Using the Internet to Enhance a D&D Campaign

The Internet has revolutionized many aspects of society, including gaming. MUDs, on line games, and the web have allowed gamers from across the world interact. What has been overlooked, though, is the Internet's potential to enhance the typical D&D game. The digital frontier doesn't have to be the sole province of the Quakes and Starcrafts of the world. While computers still haven't replaced the possibilities of face to face gaming, that doesn't mean that they can't help enhance your campaign. With modern life as hectic as it is, computers can be an important tool in helping keep your D&D group together despite the demands of work or school. The ease of publishing material on the Internet makes it a powerful tool for DMs. It is a great way to keep keep in touch with your players and to flesh out your campaign world.

One very powerful tool is a web site. Everyone and their brother has one, so why not you? There are plenty of places on the Internet that offer free web space. Most service providers, such as AOL, offer free web space as part of their subscription plans.

Obviously, if you don't know how to make a web page, the first thing you'll need to do is learn Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML for short. HTML is the common tongue of the web, a very simple language used to create web pages. An HTML tutorial is beyond the scope of this article, but there are plenty of resources out there to get you started. Check your local bookstore's computer section for beginner's guides to HTML. Also, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications has a rather nice tutorial available on the web. You can find it at <http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html>. That should be more than enough to get you started.

A web site is an excellent method for getting information to your players. You can design the coolest game world ever made, but if your players never learn much about it, your work is wasted. Instead of spending time that could be used for gaming explaining your campaign background or filling players in on your world's latest events, post that information on your site. A great idea is to create a newsletter for your game. You can use it to feed your players information about events in the game world, such as wars, discoveries, and the activities of friends and foes. This way, you can provide your players with plot hooks and ideas that bring them to the gaming table with plans and plots already in their heads. Rather than spend time finding the adventure, they can dive right on in and get the most out of every gaming session. Think of your web site as a source for campaign info that's always available to your players, no matter how busy you might be. Taking care of explanations and background work with the web lets you spend your game sessions enjoying the adventure rather than preparing for it.

You can also let players design and post pages about their characters' victories, opinions, and background. Many gamers use a character journal to keep track of their characters' deeds and journeys. Post this information on the site and let everyone in the game watch as their characters grow and change. This method is also a great way to deal with down time between adventures. Players can write up short vignettes about their character's life outside of adventuring, which helps breath more life into the campaign. Wily DMs can also use a character's daily life to draw him into adventures and entangle him in a villain's plans.

If you have access to a scanner, you can scan and post maps and diagrams of locations in your game. This makes it easy to whip up handouts and also helps familiarize players with your camapaign without spending gaming time on exposition. If you have some artistic ability, you can also post pictures of important NPCs, monsters, and scenes.

E-mail is another handy tool for the digital DM. Obviously, it's a good way to keep in touch with your gaming group and to make plans for the next game. That's not all that a DM can use e-mail for, though. One way to keep the players interested in your game is to write in-character messages to the players. In fact, you could probably play some very simple scenarios over the internet via e-mail. If the characters embark on a long journey, you can send them details and updates on their characters' trip. Describe the weather conditions, any interesting sights or events, or even introduce a new NPC and roleplay him via e-mail. Your players can describe their characters' reactions to events and do a little roleplaying to set the scene for your next gaming session. E-mail is also a handy tool to resolve events that only affect one character, such as a fighter's building a castle or a mage's researching a new spell. Rather than force the rest of the group to sit and wait for you to finish handling a single player's projects, you can take care of everything via e-mail, leaving more time for adventuring while still taking care of bookkeeping and side activities.

E-mail is a great way to keep players who miss a session in touch with the game. After each session, send a summary of its events to your players. This gives them an instant log of everything that has happened in your game and also helps build a sense of continuity. Much like providing information on your web site, a weekly e-mail summary helps everyone keep tabs on what's happening in your game and fills in the blanks for players who miss a session. Another benefit of e-mail is that it makes it easier to welcome new players into your group. Let the new guy exchange a few rounds of in-character (messages written from a character's point of view) and out of character e-mail with the rest of the group. This lets new players feel comfortable with the group before the first game and lets you introduce the new character without using up time that could be spent adventuring. Even if you don't have new characters to introduce to the game, this method is a great way to develop character personalities and intra-party relationships.

There are two ways to manage e-mail. The first method is the easiest but can quickly get out of control. Send messages to everyone at once. All replies to your messages, such as questions or character actions, are sent to everyone in the group. This cuts down on your management and bookeeping, but it can cause problems if some players have greater access to e-mail than others. Those who are willing and able to write more e-mail will quickly come to dominate events handled in this manner. Also, players may become frustrated waiting for you to respond to e-mails. If a player wants to attempt an action, the rest of the group may have to wait for a ruling from you before they can attempt any actions.

The second way to manage group e-mail requires a bit more work but is much easier to handle if everyone does not have equal access to the Internet. Rather than sending their responses to everyone, the players send one response to your e-mail to you per day. At the end of the day, collect the e-mails sent to you and weave them into a narrative text. Once you're done with that, send it back to the players and let them react to the NPCs' and each other's actions.

One key point to keep in mind is that not everyone will have the time outside of your gaming sessions to keep up with e-mail. It is important that no one feels left out of the game if they do not have easy or regular access to e-mail. Be sure to mold this approach to fit your gaming group's needs and wants. E-mail is great for background events, stuff that adds depth and background to a game, but save major events such as combat or a pivotal role playing encounter for the gaming table.

With these digital tools in your bag of DM tricks, you can now manage your campaign in a more efficient, faster manner. The Internet has revolutionized the way we communicate. The more information you can get to your players before a game begins, the more time you can spend playing instead of explaining.