Map from last week’s +1 ongoing homebrew. The Paladin of Puress, Cleric of Dracori and Wizard/Necromancer arrive at, and just entered the lair Wizard’s former master, who is a lich in the process of reconstituting his body after recent attempted murder by the Wizard and another apprentice (who the wizard has since tricked the party into killing). The Druid was off on her own (Sometimes Separate Them is just handed to you, HA!) so I needed to switch focus to her, but wanted to make use of the down time, too. I handed the Wizard’s player a map and a marker and said:
“He’s your former Master, you know the lay out of the lair better than anyone else. You draw the map.”. Then I switched focus on the Druid and her storyline.
When I was done with her, the Wizard’s player explained the room’s layout and then we ended the adventure there. Next week will be the thrilling conclusion of their encounter.
I liked this because it both saved me time and insured that the player’s would be fighting in an arena they WANTED to fight in. Also it sorted of embodied the “Leave Blanks” spirit. None more blank, one might say.
If I were to give any piece of advice to new GM’s is this: In DW it’s OK to hand off stuff to the players and have them do it for you. Not sure of what’s in town. Ask the player’s what they want or need from a town. Drawing a blank for an NPC, ask the player “She’s/He’s clearly not a local, from his accent where are they originally from? Why did they move here?”, etc..