Thanks all for the nice words.
jozxyqk wrote:My problem has been that I don't really have time to write my own adventures, and have largely been using modules (official and otherwise) which seem to be comparatively chock full of magical gear. Maybe not to the extent that a D&D game would be but still enough that magic starts to seem less epic than in your post.
My two cents of where I'm at in GMing a campaign, and how items fit into that:
I indeed write my own stories, but I have been doing a very important part of improvisation during my games. The more I'm GM, the more I wing it during sessions. My approach is now as follows: I prepare a detailed story of what has happened up to the moment where the adventure/campaign starts. This includes a chart of important historical events. I also prepare a cast of characters, NPCs, with their names and what their motivations are. Rarely will I'll prepare stats for my NPCs (I don't think I did for a single one in this last game). I do have a book from D&D3E entitled "NPCs and Allies" that I use, in combination with the stats from the DCC book, to come up with quick stats for important NPCs or monsters, when required.
I of course prepare some sort of initial mystery or mission that the PCs will have to accomplish. I'll prepare a few locales, often with maps that I steal from other material, on which I hand-write the purpose of the rooms.
Finally, I prepare a first scene for the campaign/adventure.
Then I wing it. I try to react to what the players do. I often have no idea of the treasure or the people that will populate a given area, even as the PCs step into it. I try to get a feel of how the players themselves feel. If they are nervous, I'll make the area scary. If they feel bold, there will probably be combat. And so on.
The items fall into the improvisation. I consider them as just another part of the adventure.
For example, while I had prepared the lance tip in advance as it was part of the story, I did not know where or with whom they would find it. The sword and the holy symbol were both created on the spur of the moment during game sessions: I took out the DCC book and went to the magic items section and the mercurial effects section, and assigned powers and side effects that I found fit the story there and then.
This really is somewhat complex, and I admit that it took some time to get there in my life. But I find it very rewarding. It requires mostly to be open-minded to the players' mood and intention - maybe this is something that comes easier for you than it did for me.
By the way, they know I improvise a lot, I tell them. I'm not trying to do "as if everything was set in advance" and then fumble behind my screen to find info as quickly as possiblem, as I once did. (In fact, I don't use a screen
) When required, I'll tell the players "ok give me a minute while I think about what you told me and what that means in the story".
Having a strong background story is my guide in the whole process. It gives me guidance to determine what happens. When I find it suitable for the PCs to find a hidden compartment with a magic item therein, it's because the area was gradually set up as that of a leader of old, a respected and feared warrior. When they search for secret compartments and roll a high search result, I can't help but conclude that they found something, and that something is going to be interesting. I pick up the book and go at it. Since most of my locales are not resting places for warriors of old, I rarely need to come up with items.
Improvisation is a tough nut. I do a lot of it, I took drama courses, and while it's easy to improvise, it's tough to improvise
an interesting game. I think that a good, lengthy preparation of the background and the locales for the adventure helps
a lot. Then, comes the tough part: free yourself of any idea you have of what my be upcoming. One way to go about this, is that any preconceived idea you might have had about how events might unfold, is now
a prohibited area, ruled out. This means that you must NOT do anything that you have thought of in advance. This is a tough rule to abide by, as you are your only judge. With time, you come to accept some stuff you thought about in advance, when you believe that your mind is free enough to allow it.
And I'll repeat: items will fit into that gaming approach, no different than any other game element you might think up. You'll know when it's time to have them find an important item, because you'll feel it. Items are like combat, investigating, social interaction, ... They're just part of the story.
As for using commercial modules, I think it is a great way to minimize the prep work if you want to avoid writing background for your game, and it provides maps and NPCs too. I think it's a great way to obtain essentially the same result, as long as the module is to your liking. The trap with commercial modules (or any module), according to my approach, is that they usually have pre-set events or areas with creatures and items and traps in them. I find that to be problematic. I want a trap to spring only when I feel that it's relevant, not because it's written in a room description. I want a secret door to exist when I feel every player's head inclined over the small map I'm drafting, and they're all scratching their heads and wondering what that strange tapestry on the wall is.
What you can do with pre-made modules, is sift through them to take out the cast of important characters for your use. Understand from the module, or determine, their motivations and their goals, and then have them interact with the PCs whenever you find that it would be cool and/or fit the story, notwithstanding where they are supposed to be located according to the module. As for magic items in the module, I'd ask myself in each and every case: what is this magic item? Is it relevant to the plot? If not, I'd ditch it. If so, it means it comes with a story. What is that story? Who's item was this, up to now? That of an evil wizard? Then what price is to be paid for it, how did the wizard get it, what will be the item's drawbacks? Or is is that of an undead lich? I wouldn't want to put that around my neck if I were a PC: as a GM, I'd consequently have that undead lich magic item be cursed with something absolutely terrible, that would lead to the players NEVER AGAIN putting any similarly obtained item around any of their PC's neck. Was it the sword of a dutybound paladin? Then it probably serves the PCs, but perhaps comes with strict rules associated with the paladin's god's code.
As a further example, in my recent campaign, the PCs explored the tomb underneath the village temple, now desecrated and home to evil demon cultists. In that tomb they were attacked by undead protecting the cultists' lair. Those undead were none other than the former clerics of the temple, long dead and now raised by evil magic. Many of those walking corpses had golden rings and necklaces on them. Maybe some were magic? I never had to determine that. The PCs took none. I had established a very gloomy ambiance in the tomb, and they were scared of the god's wrath, if they took the items that even the cultists dared not take. What would have happened had they picked up any item? I honestly do not know, because the question never came up. When they were discussing this topic, I wondered about it shortly, but always forced myself to stop thinking about it. As I now think back, it would have been cool to either have a strong curse befall them, or to have them pick up some items that would somehow have been beneficial for all of them, sort of a benediction from the god for their help in freeing the temple from the demons. How the players would have reacted when they put on the items, would probably have been key to me determining what the items were.
You still reading? Boy, that was a long rambling. Sorry
Just sharing my thoughts, hopefully it helps stir some interesting conversation and others can share their thoughts also.