Thursday, September 8, 2016

Strategy & The Long Game



The DM Tutorial classes have been such a success.  As of late I have been thinking and blocking out a book I could be writing in six months to a year - and the basis of that book has already given me enough insight to add another class to the three I have already launched.

Those who have already taken the class may be interested in taking one more lesson from me; others may feel that a sequence of four gives them more bang for their campaigns than three might have.  We'll just have to see.

The above class is on strategy: digging in and having a go at making your world more than a some-time thing, something that will sustain itself and help individuals become better persons as well as better dungeon masters.  Being able to devise a strategy, having that ability in one's toolbox, goes a lot farther than just making a long-lasting RPG.  It can be the tool that sets you, the individual, up for life.

The class runs 60-90 minutes, as all the classes have.  I'm confident that I can immerse the student in what one needs to know about strategy making.  It ought to be a great course - and quite possibly the one that someone might want to take in order to test the water with me as a tutor.

4 comments:

  1. I don't think this question applies to your usual audience, but I think it might be worth asking anyway.

    For those DMs who use a pre-built setting for whatever reason, be that nostalgia, the time constraints, or what have you, what would be your advice/ how might you tailor your class to suit such an individual?

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  2. Arduin,

    I think that creating a strategy for the future still applies, if you expect to be playing D&D ten years from now. Are you going to use this pre-built setting for all of that time? Are you going to add anything new to your campaign? Are you certain that your players, or YOU, will not tire of your present method? If the day comes that nostalgia isn't feeding all your needs, are you ready to quit the game? Or would you be open to taking the next step?

    From a different standpoint, are you certain that you're doing everything for your players that you can? Are you thinking of their future needs, their satisfaction, their need for purpose or sense of accomplishment? Are you certain that, in ten years, that while you're still the DM, these will still be your players? Do you care? Or are you satisfied to run new people forever, never experiencing what it is like when a group of people have played together so long that the game itself has a greater measure?

    I think my audience consists of everyone playing the game, Arduin - even though many of them have not taken the time to think through what might happen ten years from now, even three years from now or next year. This is why so many DMs are suddenly blindsided by the end of university or the onset of someone's marriage/offspring. Suddenly, the group is falling apart and no steps have been taken to manage the fallout.

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