Make Your RPG Battles More Exciting and Memorable

Use different weapons and levels of terrain.

Do you have a battle prepared with bandits on the road?

 Sounds simple. And boring.

 Instead of all the bandits lining up and using swords, have a few bandits in up the trees. Having archers shooting down onto the party adds a new level to the combat.

 Players will have to defend from above and below. Have the same types of enemies use different types of weapons. Place the battle on multiple levels of terrain.

Use more magic.

Place a bandit who is hiding in the trees with a wand of magic missile to shake things up.

Spell casting can add a lot more obstacles to a simple battle.

A bad guy can cast entangle or a fog cloud.

 Some more powerful enemies can heal themselves with potions and magic.

 Letting the enemies use magic will always be more memorable than a couple grunts with swords.

Use Traps.

  Maybe the bandits placed traps in the road for the players to avoid or disable.

 The terrain itself can end up being an encounter on its own. Use traps, pressure plates, caltrops or simple trip wires to slow the players down.

Getting attacked by swords is fun, but a sword fight where you have to avoid traps is a lot more engaging.

Maybe the players will have to get around a cloud of poison gas. Get through a couple locked doors.

Have spike traps that pop up every other round or a magic trap that damages players every turn until a puzzle is solved.

Use The Environment.

  Make the land itself more exciting. Fighting bandits on the road in the forest? Good start. Perhaps the road is now on the edge of a cliff, or the bandits attack on an old bridge.

 Maybe the fight takes place in the fire swamp where everyone will have to avoid quicksand and fire traps.

How about a duel inside a building on fire with the roof crashing down on the combatants. Maybe a cave is collapsing around you.

Diversify your monster types.

Have monsters with different abilities fight alongside the bandits.

A sword fight against bandits just got weird when one of them changes into a werewolf.

Maybe the fight disturbs a nest of giant spiders or an owl-bear. It's not so simple a sword fight anymore when some wood nymphs are trying to protect their trees.

The fight with the wizard just got more complicated when you find out he has an ogre body guard or he commands a tribe of knolls to fight for him.

Add Personality to your bad guys.

  Make the enemies more human and relate-able.

Give all the random bandits some names.

John and Erin get sad or angry when they see their comrades die in battle.

 The enemies can talk to the players on their turns and try to make deals.

Maybe they decide to run away and get revenge on the players later.

 Maybe the bandits were just following orders and don't want to get killed in a random battle.

   When a goblin gets killed, another one suddenly cries out, "Gratz! Don't die today! you are my only brother!"

 This is great for adding detail and world building. They aren't just random enemies anymore when they have thoughts and feelings.

The NPC's aren't just simple meat for the grinder. The best battles will mean something to somebody. Including enemies.

   During the obligatory tavern brawl, the players might have accidentally killed the daughter of a nobleman. Now it's not just a random bar fight, its part of the story.

  -The players will have to figure out what to do when the guards come asking around.

   -The nobles could do a lot to try to get revenge.

  -They could send assassins to kill the players.

   -The nobles could outlaw weapons and magic items throughout the land.

  -The players could get arrested for murder.

Put more obstacles in the players way.

The players might need to solve a puzzle or get past a magic portal or gate before they can kill the bad guy.

Make the players fight through a few waves of enemies before they reach the boss.

Give the big boss a shield or force field the players need to take down before they can hurt him. All while the boss can still hit them.

Make the players cast a ritual spell that takes more than one turn to cast.

Give the players an objective that is different from just killing enemies.

The party needs to get the contents of a treasure chest before the bandits do.

The players might need to solve a puzzle or get past a magic portal or gate before they can kill the bad guy.

The bandits could have hostages that the players need to save.

Maybe a bandit is using a weapon or magic item that the players need for their quest.

The players could be tasked with stopping an evil cult from performing a ritual before time runs out and the bandits are in the way.

Create some kind of time limit will make a battle more intense. They only have 4 rounds before the magic orb explodes.

Save the hostages before they get killed.

Stop a magic artifact before it burns down the whole forest.

 Add narrative flavor and to the attacks and movements.

focusing on the numbers can get boring really quickly.

 Explain why the goblin rolled a 1 and missed his attack.

 He just saw his fellow tribesmen get slaughtered by the PC's, of course he would get a little rattled.

 If a roll is close but doesn't hit, talk about how the arrow hit the armor and bounced off.

Talk about how the player was just an inch away from dodging a sword to the face.

Everyone likes to explain in detail how they hit a guy. Describe the misses too.

Make it personal.

  If you have ample time to prepare an ongoing campaign, make each encounter personal to the characters back story or the goal of the current mission.

A player is on the way to find their missing brother?

 Erin the bandit used to work with the missing brother and has info on him.

If you are a good DM you can make this stuff up on the spot.

Have the characters talk during battle. John the bandit might know the location of the lost dungeon the players are looking for.

The missing brother could have owed money to the bandits or there was a secret love triangle with some of them.

If you plan this well, you won't ever need random encounters. The villains goals can be just as much a part of the story at the players.

 You don't have to add all of these things to every battle of course, that would make things complicated very quickly.

Help out and communicate with your players.

Give players hints about monster resistances and other special abilities.

The game will go slowly if you have skeletons who resist piercing damage and all the players are using swords.

 Let the players notice that the swords aren't effective.

Have them roll perception checks or knowledge checks to realize that a hammer or club would do a better job.

There is no need to waste your players time. 

Don't let the battle go on forever when each player is only doing 3 damage.

Players will appreciate the help and feel more accomplished when they figure stuff out. but you have to give them clues.

Characters have a lot of abilities and sometimes players won't know about them, or won't know what they do.

 It is your job as the DM to give hints and suggestions.

Have more experienced players help out the group to free up your time.

Speed up the battle.

 Delegate everything to your players to make the battles go faster.

Have a player keep track of initiative for you.

Have a player check the stats of each other character so the players know what they have.

If you have a small battle with goblins that are not imperative to the plot line, have a player keep track of the goblins hit points.

This gives you extra time to plan on whats next, or role play a conversation during battle.

 Have players draw maps for you.

Ask for a players help to move around minis and other game pieces.

Most players are always willing to help, and you should let them. It frees up your time and the players feel more involved.

  Tell players that you expect them to know what dice they are rolling and what modifiers and bonuses to add.

The DM should take time at the beginning of the game to help players out so it will run smoothly later on.

   If players are ready and know what they are doing, you can shave off some extra time in battle. Have players roll all their attacks and damage dice at the same time.

I have a way to use initiative that speeds up the battles and helps communicate whats going on in my games. Maybe you should ask about it.

Be An Adaptable DM For an Immersive Game

  Telling your players that they can't do something will suck the fun out of any game.

   Be able to improvise. Let the players try to seduce the dragon. Let them steal the deed to the ranch. The more you can adapt to what the players want, the more fun you'll have and the more interesting stories you'll get to tell.

  If a player can justify how they can jump 20 feet into the air, let them do it. Tell me how exactly your ranger grew up jumping through the trees I'll let you roll for it. Then maybe it will happen.

   Some one wants to charm the dwarf princess? Let them try. Make them tell you precisely what they want to say to her. Not only will they have to roll for it, but the have to say it. Have them turn on the charm for you along with making a roll. If the performance is good and they roll well, the princess just might be charmed, or at least a little more friendly. Let a player try something instead of denying their efforts right away.

  A player wants to try to kill the king? They can certainly try. The 20 guards and the court of wizards might have a say about it. As a DM you have the power to stop and start the action. An action won't happen unless you say it does.

   Let the players try things, but make them work for it. They want to dress as guards and try to sneak into the city? Have them roll charisma or intuition checks. Have them make knowledge checks too.
"Were you the guards who were coming back from hunting wolves? I don't see any pelts on you"

   Be adaptive to the rules too. Don't look something up because it always slows the game down. Come up with a decision on the spot. Have a player look it up when it's not their turn. Make up your own house rules. Look up the rule later and then adapt to it if works with your story.

  Don't be afraid to make things up and add detail and character to your world. Players will always have questions, and it is nearly impossible to prepare everything. So stay flexible with your in-game world building. If a player asks the name of a random NPC on the street, make it up. If it's a random person, the name doesn't have to be special, just call him John Doe. Who cares. You definitely won't need to prepare stats for him. Make sure you write down his name so it maintains continuity if the players ever ask about him again.

 Do the players want to explore a cave or a building that wasn't prepared? Make it up. Do it. Let them explore. Give them something simple to find. Maybe some one stashed a small weapon or a coin purse in the cave. Or there's evidence of an animal sleeping there. Or they find a silver ring under the rocks. You don't have to make up something epic or exciting. Have something there, even if it is simple. Finding something will always be better than a player finding nothing at all. Your world will seem a lot more "lived in" and interesting if there is something there to find. No one wants to play in an empty world. Discovering two gold pieces is always better than finding nothing at all.

 It's also OK to tell the players that you haven't prepared something. They'll understand. It's easier to tell that truth than to try to lie you way out of something. If you start making up crappy excuses as to why players can't do something, they'll feel railroaded and see right through it. Your world suddenly got rigid and and fake. So tell them that something wasn't prepared. Give them something rather than nothing.

  Be patient with players and expect your players to do the same for the group. Every player wants to do something epic and exciting every turn. A lot of players take their time to plan tactics and strategy,  or try to figure out what to do. If your players are having a hard time making a decision, it's OK to help your players and give them hints. Sometimes making a simple attack is the best option.

If the players are stuck on puzzles or riddles, give hints in the guise of the characters knowledge and experience. Say something like, "Your character has fought these creatures before, you know that they are weak to fire." Or, "You've lived in these woods along side the elf tribes for a long time, you remember the elvish word for 'friend'."
   A players knowledge of the world will be a lot less than what their characters know. You as the DM will always know more about your world, so help your players out. The group doesn't gain anything from a secretive DM. No one will want to play with an unhelpful dungeon master, so don't be that guy.

  Players can get frustrated easily when they are stuck on something. Help them out. You and your players will enjoy the game a lot more when you help them out, instead of allowing the party to be stuck for a long time. You have control over how long something takes. Try to get a sense of how your players are feeling. Don't let them get stuck or frustrated.

  If a player wants do a cool move or attack on their turn, go ahead and let them. If their choices don't impede on your story or the players enjoyment, why the hell not!? Let your player do a parkour move off the side of a boulder in order to stab an enemy in the neck. Let them make a dexterity or tumble check along with their attack roll. If they succeed, they'll feel great for pulling off a cool move. If they fail, it will still be a lot more interesting for the player than being denied that option. Don't immediately dismiss their ideas. You can make the situation a lot more interesting if they do fail. Maybe the bad guys catches them in the air, or the player slips off the rocks and falls on their face.         Whatever happens will be more memorable than you saying "No" and sucking the fun out of the game. The whole point of the game is to provide fun for the group as a whole. Let your players try things. Do not be a fun-sucker. No one wants to play with a nitpicking micromanaging DM.

  Let your players leave the table if it isn't their turn. Let them come and go and they'll still find enjoyment out of the game. Battles can last a long time, and people will need breaks. Take a break at least every two hours. Reset and refresh your mind, especially as a Dungeon Master. It doesn't matter how long you play, as long as there are breaks happening. If you have the right players, you can go all night!

  If you have something prepared and the players don't find it, let them find it anyway. There is no point in letting your hidden treasure go to waste. If you don't want to give players a straight answer, at least give them clues or a lead they can follow. Give them the choice to explore, let them ask questions. If they don't, then you at least gave them the option to unravel your thread of clues. If you don't give hints or clues the players won't know what to do. You need to tell them something. It is your job to communicate to your group. If you don't say anything, they won't know about it. You cannot expect players to find something if you haven't told them about it. Don't expect players to know what to do, if you haven't laid the groundwork for them first.

  The goal of the game is to have fun. Every time you dismiss an idea or say no, the less fun players will have. We want more fun, not less.

  Good luck and have fun!

Creating an Unforgettable D&D Character

   Today I'm focusing more on personality traits and backstories. Nothing here about numbers or stats. So you can use these ideas for any rpg system.

   There will be a lot of questions for you to think about. Get brainstorming!

   Choose a Race. 

Do you want pointy ears? Demon Horns? or the extra abilities you get as a more versatile human?
 
   A lot of players choose race to boost their stats based on their class. You want to be a strong fighter, be a half orc or a dwarf that boosts strength. A halfling thief will have more dexterity than most. I'm sure you want to do something you don't get to do in real life.

   Don't be that player who wants to be a dragon. It makes the game harder for everyone. You can totally do it if your DM lets you of course, but you should definitely ask about that one first.

Find the class and their abilities that are right for you.

How does your character like to fight?

How brave/stupid are they?

Would they rather heal their friends instead of seeking out a fight? Be a cleric or a bard.

Would they make tactical plans instead of jumping headfirst into battle?

Would they prefer to make weapons or brew potions instead of fighting?

Would they rather sneak up behind their enemies or karate chop them to death? Rogue or monk.

Would you like to throw fireballs or sing a song to inspire your friends?

Do you spend all your time hugging trees and raising animals? Druid.

Personalities are not classes!

Classes are simply what determines the abilities your character uses.

Personality is how they act and feel, how they interact with the world around them.

Remember, that classes aren't necessarily a characters personality. 

All barbarians aren't stupid, like Bruce Banner. All clerics aren't brainwashed religious nuts. 

The comic Rat Queens does very well to turn character tropes around. A fighters day job could be a talented chef.

Batman's personality is a lot different than Deadpool's. But their goals are almost the same. Protect innocence people and make their world a better place.

   Use a personality you like. if you can't think of a good idea it is okay to copy a famous movie star or character from any other media. 

  Do you want to be Indiana Jones or Jack Burton? Are you John Wick or Marty Mcfly? Is your character more like Jack Black than Will Smith? Could you be the next Picard or Mal Reynolds? Steal a personality idea and make it your own. Are you Arya Stark or John Snow? Are you more like Legolas or Bilbo?

  Find words that describe a personality or emotion you can base your character on. Are you loving or closed off? Boisterous or stoic? Lazy or intense? Bossy or rude? How do other people perceive your character? Do they want you at all their dinner parties? Or do they tolerate you like an offensively dull co-worker? Is your character only nice to certain people? Are they introverts who can only talk to laid back people?
 
Develop a voice or accent for your character.

   This adds personality right away. It also helps everyone at the table know if it's you or your character talking. Do you want to sound like LeeLoo or Wonder Woman?

   Maybe your character was burnt in a planet full of lava and now you sound like Darth Vader or Stephen Hawking. You don't have to have a specific accent. Maybe your character talks slower or faster than you do.

 Simple backstories are the most effective.

Try to tone down the idea into two or three sentences.
 
   Give us a simple elevator pitch; I'm a cut purse who grew up on the streets of a shady port town. I ended up traveling with a caravan of merchants to sell snake oil. Now I'm adventuring to meet my long lost sister and maybe make some extra gold along the way.

   If you can tone it down this simply, it becomes a lot more memorable and exciting. No one wants to read your 5 page history. You can write that history of course, but find a way to tone it down and get an essence of the character.

  How did your characters family die? Oh wait, not everyone is an orphan?! Your aunt and uncle didn't die in a fire and inspire you to fight the empire? Maybe your parents got killed when you were a baby and now their killer is a dark lord who wants to attack your high school.

As far as backstories go, you can make up whatever you want. Don't worry about being totally original, because it's all been done before. Put your own spin on it. Who cares if it's already been done, as long as you enjoy it.

  Keep your backstory pretty simple. If it gets too long, it gets harder to add things to it later on during the game. The DM needs something to work off of and your fellow party members should have a way to add their characters to your story.

   Plan with the other players and dungeon master. Maybe the players are all from the same village that was destroyed by orc bandits during the rat wars and now all of you want to get revenge. Maybe your character is a mob boss and your party needs to take out a few rival gang members.

Make sure your character has a goal

  I think the most important thing for a character is a goal. This can directly be related to how you character sees the world and how the world sees you. Do you want to find love? Or do you just want the world to see how smart you are?

   A goal could be as simple as wanting to live alone in your swamp and it eventually brings you love and adventure. Having a goal or a mission will help out the DM with adding your character to the story. Give the DM something to use so your character can be directly involved with whatever is going on.

   Are you looking for your missing brother? Trying to save a soldier named Ryan? Do you want to learn a new powerful spell? Or obtain a legendary weapon? Do you want money?  Or fame? Do you want to save your homeland from a dragon who invaded years ago? Did your mommy get killed by vampires and now you have sworn revenge?

Character goals work with personality.

What does your character care about?

If your character had to fight, what would it be for? Family? Friends? Money? Political power?

Does your character want to control armies or own a large shipping company?

Would your character fight for her homeland or find the easiest way to survive?

Is your character an explorer or scientist? Do they want to study magic or exotic creatures?

Do you want to study mythology or history of your world?

Do you want to craft epic magical weapons or technology to make life easier?

Does your character want to see an elf city in the trees or visit the astral plane and talk to angels?

Do you want to own a castle and have a fancy title?

Don't create a character that won't interact or play well with the group. 

RPG's are group games! You need to be interacting with the party and helping them out.

  Your lone wolf type won't be every fun if they aren't talking to anyone. It's OK to be a loner as long as you are still a part of the game. There is no reason a group of characters would work with someone who doesn't work with them. The characters have every right to kick your character out of  the party if they aren't playing well.

   If you want to lone wolf it, talk to a DM about running a solo game. Or make sure the rest of the group agrees before the game starts.

Work Together
   Create with the entire group brainstorming ideas. It also makes the beginning of the game easier if all the characters already know each other and have a common goal.

How to plan a new RPG campaign with your players; Session Zero

Session zero is the first session starting a campaign for your game.

This is when you first get your players together, everyone meets to create characters and decide on the type of game and play style. 

Session zero will be more character building and planning than playing. The players and the DM work together to come up with a story. 

A good DM will add the players stories to their pre-planned campaign.  

How do you roll your stats?   

Do your players want to roll stats before or after choosing a class? 

Are you rolling stats and then choosing classes based on the rolls? 

Are you min-maxing? Point buying?

Right now, I make up the stats for players without rolling, just to save time. 

Whatever you do, make sure everyone rolls the same way, then no one will be cheating with unbalanced high numbers.

Keep character creation simple, especially if you are a new DM. 

Stick with simple races and classes from the core handbook.

If you are starting as a new DM, there are enough rules and other things you will need to keep track of.

Don't let your first game get bogged down because a player wants to be a half-dragon half-owlbear sorcerer with special abilities. You'll end up wasting most of your time looking up weird abilities and game rules instead of actually playing. This will also leave other players behind who are playing more traditional characters.

Starting simply is the best way for you and your new players to get used to the game mechanics and how the game flows.

Once you have some more experience with your players, you can create new characters and add them to the game. 
     
Say no during creation and yes during game play. This works well to keep things simple to start with, and then during the game say yes (within reason) to all the fun things players will want to try. 

Make the Characters already know each other before the game starts. 

How do the characters know each other?

Did they meet in a tavern like every other story? 

Were they all hired for a job to do together? 

I like starting the game with the players already knowing each other and working together. This makes planning a lot easier and more creative fun for the players to imagine how they met and decided to be friends. Instead of the awkward tavern scene where everyone is trying to introduce themselves.

This will make planning a story easier for the DM, there will be multiple backstories at play with adventure hooks or character goals already set up.

 What are the player character goals?

 What are your characters wants and needs? 

The first story ideas should be taken from your players and their backstories that you establish in session zero.

 A characters parents were killed by a tribe of orcs? Murdered by roaming bandits? Those can be your villains!

By making it personal to the characters, the players will be more invested in your story.

Maybe a player wants revenge against a six-fingered man and ends up in a plot where the evil prince wants to take over a kingdom.

By adding obstacles, random encounters, run-ins with bad guys, and swamps that are on fire, you can turn a characters goal into a 12 session long campaign. Just based on a simple backstory.

Establish the first mission or story line, directly related to one of the characters goals. 

If the PC's are already established as friends, they'll be that much more willing to help each other with their characters goals. And you won't need a traditional adventure hook.

 Add characters and their back-stories to your world.

 Do you have and elf from a forest? A rogue  from the city? Have them come from the city you have already created. The forest you already have established in your world.

This makes the players feel like they are actually a part of the world. Create the story together instead of telling your characters what they want and where they are from.

Establish your house rules. 

Before each session, players should be reminded of how you expect them to act during play, and what the consequences are if they don't. RPGs are designed to be played in groups, so every needs to be on the same page. Play along to get along. 

If players are not following the rules, don't invite them to the next session. Don't waste time with people who are ruining your fun. having fun is the only way to win D&D.

Set boundaries right away. 
(do you let players fight each other? do you confirm critical hits?).

 No cheating on dice rolls. 

Teach the players that they should know what they are going to do before their turn. 

Make sure players know what dice to roll and what their bonuses are.

Are you using experience points or leveling by story arcs?

Do you use Inspiration points or Bennies in your game?

What is your maximum limit of players? How do you handle a player who doesn't show up?

Establish tone and genre of the game.

 I'm sure you already have a few ideas for stories. Give your story ideas to the players and let them choose what to go with. 

Is it funny fantasy adventure or a super serious spy thriller? It is a gritty western or a space exploration game?

Figure out a general tone as well. If you are trying to play in a haunted house or a Lovecraftian horror setting, it won't go very well if the players aren't acting horrified or allowing themselves to go a little crazy. Make sure the players are playing along and buying in with the tone of the game.

Establish a party alignment.

Are all the players good, and want to answer every distress call they hear?

Do you have an evil player who is planning on betraying the group? If so, will the players characters even work with someone like that?

Do your players want to be murder hobos and disregard the ramifications of their actions?

Will players want to do an evil campaign where players just want to see the word burn?

What is your play style? Does it match with the players style?

Do your players want to hack-and-slash everything and take the loot?

 Do you want to run a role play heavy story full of intrigue and moral dilemmas? 

Do players want to solve puzzles and get past traps?

 Is exploration important to the players?

 Do players want to be entertained and watch the DM act things out all night? 

If the players don't agree with your DMing style, that's O.K.! They can play in another group.
As a DM you can always find more players.

Some new players won't even know what they want until they've played a few sessions. 

 Start the game with a practice battle or encounter. 

This is especially important for beginning players and dungeon masters. Take time in session zero to figure out the flow of battle. 

How long does it take for someone to take a turn? 

How much damage does your characters normally do? 
What are the basic rules? Standard actions, and bonus actions. 

My favorite session zero game was when the players wanted their own pirate ship. The first battle I gave them was to kill the captain and take command of the ship. Help the new players learn to use their skills and abilities. 

 It's okay if people make mistakes. Especially when it's someone's first game. Let it happen and move on.

Make a Schedule and stick to it.

How long will this game last? Is it a one shot or an ongoing story?

Will your prepared story last 4 sessions or 2 years?

 Set a group schedule for the next few sessions so the group wont fall apart right away. 
Games always eventually fall apart no matter how excited everyone is. 
A game that lasts years is a lot more rare than you would think.

 People are always busy. So plan as much as you can with as many group members as possible.
If you plan in advance, everyone will be more likely to commit to a time. 

Talk about trigger warnings. 

Establish what your players don't want to happen during the game. 

How will you handle romance, torture, and other sensitive subjects?

The simplest way is to fade to black. Characters go to sleep together, fade to black and now it is the next morning. Skip the details. 

As a GM, do you want to roleplay flirting and romance? Will you spend time playing a character who is getting tortured?

Every group is different and every situation is different, so it is important to establish this beforehand.

A simple and common method is using a card with an X drawn on it. leave it in the center of the table and if the subject gets too intense or unwanted, players and point to it showing you that the subject should be skipped or avoided. Work with your group to agree on the details.

Thank you!

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How To Make Players Feel Included in Your Game

Get Character Backstories.

First of all, get backstories from all your players characters. They don't have to be ten page reports, just one or two paragraphs that establish a characters goal and some bad guys you could use. Weave those characters into your world and your story.

 A lot of new dungeon masters want to create their own world and they never end up using a characters story. Getting a goal from each character is essential, especially when you need an adventure hook to start a campaign.

Add your players to your world.

Let's say you have created your own world, you have mountains, cities, dungeons, oceans and so on. You have areas where different people/races live. This gives the players a staring point.

The players want to be creative making their characters just as you want to be when creating your world. Include them in the creation process.

You have an elf character? It should be easy to tell them which area on the map they came from. Or let them choose, and you can create that area on your map based on their history.

If your players know where they are from and how they interact with the locations around them, they will feel more connected your world.

 Share the spotlight.

Make sure each character gets their turn to talk.

Most games will have one or two players who lead conversations and make decisions for the group. In most cases this is OK, you need someone to move the plot along and make simple choices for the team.

A  natural leader usually emerges that the players will subconsciously follow.

Other times you will get stuck with the power gamer, rules lawyer, or attention seeker who wants to lead the group, but won't actually support the other players.

Including the group is just another one of your endless jobs as a DM.

If your power gamer is trying to do everything, you'll need to stop him. The best way to interrupt this is to tell that player to pause and ask what another player is doing at the same time. This is easy during battle when you have to take turns already.

Outside of battle you'll need to control the pace of the story. If someone is taking up too much time,  say something along the lines of "While you work on that, let's see what our thief is up to" or "Let's pause for a second and see what the elf wants to do".

This works well when you have an NPC that the players are talking to. If the player job is finding a secret cult, the NPC could say something along the lines of "Do you have a paladin or cleric in your group? I'd rather talk to an expert in the field of religion." The NPC simply won't talk to the attention seeking player.

Create the expectation that players need to share the spotlight too.

Give players chances to use their characters skills and knowledge. 

NPC's or guides in the game can do this well. "I found a set of foot prints here, is there someone who knows how to follow these?" Or "Looks like this door is locked, is there a talented fellow who could help  me out?" "Does anyone know how to read this scroll?"

You can do this during battle as well, give your magic users and rogues something to do instead of trying to hack and slash the entire session.

 Add scrolls for the wizards to read. Puzzles or traps that the rogue could disarm.

This also makes a battle more interesting when you give out goals that are more complex than just defeating enemies.

Prepare obstacles that require specific skills. Do you have a fighter with a really high jump or acrobatics skill? Make sure to add a 10 foot gap that they can jump across.

A rogue with a really high climb skill? Put a treasure chest up on the side of a cliff.

Clerics who have detect poison spell? have the players walk in on a sketchy tea party.

It doesn't have to be a huge part of your story, just a chance for the players to use their skills.

If you have a druid or ranger who can talk to animals, add some creatures that they can talk to instead of fighting monsters all the time.

Every encounter doesn't have to a battle. Any encounter should be based on some skill or spell that you know your player has.

Preparing this way does take extra work, knowing what the PC's abilities are, and getting to know what the players like to use.

The extra work is always worth it. It's an amazing feeling when you see your friends do something they've been trying to do for a while. Everyone gets that sense of acomplishment.

Control the flow of the story and dictate what happens.

Good players will always tell you what they want to do.

You have the final say. If you don't say it, it won't happen.

Teach your players that. Establish that in session zero.

If there is a player who hasn't talked in a while, ask them what they think about the situation at hand.

Some people don't want to talk, and that's OK. They will still appreciate that you are including them in the action.

Make sure you listen to all your players and acknowledge what they say and do.

Help out new players.
 
A lot of new players won't know what to, and it will be your job to help them. It is always OK to give hints, or tell them what you would do as their character with specific abilities.

If you have a good group, the other players will already be helping out.

A good group will let each other take turns talking or making decisions.

As a DM you are the leader and you should be training your players to be working together.

Establish a good group dynamic in session zero. Tell your players that you expect them to help each other out and work together. Especially when you have people who are new to the game.

Remember to have patience for all your players.

It's okay to give players hints.

Remind players what is going on in the world around them so they can make informed decisions.

What do the players know about the bad guys? What do the NPCs know that could help?

If you don't tell players what is going on, they will never know what to do.

It is your job to communicate to your players. Let them know what is going on in your world.

Good players should be picking up on your clues and adventure hooks. And sometimes it's ok to help them out.

 If you set up a simple riddle or puzzle and they can't figure it out, don't berate them or call them stupid. Be patient. Give them hints. Help them out. Remember it's just a game. Having fun should be more important than letting your players get frustrated.

If you don't enjoy helping people have fun together, you shouldn't be a DM.

If you aren't patient or adaptive with people, write a book so you can create your worlds all alone.

Have fun and happy gaming!

Creating A Good Story and Adventure Hooks.

Start Simple.

 Coming up with stories can be really hard sometimes.

 Especially when you want to impress your players.

 I think the best way to start is if you have an idea about what the players want and have some idea of the characters back story.

This gives you a great foundation to build on. This way you aren't totally starting from scratch and it lets the players be involved in the process.

The DM isn't the only one who wants to be creative, so let your players give you ideas and goals for their characters.

   Use MacGuffins. A MacGuffin is an artifact or a goal that the players are trying to find or fight for. The term was created by Alfred Hitchcock for his style of storytelling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

  The best part is, a MacGuffin can be anything, including characters.

 The best examples are; the plans to the death star, the lost ark, the wizard of oz, or the infinity stones.

 In Wizard of Oz, the characters goal was to make it back home.

The MacGuffin was getting the wizards help.

A MacGuffin is a means to an end.

A driving force to keep the characters motivated to do something and the plot to move forward.

 In a mystery plot, every lead the detective finds is a MacGuffin.

A suspect or missing character can be a MacGuffin too.

 Like Will Byers in the first season of stranger things.

The characters were all motivated to find Will and they wind up getting caught up in the their own stories and obstacles.

Making Up a MacGuffin.

Use a treasure the party needs to find, or a magic item that needs to be sought out to complete their quest.

Do you have a wizard who wants to learn new or obscure magic? Give them a hidden staff or an ancient spell book to find.

Do you have a character with a missing family member or a bad guy that the player wants to bring to justice?

These can be MacGuffins too.

 Have a mission where players have to protect a caravan or cargo ship from bandits or pirates.

Maybe a cult or a mafia organization is terrorizing a city and the players need kill all the bad guys who are hiding underground.

Don't worry about being original.

Yes, these stories are simple. Yes, they have been done before.

That's OK.

 Do it. Have fun with it.

 It's OK to have stories and ideas prepared for just a couple play sessions.

 Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to create a grand epic like Game of Thrones. The epic comes one session at a time.

Keep it simple. One session at a time.

Of course you can plant seeds and foreshadow your ideas for things to come. Let those seeds grow over time instead of trying to cram a ton of story, lore, and exposition in one session.

Let the players help.

 If you keep the story simple, the players will automatically create whatever you don't already have.

 Usually players have lots of questions or predictions about the story and you should write them down during the game. If you are confident with making things up on the spot, do it.

Write down everything you made up too, so you can be consistent if the idea ever comes up again in a later game.

You especially want to keep track of names and places, this makes the world more believable and familiar for the players.

Once these are written down, they can become seeds for new stories and adventures. Flesh out these new ideas between sessions.

Keep the end goal simple.

Dorothy just wanted to get home. The avengers needed to close a portal above New York. Indie wanted to find an Ark.

The goal can always be simple, and it's more memorable  that way.

The part that makes a story are the obstacles and conflicts in the heroes way. 

Characters in movies always need to find or protect nuclear launch codes, simple idea.

 In The Girl in the Spiders Web,  kid who knows the launch code is the MacGuffin. The story in that movie is Lizbeths' relationship with her sister and the conflict between them.

  A simple goal will always work.

Especially when you have obstacles and conflict in the heroes way.

A simple goal could be that the players want the treasure that is behind a locked door.

The obstacle is  to find pieces of a magic key that can open the door. Now you can add as many obstacles you want.

-A thief that has a piece of the key needs to be tracked down.

 -A monster needs to be killed in order to get a key piece.

-A grumpy NPC won't give up her piece until you fetch some herbs for her.

The goal is still the same, but the quest now has multiple parts.

This simple quest could take as long as you want it to take.

Add obstacles, create problems, and put villains in the way who create conflict.

 Story Example. 

Part One.

Let's say one of your players is a wizard who wants to learn a forgotten spell on a magic scroll. Simple story with the scroll as the MacGuffin. 

Now, let's add some obstacles.  First problem may be finding the location of the scroll.

 The players could ask around town, meet NPC's that might be important later.

Players get info from some ancient myths or local legends about a hidden temple or crypt. Maybe they have to seek out a NPC who is lost in the woods somewhere before they get the right information.

The temple can be your "dungeon" where players will have to fight through different monsters, riddles, and traps in order to find the scroll.

All these are obstacles in your players way.

You can even add obstacles on the way to the dungeon. Add a gorge in the forest that needs crossing and the old rope bridge there has fallen apart.

The players fight their way through the dungeon, solve some puzzles, and obtain the scroll.

Part Two.

A boss or some bandits steal the scroll for their own goals, and now the players have to track down the enemy.

One of the enemies could be introduced in the starting town, and she hears about the players looking for the scroll. This big bad wants the scroll for herself.

The enemies can be anything, vampires, orcs, bandits of any race and class, and a character or two relating to a players backstory.

Make it personal by adding a bad guy from a players backstory, a guy who killed Uncle Ben, or an orc from a tribe that killed a players parents.

This gives the players more motivation to find the bad guys and it makes the story personal to the characters.

The players still have the same goal of retrieving the scroll, but now it's personal.

The players might want revenge.

After the enemies steal the scroll, they hide it in one of their hideouts, which could be the next "dungeon" location the players have to get through.

Same MacGuffin, new obstacles.

The next location can be anything that is part of the PC's or enemies stories. A warehouse, a thieves guild or a valley hidden in the mountains.

Same formula, the players have to fight enemies and get past traps in the second location.

After fighting through the dungeon and defeating a mini boss at this second location, The players could finally get the scroll.

The story setup with the scroll is now paid off and a players got what he wanted.

But now the adventuring party is involved in a plot with the bad guys!

The big bad evil guy continues her evil plans without the MacGuffin scroll.

Part Three.

The players find out that the baddies are going to enslave, take over, or destroy the town where the players live.

Lives are at stake!

The players have family that lives in this town.

The Players have to stop them!

Stopping the enemy and saving the town is the new MacGuffin.

The enemy is now the goal and the obstacle.

The villains could send out mercenaries or assassins to try to get rid of the players before the players even get back to town.

The bad guys are now consciously putting obstacles in the player way.

Once our heroes arrive in town, they have more problems and obstacles.

Treat the town itself as a "dungeon" location.

The bad guys have barricaded the roads and buildings, lighting houses on fire, creating obstacles for our players.

Add new goals.

An NPC runs up to the players and tells them that the players family is locked up or are about to be sacrificed to an evil god.

Make sure you have some NPC or another device that lets the players know what their goals are and what is at stake.

The villain doesn't need to know that it's the family, they just needed sacrifices and the family just happened to be there.

If you want the villain to be extra evil, she would know about the family in order to make the players suffer.

Not only do the players have to fight through enemies and defeat the villain, they have the new goal of saving the family and townspeople people as well.

The enemies will use as many obstacles as they can in order to slow down the heroes so they can achieve their goal.

Simple Story, simple fetch quest. That's all you need to start. 

What started out as a simple fetch quest to find a scroll is now an epic story line that spans multiple sessions and game nights.

The first night of playing, you might just be searching the town for clues, fighting a monster and getting across a broken bridge.

So don't worry right away about specific details and obstacles in your second and third locations.

 Plan only one or two sessions at a time so you don't overwhelm yourself.

Plant clues about what you think might come next.

The story comes from the obstacles in the way of the players goals.

Use details and characters from players backstories to make it personal.

Make the obstacles, enemies, and puzzles interesting instead of a really complicated plot and obscure goals.

Making the enemies create obstacles can be really fun and it specifically involves the players.

Use all of these ideas and make them your own.