i think, players think they want some grand plot behind it all, but thats actually not it.
i think players want mostly two things out of “the plot”
they want to discover connections, and that’s something i can easily provide as we go along by looking back at what happened in previous sessions and tie it to something they are interacting with now.
they want the feeling stuff is happening in the world
and by for example having crates with the sigil of some noble they did not like turn up in a cultits lair i can achive both. and i have to prep less stuff that never comes up at the table and when i can’t decide on what exactly to do i can allways role on my list of factions/npcs to decide that.
yeah, Sir Peters Guards always had dealings with the thieves guild… let’s put one of his men in the hideout with a bag full gold or let them find a blue print of the Mansion of Sir Peters rival there.
that way factions and their relations grow some what organically without me having to invest a ton of time into something that might be used and those random encounter tables so many people dislike are suddenly super cool and useful, because i can use the freaking bandits later if they encountered them.
dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org
Oh, no, I mean they literally told me “I thought this was going to be like being characters in a book, where there’s a clear plot we’re following. Can you make it more like that?” And so I did.
Then they found The Thing during one of the sessions I was running while trying to actually structure things in the background. It was something I didn’t think was significant, but I probably should have seen it coming.
It… was not part of the restructuring work I was doing. It was part of the holding pattern “random bullshit” I was throwing at them for a few weeks.
dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org This is why I did not plan long term plots for my family game, and then the chaos monkeys decided they wanted one.
So I put one together.
They ignored it.
i think, players think they want some grand plot behind it all, but thats actually not it. i think players want mostly two things out of “the plot”
and by for example having crates with the sigil of some noble they did not like turn up in a cultits lair i can achive both. and i have to prep less stuff that never comes up at the table and when i can’t decide on what exactly to do i can allways role on my list of factions/npcs to decide that.
yeah, Sir Peters Guards always had dealings with the thieves guild… let’s put one of his men in the hideout with a bag full gold or let them find a blue print of the Mansion of Sir Peters rival there.
that way factions and their relations grow some what organically without me having to invest a ton of time into something that might be used and those random encounter tables so many people dislike are suddenly super cool and useful, because i can use the freaking bandits later if they encountered them.
dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org Oh, no, I mean they literally told me “I thought this was going to be like being characters in a book, where there’s a clear plot we’re following. Can you make it more like that?” And so I did.
Then they found The Thing during one of the sessions I was running while trying to actually structure things in the background. It was something I didn’t think was significant, but I probably should have seen it coming.
It… was not part of the restructuring work I was doing. It was part of the holding pattern “random bullshit” I was throwing at them for a few weeks.
Anyway, the campaign is about that now.