Archive
Monthly Archives: November 2019

RPG Ideas From Spider-Man 2

mins

Spider-man's stories have been deeply personal. Peter Parker is always dealing with real life situations and mundane problems that we can all relate to. The villains are also uniquely personal to Pete's' life. His story is universal. Today I want to talk about the Spider-Man 2 movie, with Tobey McGuire, and how to make a story more personal.

As a dungeon master you will want to tell the story with a villain that has a personal relationship to one of the players characters. In Spider-Man 2, we don't have a random monster-of-the week. We have a person that Peter looks up to, A scientific genius that Peter idolized.

make it personal

Every encounter Pete has with Doc Ock is also part of his personal story. When our villain decides to rob a bank, he doesn't just go to a random bank in the city. It's at the bank where Pete and Aunt May are visiting. This bring two plot lines together with them trying to get a loan. 

Give your villain a plan, and put your players in the villains path or vise versa. Once the players find out about the villain and are directly in their path, they can decide what to do about the baddie.

This is my favorite way of introducing the big bad and easily moves the plot forward. This is also a good way to set up the baddies in a way that the players see it directly. The players should not know the full extent of the bad guys plans right away, but they'll get a taste of it.

Spider-Man tries to stop Doc Ock, and when he grabs a meat shield, it's not just a random citizen at the bank, it is, of course Aunt May. This is a great example of raising the stakes. It's not just a nameless NPC who could get hurt, but someone your players should care about.

In the spirit of keeping things personal, we have another plot thread about Harry. He blames Spidey for his fathers death and is out to seek justice.

Every person in Peters life is affected by the story. Keeping things personal. 

Doc Ock and Harry end up working together, and theirs plans involve Peter. Once the villain meets your players, they need to start anticipating the players moves if they know the heroes will try to get in their way.

keep Your story moving forward

Just as Peter and MJ start patching things together and things might start going well, is the exact moment that Doc Ock attacks, interrupting their almost kiss.

This is hard to plan as a DM, because the players can be unpredictable. You can always interrupt the players when they are trying to rest or shop. 

Don't interrupt too often though because the players will get sick of it and they'll stop having fun if they can't catch a break. 

This continually raises the stakes if our hero doesn't seem to get a break. In the end, Doc Ock keeps MJ as a prisoner so she doesn't go to the police. Our villain doesn't know that she has a connection to Spidey, but we do, and of course you as the DM will know how to make it personal.

Raising The Stakes

The final battle in Spider-Man 2 is a great example of crafting an exciting and memorable encounter. 

Just defeating the bad guy isn't enough, especially in a boss battle. Spidey has to fight Doc Ock, save Mary Jane, and turn off the reactor all at the same time. 

The stakes are raised again because not only is MJ in danger but the entire city could be destroyed. Give your players lots to do in a boss battle and it will be a lot more interesting. 

You can also create a time limit to put pressure on your players. Deactivate the reactor (magic item, demon summoning etc.) so nobody dies. Spidey is also fighting someone who he knows and respected.

 To make things more exciting, the building they are fighting in is falling down all around them, adding more risk to MJ and our players. Adding danger in the location itself builds a more epic encounter. 

Add traps, puzzles, magic items that could do damage, rough terrain and anything else you can think of to make it more interesting.

Allow Role-Play During Battle

I also love this because they continue to tell the story during battle. Peter takes a turn to try to talk to Ock. He reveals himself and makes it personal to the villain and ultimately MJ. Peter talks Doc Ock out of fighting and it works. 

Give your players chances to talk and role play during their turns instead of just fighting. The bad guys can do this too. They will seem much more realistic and add depth to characters and battles.

Remember to have big plans for the bad guys and put the players in their path. Make sure the bad guys are connected to a player or players in some way. 

Use NPC's that the players care about so we can toy with their emotions by putting them in danger. Add more than one goal to a boss battle. 

Insert something dangerous in the environment for the players to deal with. Encourage players and enemies to role play during battle. 

Be adaptable to your players. 

And above all, have fun!

Thank You!

Here at GamesMastery we want to give our appreciation and support to gamers everywhere. Our mission is to inspire creativity and help everyone enjoy the best life possible.

If you are interested in learning all that you can about being a great Dungeon Master take a look at the DM's Aresenal.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase with no extra cost to you.

Use “Adventure Hooks” To Create Exciting Stories

gold dragon

Start Simple.

I think the best way to start a story for your dungeons and dragons game is to find out what the players want and integrate their backstories into your plot.

This gives you a great foundation to build on. This way you aren't totally starting from scratch and it lets the players be involved in the process.

The DM isn't the only one who wants to be creative, so let your players give you ideas and goals for their characters.

Use MacGuffins. A MacGuffin is an artifact or a goal that the players are trying to find or fight for. The term was created by Alfred Hitchcock for his style of storytelling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

The best part is, a MacGuffin can be anything, including characters.

 The best examples are; the plans to the death star, the lost ark, the wizard of oz, or the infinity stones.

 In Wizard of Oz, the characters goal was to make it back home.

The MacGuffin was getting the wizards help.

A MacGuffin is a means to an end.

A driving force to keep the characters motivated to do something and the plot to move forward.

In a mystery story, every lead or clue, that the detective finds is a MacGuffin.

A suspect or missing character can be a MacGuffin too.

 Like Will Byers in the first season of stranger things. The characters were all motivated to find Will and they wind up getting caught up in the their own stories.

Making Up a MacGuffin.

Use a treasure the party needs to find, or a magic item that needs to be sought out to complete their quest.

Do you have a wizard who wants to learn new or obscure magic? Give them a hidden staff or an ancient spell book to find.

Do you have a character with a missing family member or a bad guy that the player wants to bring to justice?

These can be MacGuffins too.

 Have a mission where players have to protect a caravan or cargo ship from bandits or pirates.

Maybe a cult or a mafia organization is terrorizing a city and the players need kill all the bad guys who are hiding underground.

Don't worry about being original.

Yes, these stories are simple. Yes, they have been done before. That's okay. Do it. Have fun with it.

 It's OK to have stories and ideas prepared for just a couple play sessions.

 Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to create a grand epic like Game of Thrones. The epic is slowly built one session/session at a time.

Keep it simple. One session at a time.

Of course you can plant seeds and foreshadow your ideas for things to come. Let those seeds grow over time instead of trying to cram a ton of story, lore, and exposition into one session.

Keep the end goal simple.

Dorothy just wanted to get home.

The avengers needed to stop and invasion and close a portal above New York.

Indie wanted to find the Ark.

The goal can always be simple, and it's more memorable  that way.

The obstacles and conflicts makes up the story.

Characters in movies always need to find or protect nuclear launch codes, simple idea.

 In The Girl in the Spiders Web movie, the kid who knows the launch code is the MacGuffin. The story in that movie is Lizbeths' relationship with her sister and the conflict between them.

A simple goal will always work.

Especially when you have obstacles and conflict that are in the heroes way.

A simple goal could be that the players want the treasure that is behind a locked door.

The obstacle is  to find pieces of a magic key that can open the door. Now you can add as many obstacles you want.

  • A thief that has a piece of the key needs to be tracked down.
  •  A monster needs to be killed in order to get a key piece.
  • A grumpy swamp witch won't give up her piece until you fetch some herbs in for her.

The goal is still the same, but the quest now has multiple parts.

This simple quest could take as long as you want it to take.

Story Sample.

Part One.

Let's say one of your players is a wizard who wants to learn a forgotten spell on a magic scroll. Simple story with the scroll as the MacGuffin.                                                                    
Now, let's add some obstacles.  First problem may be finding the location of the scroll.

 The players could ask around town, meet NPC's that might be important later.

Players get info from some ancient myths or local legends about a hidden temple or crypt. Maybe they have to seek out a NPC who is lost in the woods somewhere before they get the right information.

The temple can be your "dungeon" where players will have to fight through different monsters, riddles, and traps in order to find the scroll.

All these are obstacles in your players way.

You can even add obstacles on the way to the dungeon. Add a gorge in the forest that needs crossing and the old rope bridge there has fallen apart.

The players fight their way through the dungeon, solve some puzzles, and obtain the scroll.

Part Two.

A boss or some bandits steal the scroll for their own goals, and now the players have to track down the enemy.

One of the enemies could be introduced in the starting town, and she hears about the players looking for the scroll. This big bad wants the scroll for herself.

The enemies can be anything, vampires, orcs, bandits of any race and class, and a character or two relating to a players backstory.

Make it personal by adding a bad guy from a players backstory, a guy who killed Uncle Ben, or an orc from a tribe that killed a players parents.

This gives the players more motivation to find the bad guys and it makes the story personal to the characters.

The players still have the same goal of retrieving the scroll, but now it's personal.

The players might want revenge.

After the enemies steal the scroll, they hide it in one of their hideouts, which could be the next "dungeon" location the players have to get through.

Same MacGuffin, new obstacles.

The next location can be anything that is part of the PC's or enemies stories. A warehouse, a thieves guild or a valley hidden in the mountains.

Same formula, the players have to fight enemies and get past traps in the second location.

After fighting through the dungeon and defeating a mini boss at this second location, The players could finally get the scroll.

The story setup with the scroll is now paid off and a players got what he wanted.

But now the adventuring party is involved in a plot with the bad guys!

The big bad evil guy continues her evil plans without the MacGuffin scroll.

Part Three.

The players find out that the baddies are going to enslave, take over, or destroy the town where the players live.

Lives are at stake!

The players have family that lives in this town.

The Players have to stop them!

Stopping the enemy and saving the town is the new MacGuffin.

The enemy is now the goal and the obstacle.

The villains could send out mercenaries or assassins to try to get rid of the players before the players even get back to town.

The bad guys are now consciously putting obstacles in the player way.

Once our heroes arrive in town, they have more problems and obstacles.

Treat the town itself as a "dungeon" location.

The bad guys have barricaded the roads and buildings, lighting houses on fire, creating obstacles for our players.

Add new goals.

An NPC runs up to the players and tells them that the players family is locked up or are about to be sacrificed to an evil god.

Make sure you have some NPC or another story device that lets the players know what their new goals are and what is at stake.

The villain doesn't need to know that it's the family, they just needed sacrifices and the family just happened to be there.

If you want the villain to be extra evil, she would know about the family in order to make the players suffer.

Not only do the players have to fight through enemies and defeat the villain, they have the new goal of saving the family and townspeople people as well.

The enemies will use as many obstacles as they can in order to slow down the heroes so they can achieve their goal.

Remember to Start Simple

What started out as a simple fetch quest to find a scroll is now an epic story line that spans multiple sessions and game nights.

The first night of playing, you might just be searching the town for clues, fighting a monster and getting across a broken bridge.

So don't worry right away about specific details and obstacles in your second and third locations.

Plan only one or two sessions at a time so you don't overwhelm yourself.

Plant clues about what you think might come next.

The story comes from the obstacles in the way of the players goals.

Use details and characters from players backstories to make it personal.

Make the obstacles, enemies, and puzzles interesting instead of a really complicated plot and obscure goals.

Making the enemies create obstacles can be really fun and it specifically involves the players.

Use whatever ideas that inspires you and make them your own!

Thank You!

Here at GamesMastery we want to give our appreciation and support to gamers everywhere. Our mission is to inspire creativity and help everyone enjoy the best life possible.

If you are interested in learning all that you can about being a great Dungeon Master take a look at the DM's Aresenal.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase with no extra cost to you.

How to handle Your Villains Getting Killed Too Early

baddie bad boi

How to handle your villain getting killed before their time.

Good job! They win. Game over. Go home.

Did you have a high level werewolf that you set up as a big bad? But the players somehow kill him before the final boss fight.

Let them do it! Give them a victory, especially if it is a very clever way of winning.

Being a good DM means being adaptable and working with what the players want to do. Within reason. Don't let them burn down your city. But Let them kill your big bad early. They'll feel accomplished for taking down something powerful and they'll appreciate you for allowing them to be creative.

Just because a big bad is dead, doesn't mean the story is over. It means you will have to adapt and improvise your way through the story.

 Anyway you "had a plan" all along. Keep the story going.

Use a new boss with the same exact stats that you have already prepared.


The enemies should be adaptable too. They heard about what the players did and now the new boss can prepare for that situation.

The vampire lord, that got killed too early, has an evil step sister who now wants revenge for her brothers death. Use the same final battle you had planned with a different character. A different character that has a special defense against what the players did to win last time.

The story isn't over. In the star wars books, the emperor cloned himself. Final battles for days!

There will always be one more power orb to destroy, one more magic weapon to find. One more town to save.

The story isn't over.

The players might have killed your robber baron but they still have to find the deed to the ranch. The Players still need to clear out the dungeon of kobold minions and evil cultists who were working for the dead boss.

Don't give up and don't let the players stop your game. There is always something else that needs to get done.

Protect your villain during battle.


Fudge the dice! Change your stats mid-battle! This is one of the best powers a DM has at her disposal.

 If you have 5 players attacking one bad guy, that's 5 attacks versus the bad guys 1 turn.  So the enemy needs a lot of extra HP or other bad guys that the players can target their attacks.

If you see the players are doing too much damage to your big bad, ending your epic fight too early, give your big bad 100 extra HP. An intelligent enemy will always try to heal themselves. Give your big bad as any healing potions as he needs.

Give your bad guys special resistances or a powerful magical shield that the players can't penetrate until you decide when the baddie gets hurt.
  
Give the big bad an extra spell every turn. Matt Coville calls them Villainous actions. ledgendary actions are neccecary whenever the party gets too strong.

Let your big bad get in an extra attack or special spell to control the flow of battle. Let your boss go into a rage that lets him deal out and extra dice of damage. Have a second or third wave of minions come in to help the boss out.

 The players can't take down your big bad right away if they have to deal with his bodyguards first. Let the big bad run away.  Let your villain use a teleport or fly spell to escape a loosing battle.

Have goals set up that aren't just about killing things.


Make sure the players have a goal that is more complicated then just killing the bad guys.

They need to turn off the doomsday machine before time runs out. Dispel or de-power the magic orb the enemy was using to open portals.

If you have goals already set up, you can put in as many obstacles in the way as you want. This way when the boss does die too early, your story can continue and the players still have things to do.

If you need more time to prepare, send some skeletons or robots after the party. The players won't be able to talk or charm their way out of battle with mindless creatures.

During the battle you can have some time to think up whats next.

It's okay to take a 10-15 minute break mid-game to think up something new.



Thank You!

Here at GamesMastery we want to give our appreciation and support to gamers everywhere. Our mission is to inspire creativity and help everyone enjoy the best life possible.

If you are interested in learning all that you can about being a great Dungeon Master take a look at the DM's Aresenal.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase with no extra cost to you.