LogFAQs > #883276088

Adventure paths/modules/scenarios/etc are kind of annoying, because they almost rely on players doing exactly ONE thing, and the GM needing to force the players to do that thing in order to keep the plot moving. While some allow for branching paths or discuss alternative options, most of them just boil down to "railroad the fuck out of your players, and slap the shit out of their characters if they complain." Which is terrible roleplaying, in my opinion.

I've always seen the best games being the ones where the GM is willing to compromise and improvise. Build the framework of a plot before a session, then play it out and see how things go. As the players explore the world, casually throw out all sorts of plot hooks and adventure possibilities for them to consider, but don't push in any particular direction. If they latch onto a particular plot hook and begin to pursue it, then you start fleshing out that plot and generally working it into the overall story, but if they blatantly ignore or abandon a plot you wanted to get going, it's better to just shrug and let it drop than it is to try and force them into a story they clearly aren't interested in.

On the macro level this can be something as obvious as trying to force a bunch of combat enthusiast players into scenes where combat is useless and they have to scheme or talk their way out of trouble, or where every challenge is some sort of cerebral puzzle, when all they really want to do is hit things really, really hard. But on the micro level it can be stuff like having a friendly NPC ask the players to delve into a ruin to recover an artifact, and then when the players reject the offer, you just keep throwing more and more important NPCs at them getting more and more insistent about them getting it until you basically have the king telling them if they don't go do it he'll throw them in the dungeon. At that point, it's painfully obvious to the players that you don't actually give a shit about their input, and mostly just want them to be a passive audience for the stories you personally want to tell, and why would they want to do that?

I'm not sure I've ever played a single campaign long-term that ended in any way I could have predicted when it started. I've always sort of tried to start off a bit aimlessly, shape the narrative in the direction the players clearly wanted to take it, and often asked players outside of the game what sort of stories or plot elements they might want to see worked into the overall story in the future. It helps players feel like they're really contributing to the world they live in, which helps them grow emotionally invested both in their own characters, as well as the NPCs and the world itself.


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"Wall of Text'D!" --- oldskoolplayr76
"POwned again." --- blight family