No, this post isn’t about The Little Mermaid. Rather, I’ve been thinking about how I, as a DM, can make players feel as if their characters are part of a bigger, wider world. Oftentimes, the story’s focus on the party makes it appear that they’re the center of the universe as opposed to one small (albeit extremely important) part of it.

I remember the first time that I felt that my character was part of something bigger. It was during the first campaign I ever played, and the party was infiltrating a keep while some Lord’s army was assaulting the fortress’ outer walls. We’d chosen to teleport on its roof and work our way down. The plan worked reasonably well, but what I remember most is Gaines’ character climbing a rampart and using a makeshift flag to signal the assaulting army that we’d taken the keep and that they could…