I Want a Campaign They Love

 Many of you may just write stories and have no idea about being a Game Master for a roleplaying game.  In this day and age of roleplaying online games, why do you need to do paper and pencils.  Personally, yes, it takes a long time to go through one battle with paper and pencil and dice, but it's the time with friends that really makes it worth the time and effort.  But unlike video games you want a good plot when you do the paper and pencil version.  Here are some ideas I hope help you find that good story:

1) So is this a one off or a campaign?  It does make a difference.  Long term you want to work in the plot line early along with any bad guys or friends.  One time game, just find a goal for the night, (rescue the prince, storm the castle, clean out the dungeon, etc.).

2) For a long term campaign, just like a story plot outline what you want to do with the characters or would like them to do, (players don't always go along with what you want them to do, trust me).  For me, originally my High King's Sword was a roleplaying game and I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, so I had a sorta outline of what I'd like them to do.  Problem was, the players went and took my flavor text and ran with that instead of my plots sometimes.  So don't be married to your outline. Be flexible, but do try to keep the players on the main path.  How they get there isn't as important as the goal as long as they are having fun. 

3) Have a notebook with you at each game.  Sometimes they ask the name of a barkeep or innkeeper.  Keep that for later.  You might be able to use it later.  Maybe you add in something you hadn't planned, but will now be important.  It also helps to have some names, descriptions and random encounters already rolled up.  You never know when your players are going to go off the path, trust me.

4) For the one offs, don't get too specific, unless you know every direction your players are going to go, but have a general idea and pre-rolled bad guys.  Just because they don't go to the bandit camp, doesn't mean you can't have an ambush of bandits on the road to where ever they are going.

5)Ask your players what they are looking for.  Do they want dungeon crawls or an in-depth murder mystery?  It will make a difference.

Happy Roleplaying!