Hello there beatiful people, we will restart a dnd campaing with my friends soon, in which once more i will be the DM. So as i was thinking of the plot, i became curious about how you guys make your stories. Do you create the story first and then the characters?Or the characters first and then the story? Or you use some other method. It does not have to do with dnd necessarily, but with storywriting/telling in general.
Personally, I always start with the characters. I usually use existing characters that i absolutely adore from books, comics, games or anime and change their names, their backstories, an their appearances but keeping their "spirit" and personality as intact as i can. Then i think of a ploy that will allow my favourite characters and their new backstories to blend naturally. Finally i introduce my players backstories but most of the times twisting them without them knowing it. :P
This has allowed me to create intricate stories in which me and my players are invested. Them because they love their characters and want to know how it ends, and me because i do not know how my players will treat by beloved npcs and to see how it ends aswell :P. Because you see, after making the "bones" of the story, it's my players' choices that actually complete it.
But as i said, it really makes me wonder, how do you guys do it!?
Please, use a character based on Ramsay Bolton for your DnD campaign, I beg you!!! Make him a not very important asshole at first (but still funny and cool enough to make everyone interested on him :P), who loves to torture people while making jokes :P, only for him to betray the most important villain almost at the end of the history, obtain some kind of insane power (it could be a super power, a social position like being a king or even a huge army) and become the motherf...ker everyone has to defeat at the end!!! :D :D :D
You can also base this character a bit on Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and name him Sherman if you want, hehehe. :P :P :P
Please, use a character based on Ramsay Bolton for your DnD campaign, I beg you!!! Make him a not very important asshole at first (but still funny and cool enough to make everyone interested on him :P), who loves to torture people while making jokes :P, only for him to betray the most important villain almost at the end of the history, obtain some kind of insane power (it could be a super power, a social position like being a king or even a huge army) and become the motherf...ker everyone has to defeat at the end!!! :D :D :D
Oh but i have already decided to put him in my story, but not as you mentioned because that would be a copy paste of game of thrones. Instead i made him a deity. Bahmat (aka bolton :P) is one of the greater and oldest deities whose inferioty complex derives from not helping the other gods when they decided to make the mortal races. He originally thought that creating sentient life would be a worthless hassle and stayed out of it. When the other gods completed thier works and started to use the mortal races as a cattle (feeding their immortality with their prayers and souls), Bahmat became extremely jealous and the smug behavior of the other gods exacerbated the issue to the point he became sadistic with other gods and all mortal races. He was labeled a worthless, unwanted and weak deity by the pantheon, but has all of them tricked into creating the wall of the damned. A wall where all mortals who have becomed slaves in their life are put after their death, so they souls can be siphoned for all eternity. This has already made him stronger than the other deities, without them even realising it. He is also most charismatic of the gods and corrupts mortals into doing his bidding without having/requiring his own sect.
You can also base this character a bit on Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and name him Sherman if you want, hehehe. :P :P :P
I havent played Final Fantasy 6, so i do not knoww enough about Kefka to implement him in my story but for you my dear friend, i will do it if you want you.
Please, use a character based on Ramsay Bolton for your DnD campaign, I beg you!!! Make him a not very important asshole at first (but still funny and cool enough to make everyone interested on him :P), who loves to torture people while making jokes :P, only for him to betray the most important villain almost at the end of the history, obtain some kind of insane power (it could be a super power, a social position like being a king or even a huge army) and become the motherf...ker everyone has to defeat at the end!!! :D :D :D
Oh but i have already decided to put him in my story, but not as you mentioned because that would be a copy paste of game of thrones. Instead i made him a deity. Bahmat (aka bolton :P) is one of the greater and oldest deities whose inferioty complex derives from not helping the other gods when they decided to make the mortal races. He originally thought that creating sentient life would be a worthless hassle and stayed out of it. When the other gods completed thier works and started to use the mortal races as a cattle (feeding their immortality with their prayers and souls), Bahmat became extremely jealous and the smug behavior of the other gods exacerbated the issue to the point he became sadistic with other gods and all mortal races. He was labeled a worthless, unwanted and weak deity by the pantheon, but has all of them tricked into creating the wall of the damned. A wall where all mortals who have becomed slaves in their life are put after their death, so they souls can be siphoned for all eternity. This has already made him stronger than the other deities, without them even realising it. He is also most charismatic of the gods and corrupts mortals into doing his bidding without having/requiring his own sect.
You can also base this character a bit on Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and name him Sherman if you want, hehehe. :P :P :P
I havent played Final Fantasy 6, so i do not knoww enough about Kefka to implement him in my story but for you my dear friend, i will do it if you want you.
Oh, don't worry, hehe, your character is fine (except for his inferiority complex :P). Seems like a mix between Ramsay and Loki to me. :)
I only DM and when making a campaign I always start with the setting. Where do I want the story to take place? For what reason will it take place there? I don't go deep into detail yet, just deep enough to get a general sense of the surroundings, and then I start to slowly populate the setting, adding who I believe to be major figures into it. I add NPC templates instead of actual characters.
Only then I look at what I have in front of me and I start develpoing a story around it, turning templates into characters and filling the setting with more details.
A good starting point is to take a specific event like a battle, stand-off or just a prologue and build from there.
Want two wizards duking it out on top of a mountain? Ask yourself who they are, how they got there, what could happen before and after.
As for characters, a good way is to use existing characters from other media and use them as a base. Then reshape them into a character that fits the world, both in terms of abilities, aesthetics and character.
When I play Skyrim (I still do even now, it's just a fun game to relax, even though I know every single cave and secret by now) I like to take a character from another game (let's say for example League of LEgends) and try to recreate them with the tools I'm given. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's quite a stretch (crossbow with explosive ammo substituting a gun), but the chracters usually take on a life of their own at that point.
Also make sure that your characters don't all think like you, aka, try to write characters that think and act differently than you yourself would, otherwise you end up with a party of 5 sassy edgelords who only speak sarcasm
I only DM and when making a campaign I always start with the setting. Where do I want the story to take place? For what reason will it take place there? I don't go deep into detail yet, just deep enough to get a general sense of the surroundings, and then I start to slowly populate the setting, adding who I believe to be major figures into it. I add NPC templates instead of actual characters.
Only then I look at what I have in front of me and I start develpoing a story around it, turning templates into characters and filling the setting with more details.
Intresting approach there mate, but i wonder, doesn't the story become too linear this way though? The advantage of a character based story is that your npcs are doing their stuff on the background of the story while the players are doing theirs, which allows multiple interconnected stories. How do you deal with this?
A good starting point is to take a specific event like a battle, stand-off or just a prologue and build from there.
Want two wizards duking it out on top of a mountain? Ask yourself who they are, how they got there, what could happen before and after.
As for characters, a good way is to use existing characters from other media and use them as a base. Then reshape them into a character that fits the world, both in terms of abilities, aesthetics and character.
When I play Skyrim (I still do even now, it's just a fun game to relax, even though I know every single cave and secret by now) I like to take a character from another game (let's say for example League of LEgends) and try to recreate them with the tools I'm given. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's quite a stretch (crossbow with explosive ammo substituting a gun), but the chracters usually take on a life of their own at that point.
Also make sure that your characters don't all think like you, aka, try to write characters that think and act differently than you yourself would, otherwise you end up with a party of 5 sassy edgelords who only speak sarcasm
Solid advice for every new dm. I would have written them myself if i wasn't lazy. +1
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Hello there beatiful people, we will restart a dnd campaing with my friends soon, in which once more i will be the DM. So as i was thinking of the plot, i became curious about how you guys make your stories. Do you create the story first and then the characters?Or the characters first and then the story? Or you use some other method. It does not have to do with dnd necessarily, but with storywriting/telling in general.
Personally, I always start with the characters. I usually use existing characters that i absolutely adore from books, comics, games or anime and change their names, their backstories, an their appearances but keeping their "spirit" and personality as intact as i can. Then i think of a ploy that will allow my favourite characters and their new backstories to blend naturally. Finally i introduce my players backstories but most of the times twisting them without them knowing it. :P
This has allowed me to create intricate stories in which me and my players are invested. Them because they love their characters and want to know how it ends, and me because i do not know how my players will treat by beloved npcs and to see how it ends aswell :P. Because you see, after making the "bones" of the story, it's my players' choices that actually complete it.
But as i said, it really makes me wonder, how do you guys do it!?
Please, use a character based on Ramsay Bolton for your DnD campaign, I beg you!!! Make him a not very important asshole at first (but still funny and cool enough to make everyone interested on him :P), who loves to torture people while making jokes :P, only for him to betray the most important villain almost at the end of the history, obtain some kind of insane power (it could be a super power, a social position like being a king or even a huge army) and become the motherf...ker everyone has to defeat at the end!!! :D :D :D
You can also base this character a bit on Kefka from Final Fantasy 6 and name him Sherman if you want, hehehe. :P :P :P
Oh but i have already decided to put him in my story, but not as you mentioned because that would be a copy paste of game of thrones. Instead i made him a deity. Bahmat (aka bolton :P) is one of the greater and oldest deities whose inferioty complex derives from not helping the other gods when they decided to make the mortal races. He originally thought that creating sentient life would be a worthless hassle and stayed out of it. When the other gods completed thier works and started to use the mortal races as a cattle (feeding their immortality with their prayers and souls), Bahmat became extremely jealous and the smug behavior of the other gods exacerbated the issue to the point he became sadistic with other gods and all mortal races. He was labeled a worthless, unwanted and weak deity by the pantheon, but has all of them tricked into creating the wall of the damned. A wall where all mortals who have becomed slaves in their life are put after their death, so they souls can be siphoned for all eternity. This has already made him stronger than the other deities, without them even realising it. He is also most charismatic of the gods and corrupts mortals into doing his bidding without having/requiring his own sect.
I havent played Final Fantasy 6, so i do not knoww enough about Kefka to implement him in my story but for you my dear friend, i will do it if you want you.
Oh, don't worry, hehe, your character is fine (except for his inferiority complex :P). Seems like a mix between Ramsay and Loki to me. :)
Flashbacks are hard to use but if you can really give a special feel in your stories.
I only DM and when making a campaign I always start with the setting. Where do I want the story to take place? For what reason will it take place there? I don't go deep into detail yet, just deep enough to get a general sense of the surroundings, and then I start to slowly populate the setting, adding who I believe to be major figures into it. I add NPC templates instead of actual characters.
Only then I look at what I have in front of me and I start develpoing a story around it, turning templates into characters and filling the setting with more details.
A good starting point is to take a specific event like a battle, stand-off or just a prologue and build from there.
Want two wizards duking it out on top of a mountain? Ask yourself who they are, how they got there, what could happen before and after.
As for characters, a good way is to use existing characters from other media and use them as a base. Then reshape them into a character that fits the world, both in terms of abilities, aesthetics and character.
When I play Skyrim (I still do even now, it's just a fun game to relax, even though I know every single cave and secret by now) I like to take a character from another game (let's say for example League of LEgends) and try to recreate them with the tools I'm given. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes it's quite a stretch (crossbow with explosive ammo substituting a gun), but the chracters usually take on a life of their own at that point.
Also make sure that your characters don't all think like you, aka, try to write characters that think and act differently than you yourself would, otherwise you end up with a party of 5 sassy edgelords who only speak sarcasm
I tried having fun once. It was awful.
Intresting approach there mate, but i wonder, doesn't the story become too linear this way though? The advantage of a character based story is that your npcs are doing their stuff on the background of the story while the players are doing theirs, which allows multiple interconnected stories. How do you deal with this?
Solid advice for every new dm. I would have written them myself if i wasn't lazy. +1