Dming my first campaign soon, story is gonna be about uniting a bunch of regions against a demon lord, how many ways do you think the PC's will derail this one?
If you include succubi they will do things to them. Maybe enslave them and whore them out too. They may end up doing that if you include females at all...
Oh don't worry i'm counting on that happening
something stupid at the very least
Im sure my friends will be most intelligent during the campaign
>>44293320
Depends on what the players are playing and how they play it.
If there is at least one paladin or cleric in the group you can count on them going full slay the big bad.
If they have one sorcerer or wizard you can expect them trying to betray the party for unlimited power.
But bottom line is if you are planning for the party to unit regions of a world against a demon lord then your GMing wrong.
>>44294637
>your gming wrong
Let me expand on this a little.
Right now you have a plot involving a demon lord, threatening a bunch of kingdoms. And that's all you really need.
Set up a first town for the party to be in that is right smack dab in the center of this conflict. DO NOT tell the players they have to go and unite these kingdoms. Cause then your herding cats you'll hate the players for not following your plot and the players will hate you for not letting them have fun.
If the players end up doing good deeds and end up fighting these demons, then have the kingdoms come to them looking for help. That way it feels less like they are errand boys and more like the quest is revolving around there actions.
Alternatively if they do bad shit have the Demon lord hire them. Or a organization working in proxy with the demon lord.
>>44293320
I predict the party going Chaotic Evil and signing up for the invasion forces. (If there isn't already a demonic invasion, they'll start it.)
Actually I planned to have them start right in the conflict and decide to unite the regions themselves. If they somehow piss off every region, they will have to fight the demon lord's army themselves (Which is nearly impossible)
>>44295690
What if they decide to join the demon lord?
>>44295814
Can't happen, the demon lord is against taking humans in his army (His only goal is to take human souls to gain power) IF they are evil assholes though, they can attempt to take over his army after they kill him.
>>44295690
>nearly impossible
>>44295848
>take over the army after killing him
pick 1
Also bad gming detectedby another bad GM
You do not write the story, anyone that says/thinks the GM is some grand director or story teller is full of themselves.
The players are/should be the driving force of the story, otherwise you get the cycle of self-destruction where everyone just hates each other.
You may HOPE that they unite the kingdoms, but you should be fully prepared for them doing something that is not that at all, because they will, without fail.
There is no trap they can't miss by a single inch. No enemy that they can't SOMEHOW seduce. No trope that they can't subvert. No moral code they can't break yet somehow stay LG.
They have as much say in the story as you do, if not more so. You may set the stage, but they drive the show, once the game starts you can only respond.
>EndStupidRant
tldr; Have them play a world, not a scenario you have in mind.
DND is improvisation, not scripted. If you want the latter, play an MMO.
>>44295848
In all honesty, I've done my best to try and be malleable to what I expect my players to do, Im just worried that something insane will come out of nowhere
No offense, but this is a really quite a trivial plot line.
>>44296497 Eh its my first attempt at dming I could do far worse.
>>44296497
Sounds like the standard adventure path to me. For a first DM it's fine honestly.
>>44296512
Really the plotline about the demon lord is morso the main thing, what really makes up the heart of the story is the different regions and the players connections to them.
>>44296510
Oh sorry, didn't realize that. Good luck. BUT, I do agree with the advice above. Do not expect the players to do ANYTHING. You will only be disappointed and confused what to do next. Set some loose guide lines of events and scenes, but dont script anything.
>>44296542
Thats what I have been working on, and while I do admit the demon overlord plotline is a bit cliche its morso an excuse to get the plot started. The real work I put in was the different leaders. Even then I have fully planned storylines incase the players just want to slaughter everyone
>>44293320
That shirt wouldn't be so bad if they'd at least gotten the face right. It looks more confused and upset than apathetic or grumpy.
thats one thing i never quite got about DMing. you could go to all the trouble of coming up with a great story with complex plot lines, characters, and everything. whats stopping the players from just going 'look over there!!!" and completely ditching you're story? Does the DM just improvise from there? Try to railroad it back maybe? Is there some sort of etiquette the players should adhere to that is respect the Dm's story?
>>44293320
I see you are new here.
Firstly, remove the nametag. This is an anonymous board, not Reddit.
Secondly, click on the numbers "e.g. 44293320" on someone's post to properly reply.
Thirdly, depends on how autistic and lolsorandom your party is. The more 'random' they are, the more you will expect shit like buying 50 pigeons at the start of the campaign.
>>44295848
>Can't happen
Not really something you want to say to your players. What if they all roll evil characters? What if they decide it's something they really want to do and you say no?
>>44293320
The game can only be derailed if it is on rails. You already got a plot, so let that plot happen regardless of what the players do.
If they just mess around, you can still improvise (DM skill #1.) And perhaps they find something that they find more interesting or they do something stupid which causes a new kind of adventure in itself (if you let it).
Players will always, always, ALWAYS do something unpredictable.
