Introduction
The Planner is an archetype recognized by Introversion, Intuition, Thinking, and Judging traits. Some would call you a thoughtful strategist, assessing every detail of life while weaving the power of your imagination with undisturbed rationale. The world within your head is quite the intricate detail system, though it is kept private most days.
When it comes to TTRPGs, there is a robust amount of wisdom or insight at your disposal. A strong sense of independence means there are worlds to explore, and you have mentally designed the possibilities. Dozens of scattered notes fill your mind, and perhaps several folders (digital or otherwise) are filled. The greatest challenge you face is finding people who can keep up with your endless investigation of everything around you.
Dozens of Scattered Notes Fill Your Mind
Game Mastering Styles
When it comes to the type of Game you run, there is a certain passion for a structured system that gives room for creative liberties. Tables with too many players, dozens of moving pieces, and all with fixed rules are interesting to learn about but are generally not where you will sit for long. However, the opposite side of the spectrum gains the same treatment as something with too few rules can be too open-ended for you to feel a sense of discovery.
In addition, you place a sense of value in a system or setting that has a library of information that you can then research. If you can take the time to learn more about the functions to understand how it truly works, then you can find a way to break them creatively. There is a sense of anticipation that comes from you when new content is published, mainly when it is a reinvention of something you have already gained confidence in comprehension.
You Place a Sense of Value in a System or Setting that Has a Library of Information
Ultimately, you choose content that can have depth that you can explore, and you choose a table that can appreciate the level of insight you have in regard to said content.
Storytelling Style
Your mind never truly stops. There is nearly never a minute where you are ruminating on your campaigns or exploring more concepts for your world-building. You recognize the world that you are running is living and ever-changing like the one that you live in, and that level of consideration is evident in your delivery. You take into account the minor details, although you have noted them, choosing not to focus on them and instead determine the more significant impact of those facts. Your critical thinking works best when considering the consequences of actions, and the stories have a more significant impact because even the smallest detail becomes a mountain for you later.
Your Mind Never Truly Stops
You learn facts that may be considered irrelevant to the game itself, particularly in the system’s design, and use those to add depth to each story being told. Every NPC met has been placed with care, every combat has been building since the first indiscretion, and every clue is delivered to conclude a uniquely crafted puzzle.
This also means that you consider the theme necessary for each story and request that players follow this theme. You may be willing to adjust the scene as necessary for a creative story, but you are least likely to allow for broad genre-bending activities. Independent expression is acceptable so long as it fits within the confines of the established circumstances.
Table Management
Rules exist for a reason, they are not meant to be broken, but that does not mean that they cannot be bent. You probably know a large amount of the rules as they were written and have even taken note of the rules as they were intended. Players can’t manage to cheat or metagame at your table because you can see through it.
It's About total immersion with your players
It is not a matter of distrust, though, as you are not one that stifles creativity, but that doesn’t mean you do not recognize a discrepancy in what is standard. You are even known to break the rules, but the rules you choose to ignore or change are because the original was an imbalance, unfair, or unnecessary. You examine playtest materials, popular supplements, and online discussions regarding homebrew and find the most reasonable ideas to fit into your table.
You are no stranger to reskinning official stat blocks to create something entirely new or reworking them to feel more fulfilling. With a focus on a well-rounded and complete experience, campaigns are your choice, and long-term structure is the basis for your decisions. Downtime activities, player inventory management, and stories about building something play into your format. It is not about having in-depth mechanics to establish a strong story; it’s about total immersion in a world with your players.
Session Resources
When it comes to fulfilling a game, you are all about world building and sharing the encyclopedia of what you have made. The details aren’t as minute as knowing every plant life, but you certainly have the general gazetteer of each location a party may visit. Maps, reference images, details about local creatures, and definitely all the rumors regarding political intrigue.
It's About total immersion with your players
You may not go as far as learning to be an actor for each NPC, a cartographer for each map, or designing handouts for each bit of lore but most of their details are planned out and prepared to some degree. Your most incredible tool is your collection of information which helps when it comes to establishing long term campaigns.
In the end, you would be more than satisfied with a table covered in paper and pencils, with each person having a set of dice to play. It is in your mind where the most incredible experiences have been planned out, so it is in that theater that you perform.
The Game Master's Toolbox:
- World Anvil: A worldbuilding program that helps you create, organize and store your setting with detailed wiki-like organization and interactive maps to store your notes.
- DnD Beyond: An excellent place for digital character creation and creating a campaign group for easy roll shares and sheet management.
- Notion (TTRPG University Notion Templates)
- Evernote
- DnD Beyond’s Encounter Builder: I’ve heard it’s helpful. You can build an encounter and determine its difficulty level based on math.
Role Generator: You can randomly generate everything from cities, to magic items, to herbs, to NPCs. https://www.rolegenerator.com/
- Inkarnate: For fantasy world and city maps. Yearly subscription.
- Wonderdraft: For fantasy world and city maps. One-time purchase.
- Dungeon Scrawl: For creating flat and isometric dungeon maps. Completely free.
- Dungeondraft: Building and Dungeon crawl maps, full color.
- Azgaar Github Fantasy Map Generator
- Dungeon Fog: Free map-making tool
- Dungeon Map Doodler
- Spotify: There are so many D&D playlists to choose from, or, pick your favorite video game tracks to play.
- Syrinscape: With Syrinscape, you can control the master playlist and players can decide their preferred volume from their end.
- YouTube Premium: Put on a 3-hour ambiance video without commercial interruptions.
- Google Forms
- TTRPG University Google Forms to Copy
- DMs Guild: A place to find supplemental guides and campaigns to enhance your official D&D content.
- Drive Thru RPG: The all-TTRPG sister of DMs Guild.
- The Monsters Know: A book series about monster tactics and strategies to help enhance gameplay.
- Point Buy Calculator: Doing a character sheet from scratch? This will help so much with the number crunching. https://chicken-dinner.com/5e/5e-point-buy.html
- DnD Beyond: The best place to build a digital character sheet. Fully connected to all the official D&D content. Makes leveling up take about 30 seconds.
- Wild Shape Tracker: Super helpful for druids. https://arcaneeye.com/apps/wildshape-tracker/
- Character Backstory Template: https://arcaneeye.com/dm-tools-5e/dnd-character-backstory-template/
- Xanathar’s Guide to Everything: I use this particular book ALL the time to help build my character backstories. There are roll tables in the “This is Your Life” chapter.
- Google Dice Roller: Super simple. Go to Google, type “dice roller,” and you have a dice roller.
- Roll Dice With Friends: You can give your temporary room a custom name, share the link with your friends, and all roll together!
- Owlbear Rodeo (straightforward and intuitive)
- Canva (DIY, simplified VTT)
- Roll20 (complicated learning curve)
- Foundry VTT
- Norse Foundry
- Shard
- Tablespire
- Tabletop Simulator
- Fantasy Grounds
lifetime access
The Organized Game Master
End the overwhelm that comes with running multiple games.
