npc can exist to give them that quest.  for most

things keep it simple.  last you need a personality, and you don't need much

to make a convincing character as you are already a living breathing human.

all it takes is a voice, or a quirk, or an anicdote and sudenly they are a

full believable person.  so have a few of those prepared as well.  let's

knock out a few examples real quick.  A player wants a drink and a room for

the night.  enter walter hermansen the innkeeper, hes very short so he has

to use a step ladder to serve customers at the bar.  Next I want the players

to run through the zombie encounter I made.  enter nanda sarkozy, an

undertaker loudly complaining to anyone who will listen that he is going to

starve because bodies keep digging themselves up and hes to honorable to

colect on a job only partway done.  last one that player with their broken

portable trebuchet.  Lets have Akantha Seres, a gnome of the town guard,

nerd out over it and tell them about where they can get it repaired in the

capital city or wherever the military is.

	congradulations, as far as your players are concerned your world is

now densly packed with rich and flavorful npcs and all you have is a list of

names and quirks.  The last thing you need to do is just to give the players

as much back story as they ask for.  when they meet an npc they like they

will want to get to know them better and in that moment just go with it and

anser their questions with the first thing that comes to mind that makes any

sense at all for that character.  it wont be effort wasted, because once the

players get to like an npc then use them as much as possible.  the players

will appreciate their favorite character showing up more often and it's

fewer characters you need to come up with.

	The only complication I have had with this method is if there is a

character I liked that the players didn't or a character the players like

that I don't.  All complications are oprotunities though.  maybe that

character everyone loved was putting up a facad and they are secretly behind

the entire plot!  as long as you keep the betrayl infrequent, like at most

one in ten npcs, it's perfectly find to pull one over on the players like

that.  If one of your characters doesn't land with the players like you

hoped they would take it as a learning experience.  theres no shame in

trying them again later or as someone slightly different.

	to conclude, as long as your players are open minded and know what

they want it is easy to give them exactly as much depth as they want just by

staying open yourself.  some players only want town to offload treasure and

take a long rest, some players want to talk up the innkeeper about possible

new adventures and backstory to the region, some players want to start an

underground pillow fighting league and hire whores to fight in it.  all are

perfectly valid ways to play and those all being possible are what makes D&D

great.