#New DM/New Campaign Primer

1 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

light notch
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Hi All, I've been here a while and going over so many resources but I'm afraid I'm suffering a little paralysis by analysis.

tl;dr I first-time-played in a DnD campaign and really liked it but it fell apart, so I got into BG3 and then some friends decided we should retry the campaign. After a good handful of sessions, the DM had to stop for school (which was totally understandable) but I, an elder millennial, was then pressured by my zoomer friends to DM. I kinda pushed it off a bit because I didnt feel experienced enough, but they won me over. So now I have a 4 person party of super nice people that are pretty reliable, 1 is newer than me, one is fairly experienced, 1 is very experienced and one has played numerous playthroughs with someone who works with WoTC so, I have a high bar here...

So, all that in mind, I retrofitted a story I wrote back in college and started adding fantasy elements to it to fit it more into the gameplay. We've played 3 sessions thus far and had to miss a couple for holidays and stuff but I was wondering if someone wouldn't mind going over stuff 1on1 with me as I learn better like that. I'll do my best to ask/answer things here as well, but honestly, I don't exactly know what to provide to start.

Thank you anyone/everyone for any incoming help! You folks are swell.

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earnest yacht
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the stuff - is it mechanics or world building?

light notch
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Probably coherent world building would be the biggest thing. Mechanics I'm more loose about but I have some potential encounters/fights/minibosses I'm trying to ideate but that's less a priority at the moment I think

earnest yacht
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sure - I've been running TTRPGs since the 90's - what can I help you with?

light notch
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What would be a good place to start? I wasn't kidding about the paralysis by analysis lol

night dust
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Honestly, as cliche and non-helpful as the answer is, at the beginning

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Find a starting point and just slowly delve into it

earnest yacht
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what's the main focus/theme of the campaign?

light notch
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Ill do my best!

It's very loosely based on some music by Coheed and Cambria, I never read Claudio's comic but I know a bit. Basically the setting is a collection of planets connected by interplanetary bridges. The BBEG is the Triad, a former politician who siphoned power from his celestial touched wife and became one and a 3rd, heretofore unknown, person (the intistigator of the evil). The motivation is for the party to find a cosmic weapon that can give the Triad the ability to destroy the universe, the weapon is the aasimar/celestial daughter of the couple. So, they start off being recruited by a local sect of insurrectionists and go from there. -- Again, I kinda mish-mashed this from a sci fi story I wrote in college

earnest yacht
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and so the idea is that the party will have to choose between finishing the job or saving the world?

light notch
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I would strongly prefer them NOT to destroy the universe but hey, I can't stop them - I think they're mostly good noodles as I havent heard them float the idea yet, but we're only 3 sessions in and they haven't really seen anything beyond the insurrectionists vaguely testing them (encounter to save a supply cache to help a local village) and then meeting a group of baddies I made

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So far, in brief (I can expand more if needed) they met at the original town, having been given notes/letters that requested they meet there. They found a document that they couldnt translate and were ambushed by the insurrectionists and told of the surface level situation. I then did a "split up" encounter where I had them split up and run smaller rescue missions for the town folk, and now I'm here

solid burrow
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I will interject to say it’s not ideal to put such huge stakes close to the beginning of the game.

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I recommend you bring in the “find the weapon” stuff as late into the campaign as possible.

earnest yacht
earnest yacht
light notch
solid burrow
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Even then, you usually only build up to universal stakes in like the very end of a campaign. It’s good that you’re setting the seeds now, but if they realize what’s going on before they hit level 10 it’ll be much too soon.

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Anyway, continue MFG.

earnest yacht
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question hasn't changed - I would focus on motivating players currently

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maybe have a few side things planned just for fun, as so the setting seems more real

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do the PCs know each other? Like are they a crew that's worked together before?

light notch
light notch
earnest yacht
light notch
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The local leader they run into is Lira, they had some fun banter with her

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I forgot to mention as well, after the supply cache rescue thing, we did an encounter where the "Null Shades" (like embodiment of shadows assassins) kidnapped the bard and they had to rescue her. I'd like to make the Null Shades a recurring, evolving enemy

night dust
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So that sounds like it could be a good T1 into T2 enemy then

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Why are they antagonistic toward the group?

light notch
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they work for the triad, they're assassins

earnest yacht
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fair

light notch
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theyre gimmick is kind of just going in or coming out of invisibility (once per combat but they'll be hiding in various places to be found or not, organically)

earnest yacht
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do they work for the Triad, or just the highest payer?

night dust
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Why is the Triad antagonistic toward a group of, presumably, nobodies?

light notch
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Not for hire, in my story they were made with technology, so trying to work that angle somehow

earnest yacht
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oh, so they're programmed

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gotcha

light notch
earnest yacht
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so I ditto John's question

light notch
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they didnt show up until after they killed some basic soldiers/goons

night dust
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Like, if the Triad is at odds with this insurrection, that's all well and dandy, but why send (presumably) well trained killers after them

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The Nulls sounds more like a "we've ingrained ourselves in the opposition to the Triad" type enemy

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not an incidental "they massacre all insurrectionists" type enemy

light notch
earnest yacht
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unless there was a mistake somewhere - maybe they thought the party was a different group? wrong place wrong time?

night dust
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It could be that they were trying to reach someone that just so happened to be in the area, one of their targets or something.

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But something to keep in mind, unless youre doing a prophecy setup of some kind, that the characters the players are are just random nobodies at the start

light notch
earnest yacht
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they are robots and therefore only as good as their programming

light notch
night dust
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Yeah, of course.

light notch
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they were just "talented" people from their respective towns

night dust
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I think you could probably do with fleshing out the factions, and trying to figure out how to get the players really involved in the insurrection thing

earnest yacht
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also motivations

night dust
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That sort of stuff lends itself real well into introducing an assassin of some sort.

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AND it sets up the Triad to be a longer form enemy.

light notch
earnest yacht
night dust
night dust
earnest yacht
earnest yacht
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man, they really are evil

light notch
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right!

night dust
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oh, sorry. went back and reread

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the third is unknown

earnest yacht
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who needs a liche when you have politicians

light notch
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No worries I appreciate all the input

night dust
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whether that's to the players, or to American themself

light notch
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Kind of to me, I have an idea at the moment but plenty of time to really think about it

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but that 3rd one is the really baddie

earnest yacht
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so why are the baddies trying to destroy the universe?

light notch
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the politician guy is just someone who was seeking power and his wife will be that slight tinge of moral grounding for RP and that celestial girl character development

light notch
night dust
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Ok, you mean in a less literal sense

light notch
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Yeah that was more just illustration of the level of power potentially involved

night dust
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So, I guess it follows logically

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but if they've already got the level of power they have, why do all this?

light notch
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despots (and politicians) always want more power

night dust
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yeah, sure. but i'm under the assumption that a group named "the Triad" are already at the top, no?

light notch
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and tbh, the 3rd face I kind of want to have some kind of stake in that level of power

light notch
night dust
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Okay, so that seems a tad more

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vapid? ethereal? not sure on the word

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than something im used to using as an antagonistic force in my games

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It feels akin to an international org, like something dedicated to handling imports/exports for the EU, trying to seize executive power in each state.

earnest yacht
light notch
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Im an english major, this should be my strength!

earnest yacht
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so
Firefly

light notch
earnest yacht
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Firefly but before the War

night dust
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Maybe I'm just not well-read enough, but that doesn't really sound too feasible?

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Unless you want to lean heavily on economics = power sorta of meme?

light notch
night dust
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Yeah, sure. but what force? How would it in any way approach a sovereign state?

earnest yacht
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oh boo, I like political intrigue

night dust
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Like sure, maybe EU customs has some officers, but not enough to fight full on militaries

earnest yacht
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the null

light notch
night dust
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Ah, big stick diplo

light notch
night dust
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Okay, so that's the end goal. How do you begin to pull that off?

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In more piecemeal ways

light notch
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From whose perspective?

night dust
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Triad

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This will help you inform your decisions on the what, how and why for them

earnest yacht
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Really would look into faction actions - I think D&D has a system? Because they won't be idle while the players do side quests

night dust
light notch
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Well right now they have commerce, but not control. By creating/finding/assembling the weapon (tbh) they can extort control

night dust
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or, possibly, non-existent in 5e or 5e24

light notch
earnest yacht
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yeahl, a calendar or clock would be good

night dust
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So, you want these things to be interactable by the players

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If they happen to be in the area

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Actually

light notch
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so like, the "Split up and do small quests thing" if they did that too slowly, the triad would have made tangible progress, ergo making certain things more difficult (more baddies, more well prepared, etc)

night dust
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What are you envisioning as the peak/climax of the story?

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I'm more of a "the journey is the story itself" rather than a "the journey is largely inconsequential as we were a step ahead"

light notch
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Well, MFG alluded to the bad side of the coinflip, but ultimately they save the girl and use the power for themselves, or save the girl and save the day like good noodles, in simple terms

night dust
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Okay fair. So i think intro'ing the Nulls is a bit premature

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I'd start of more regional

earnest yacht
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also depends on how long you want this campaign to last

light notch
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As an evolving enemy, I thought it might be ok to subvert expectations

night dust
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The Triad is siphoning money off into local small factions, think street gangs, extremeists, etc.

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To achieve local goals

light notch
night dust
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So overarching ideas are jsut that

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overarching, they won't be obvious things

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these are things that take IRL months/years to resolve into even a partially clear picture

earnest yacht
light notch
light notch
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Ive written like very open ended "chapters" so, Im only ever a tiny bit ahead of where they are, but yeah I think the end is that choice, its just getting from here to there

night dust
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basically MFG is saying that you can have your head in the clouds, but its better to just be aware of the clouds

light notch
earnest yacht
night dust
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Okay, so we've established the rough idea

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Now it's time for translation into actual play.

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Have you read anything on factions in general?

light notch
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Nope, wasnt aware of that as a piece of the game itself

earnest yacht
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so if the economy is being impacted, that's going to effect loot and purchasing power mechanically

night dust
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It's kinda sorta part of it

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It's a more meta-thing, while still being in world.

earnest yacht
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you don't even really need a system for it tbh, more just need to be aware/organized imo

night dust
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Think of it like things in your life, the job you work at has motivations, any community orgs you may take part in have wants and desires

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They also have the "means" that they can use to achieve those wants/desires.

earnest yacht
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right, view the faction as an entity vs a mob

night dust
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The means for a street gang would be it's money from illicit dealings, and it's manpower

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That lets them rationalize what they can feasibly try to achieve

light notch
night dust
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Exactly!

light notch
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my logic was akin to "Ok, these guys killed some of our guys, take care of them"

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which came to "Ok, they killed our assassins, this might be a problem"

night dust
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And that's fine, but they are still no one important

light notch
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further escalating

night dust
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It could be, but that's the fast track to skipping the interesting part of faction play

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Which is interacting with them over extended periods of in game time and throughout interesting events

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This is the template generously given to me by a mod of the server, scZarc

image.png
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I use this to gauge what each of my factions are interested in, and how they may butt heads with each other

light notch
night dust
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It's to lay out their more immediate goals, since I've got the overarching desires in my head already.

light notch
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Ah, I see, yeah, I can make one of those in excel and loop in their character development

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Right right

night dust
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So I've got 3 major ones (the left upper two are the same group) that are going at each other in a civil war

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The rest are either minor or regional factions

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I've got another page on that sheet that details the faction's weekly actions

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Which it can be any time frame, but do keep in mind these things are slower to get anything done

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Just the shear amount of people that have to be notified, aligned, instructed, then loosed is what causes these things.

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The more regional/local the faction (less members) the faster the response time can be

light notch
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Makes sense

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I work in logistics/supply chain, that hits home

night dust
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Sweet! Then that part is a little more natural to you!

earnest yacht
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I just have a flow chart/calendar hybrid

after x amount of time passes Event A will occur - path A if x happened, path B if y happened

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that sort of thing

light notch
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Exactly what I did for this one encounter, so good to know I fell into it

earnest yacht
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it's pretty intuitive

light notch
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Yeah, so, Ill try to keep that leveraged on

earnest yacht
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the other thing I would look at is what else is going on in the setting
give players other things to do - especially if they're going to have a major moral decision to make
give them reasons to both hate and love the population to make a more conflicted decision

light notch
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I like that, and they have one very well intentioned but easily unlikeable character I can use for that

night dust
earnest yacht