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Need some writing advice for dnd


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Ok so I don’t really know any other sites or people that have decent writing advice for a dnd campaign(it is not omo related)  so i ask here

(Side note this campaign is set in the 1960’s)

anyways I need help with the main antagonist’s power he is from the future(about 2013) and was a police officer who went rouge after discovering his best friend was a murderer and had to kill him, in essence his power is he abused the grandfather paradox (if you go back in time and kill your grandfather he dies you aren’t born how did he die) my idea is he has a history book that charts each attack and event that will take place but I’m not sure how to explain his power but an idea i want to implement is that he leaves a mark in his book each time he dies so the pc’s get in a fight with him and he leaves say the fifth mark in his book (like reloading a boss fight over and over till you win) but i have no idea how to implement this power and explain how is power works (my rule in this campaign is if you can explain it you can do it)

 

so any ideas or recommendations my next dnd game is on Wednesday so if you are going to comment do it before then I thank you in advance   

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That sounds really cool! I'm not to sure about what version you're running, (i.e. if its d20 D&D), or all the other details, but one possible idea to explain the antagonist's power could be to have him die/get captured, either by losing a fight or a planned surrender (Maybe the antagonist knew he'd lose all along, and is preparing a scheme?)

Either way, allow your players to investigate the antagonist's possessions and find the book. Have them make a History/Investigation check (or whatever skill check you deem applicable). If they roll high enough (with a DC of your choice), tell them that the book goes on to detail a series of events that have occurred in the past, are occurring, or have yet to occur.

Point out some specific events to boost the book's credibility as a predictor of the future, perhaps events that involve your playerss' characters' backstories (ex. If the book knows specific details of say, the night when their parents disappeared that would only have been observable by a direct witness- stuff the news articles never reported). 

Have the events tie into your players' stories, the goal being to make the book seem like a credible account of what has happened or is currently happening in your world- so that when the book starts to go into detail about future events, its all the more alarming.

Since its the 1960s, have the book detail something either significant to your players or the world setting, say, a detailed account of how one of the party's allies will die or the potential outcome of a historical event (the Cold War, JFK assassination, etc.).

Your players don't have to believe the events will occur, but make them significant enough to be world-changing either for themselves or for everything they know about the world. However, before they get too far into the book- the pages begin to turn on their own, turning to the blank page with the marks, as another mark appears and the antagonist escapes (resurrecting, if they were killed), the book vanishing with them.

Show, don't tell. Leave your party to figure out what the hell just happened and where the book just went. Have them discover that the antagonists' body disappeared or that they're no longer in their cell, hinting that they now have the book. Establish your setting, your players' place said setting, your villain, his motives and final goals, and improvise the rest. Make it intriuguing, make it fit your villain, fit your world, fit your style.

I find that the best advice for running D&D is to first know both yourself and your players, and to build your campaign with them rather than being constantly against them. If you know you might not be able to explain how his power works in order for them to piece it together, or that your players might not get it, maybe that's when you tell them outright/hint at it- try not to spoil the reveal though, and certainly don't railroad/force them into it.

Second, remember that you're there to not only enforce the rules, but to enable fun. Establish that the book is the antagonist's source of power somehow, and if your players destroy it, let them have their victory. You can always introduce the next adventure, if there are still unresolved conflicts or potential sources of it in your campaign, again from either character backstories or events.

Anyway, I hope this helps and that everything goes great!

Edited by LittleRaven556 (see edit history)
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My idea is the antagonist is from the future and the book has no special abilities or anything just a book i figured the book ended up where antagonist would find it in the future then retrace his steps to the point where he died but this time the book has his notes from the last incarnation of him so he could predict more and more attacks the more times he “dies”  he is the one writing the book thats what i have worked out but thanks for the recommendations but this campaign has a rule that you can bs any power you want as long as there is a somewhat logical explanation for example one character uses there body movements to channel wind around them and attack with it  

And also there are some difficult questions about this campaign for like one person decided to play as jotaro kujo(jojos bizarre adventure) and this takes place before that series so difficult turf 

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