When you’re running a D&D adventure, nothing is more important than the input from the players, who are not only the main protagonists, but also the people you get together to have fun with session after session.
Let’s do a quick exercise. Take a look at your D&D Player’s Handbook. Now, imagine that the title is just a sticker placed on the cover of the book. When you open the book, the pictures are all taped to the pages and some of the paragraphs have scribbles and cross-marked corrections in pencil. This is how the players look when their characters are dropped into a game world, especially if it’s a pre-made published setting. By combining both player and DM input, the campaign suddenly becomes the beautiful layout you actually hold in your hands.
With that in mind, it makes sense that not only should the players be directly involved with the events at hand in an adventure, they should also be directly affected by all that’s happening around them. After all, a grand adventure is far more interesting if the characters’ personal goals and interests are at stake!
Co-authoring the Adventure
So, how do we accomplish all this in Adventurers League and still have fun doing it? The first and simplest thing for everyone to do is… just ask. Find out where they see their characters in the future. This could be something as simple as becoming a master blacksmith to something a little more like, “I want to return to my fallen homeland, vanquish my family’s enemies and become queen!” Either way… you have something to work with.
Of course, just because it was asked, it doesn’t mean the player gets whatever they want on a platinum platter. It does, however, create a theme for the character that a DM can work into the story. If it’s information they want to share (often not the case at start), it also allows the players to understand each other’s motivations. Even in public play, where the players just met, their characters are people that will likely be traveling together for quite some time. They can remain strangers to one another for only so long.
Character backgrounds provide so much more than just extra skills on the character sheet. Even if you use the background bonds in Hoard of the Dragon Queen as a base, players can integrate their backgrounds into the world by adding just a little more detail based on the world in which the adventure is set. An Orc raid drove your family from home? What town? Did you have friends there? Rivals? Did you leave for safety or were your parents involved with what happened? If it’s the same hometown of another player, did they leave with you? It can make for interesting scenarios if a player’s origin intertwines with some of the other players.
For the DM, backgrounds are an opportunity to create scenarios that are part of a rich backstory that can develop the player’s characters in different ways and make them an integral part of the adventure you’re running.
Make Use of the Peanut Gallery
It’s extremely helpful to take note of comments and concerns that are mentioned in passing at the table. Yes, a player may grumble over something minor rules-wise, or another has an issue with a certain skill. But then, there are some comments regarding the adventure itself that you may hear from a few players at once. When this happens, take heed. Everyone is there to have a good time, and sometimes that means tweaking things a bit to keep the excitement alive.
Never, ever be afraid to ask for comments and concerns at the beginning or end of a session. Sometimes there may truly be a serious concern, or you’ll get a question that a player may not want to ask in front of the others. You may also get a suggestion that you’d like to include in the adventure, or get an idea for something entirely different. In the end, the DM is the final arbiter of how the adventure plays out, but there is no harm in getting insight on how the players view the game.
Interweaving – Plot Development on the Fly
Where it can be fun to use a player’s background to fit them into the gears of your campaign, an adventure’s progression is mostly based on what the player’s don’t know. This is especially true of published adventures. Sometimes it can feel like they’re being led chapter to chapter without much of their own input to make the difference. So how do we make this grand adventure an epic tale for our heroes? This is where interweaving comes into play.
Always remember that the players are the main characters in your adventure. Each has their own origins, beliefs and goals. A lot of these can be woven into the main story of your adventure. Not only does this help the players develop their characters further, they now have their own place in the chain of events that they did not have before.
Here’s an example: The players capture one of the dragonclaws from Castle Naerytar. Through interrogation, they discover that the paladin’s brother (who may have presumably died in his background) is still alive and in the hands of the Captain Othelstan! The only reason his brother yet lives is because his skills are useful in unlocking the secrets of a mystical artifact. (This artifact, by the way… could be anything, including the one that the party’s warlock is searching for…).
Remember the analogy I made earlier with the Player’s Handbook? Now, out of this one example, two of the party members have now become a part of the major events at hand instead of being dropped into the adventure. They will still come into conflict with the Cult of the Dragon, just as the adventure intended. But now, there’s far more purpose behind it. This generates plenty of interaction between everyone at the table, players and DM alike. There’s even ways to weave characters into the story before the adventure even takes place. Again, great examples of this are the backgrounds in the appendix of Hoard of the Dragon Queen.
Does this need to be done with all characters all the time? Not at all. Some players truly are happy just wanting to spend their downtime learning to be a master smith, so just work with that. The point is as characters grow during an adventure, their actions aren’t solely based on being “the right thing to do” or “what we get paid for”. They will make greater efforts to accomplish things for themselves, and for each other. Characters with a personal stake in things will always require help from their companions. So, you also get the bonus of player discussion, teamwork, and camaraderie.
Epic Adventure! – First Step: Add Water
If you and your players are planning on creating a rich, vibrant world in which they play an integral role, there is one important guideline – Start small. Where the story in most published adventures usually starts off with a minor event that’s connected to something much larger, player characters and their interactions should work the same way. Plan out those points in the adventure where you plan on interweaving a storyline.
If an opportunity arises where a player can make use of downtime for something important, let them know or make a suggestion for them to do so. Often, players will take the opportunity to integrate themselves into the adventure on their own, providing you with new thoughts and ideas in return. As the adventure grows, so does the party and their goals. So, focus on the small stuff with your players… finding that new spell, gaining your specialty, becoming a trainee for a new faction. Save the grand stuff for when the main adventure gets there as well.
All in all, communication is key to everyone at the table building something great together and having a blast doing it.
Again, these are all just suggestions. Not every group is the same. See where everyone’s comfort zone is. If you’re not sure, then as always, you can just ask one another. Then take whatever you’ll need from this for your and your players to turn your published module into your league members’ own epic adventure.