makingawkwardsexy:

So I tried a thing in D&D in the lead up to my next campaign. Not to blow my own horn, but I thought it was a neat idea and I really like that I did it. I haven’t seen it suggested before (not saying it hasn’t) and I just wanted to share an idea, in case it can inspire anyone. 

If you do your own world building, it can be hard to get players to realise aspects of it, or you get the moments where they aren’t quite sure of events related to the world. This is why I decided to do four one shots that are set around the next setting. The players made characters that fit the theme of each one shot:an archaeological expedition sent by a university; some elite paladins sent to investigate a bunch of their church’s missionaries not returning; a coup enacted by hobgoblins to seize control of a city in the background; and evil pirates of the crew that ended up capturing them in their prologue sessions (though there were two spies also in there).

This helped hone in on different aspects of the world and the area that they would be in. I also threw in some cameo NPCs related to backstories or their prologue sessions, or even some that would be future NPCs potentially. And I think they really enjoyed it. 

I enjoy the idea of world building through one shots. Sure you can tell the players of events through exposition, but they will probably remember more if you let them play as the characters involved in the event. It also allows you, as a DM, to experiment. In my one shots I got to try an evil story, a horror story, and one relying on stealth. Sometimes you can railroad a bit, if you have desired outcomes (and it becomes more of a “this is how this major event occurred) or you can have it completely free form and let their success OR failure impact that situation. 

It also gave players a better look at their character’s backstory NPCs – one player saw her character’s father endure something tense and saw an added layer of guilt that might play into why he is how he is. Another thing you can do, if you copy my idea of letting them play as members of your villain’s crew or organisation, you can make them realise how detestable the villain(s) are, or even give them a more human side.

It could help enlighten you on motivations, locations, characters, and such. 

tldr; doing world building one shots rather than explaining copious amounts of lore might be one of the most fun ideas that I have tried.