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<blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 6618065" data-attributes="member: 5143"><p>When I've been a player in those campaigns, I've felt that they are random, unconnected events. Player 1 wants to find his father and he is spending his time talking to contacts and attempting to track down his last known location. Player 2 wants to become the head of the thieves guild and spends his time coming up with plots that will eventually lead him there. Player 3 wants to be a pirate and spends his time at sea robbing ships. Player 4 wants to track down a holy relic of his faith that was stolen by Orcs.</p><p></p><p>There is no real reason for the PCs to help each other or adventure together other than an arbitrary reason they make up themselves or the DM forces on them. They have no common goals so they aren't really a team. They are instead just a bunch of individuals who happen to be nearby each other. Which isn't really a story, it's a bunch of dueling egos attempting to get as much game time for "their" story over everyone else's. Or, for less motivated players, it's a bunch of waiting around wishing someone would take charge and lead the game in an interesting direction.</p><p></p><p>I like structure. I like the idea that the DM says "Here's the reason you guys are together. Here is your goal. Now try to accomplish that goal using any means at your disposal."</p><p></p><p>To me it's the difference between throwing a bunch of actors on stage and saying "ACT!" and saying "This is a play about the Civil War. You are all Union soldiers who are trapped in a cave while a battle goes on around you. You've been ordered to get a message to your commander but there are a bunch of Yankee soldiers between you and your destination. Now...ACT!"</p><p></p><p>The former is likely to degrade into actors staring at each other trying to figure out even what genre they are acting out. One actor might like one genre better than another and will keep attempting to push the story toward that genre while another actor might hate that genre and keep trying to shift it in a different direction. I've seen it happen in improv acting before. I mentioned way earlier in this thread, but there is a play I go to every year called D&D Improv where it's basically an improvised D&D game with dice only being used in combat and rare circumstances. Each of the actors has made up their own character and their own backgrounds. They have a DM who has come up with an overarching plot and will narrate that events happen to push them towards it. You can tell that each of them wants their character to be more important to the story, however, so they will use dialog in order to mention their background more and more often to force the story to revolve around them more and more. Because the more their personal background is mentioned the more likely the other actors will attempt to revolve scenes around it and the more likely the DM will incorporate their backgrounds into the narrative of the story.</p><p></p><p>Luckily, that play involves a DM to push the actors forward. They've been doing it for years and I've seen years where the DM takes a very light hand in the show. Those years were the worst. It mostly involved actors talking past one another. For instance:</p><p></p><p>1: "What happened to my parents? I still haven't found them! I've been looking all over!"</p><p>2: "I know what you mean. I am supposed to become the hero of the realm by destiny but so far I've just been beaten by Orcs. When will my destiny come true?"</p><p>3: "I want to get better at magic. I still can't cast a single spell!"</p><p>1: "At any rate, maybe my parents are in that wood over there. Let's go in there and see if they are there."</p><p>2: "Yes. Perhaps my destiny is in that forest. Let's go in there and see if I can become a hero."</p><p>3: "Maybe there will be someone to teach me magic in the forest. Let's go."</p><p></p><p>Each of them is hoping that in the next scene in the forest, they can make the scene about their particular plot.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Majoru Oakheart, post: 6618065, member: 5143"] When I've been a player in those campaigns, I've felt that they are random, unconnected events. Player 1 wants to find his father and he is spending his time talking to contacts and attempting to track down his last known location. Player 2 wants to become the head of the thieves guild and spends his time coming up with plots that will eventually lead him there. Player 3 wants to be a pirate and spends his time at sea robbing ships. Player 4 wants to track down a holy relic of his faith that was stolen by Orcs. There is no real reason for the PCs to help each other or adventure together other than an arbitrary reason they make up themselves or the DM forces on them. They have no common goals so they aren't really a team. They are instead just a bunch of individuals who happen to be nearby each other. Which isn't really a story, it's a bunch of dueling egos attempting to get as much game time for "their" story over everyone else's. Or, for less motivated players, it's a bunch of waiting around wishing someone would take charge and lead the game in an interesting direction. I like structure. I like the idea that the DM says "Here's the reason you guys are together. Here is your goal. Now try to accomplish that goal using any means at your disposal." To me it's the difference between throwing a bunch of actors on stage and saying "ACT!" and saying "This is a play about the Civil War. You are all Union soldiers who are trapped in a cave while a battle goes on around you. You've been ordered to get a message to your commander but there are a bunch of Yankee soldiers between you and your destination. Now...ACT!" The former is likely to degrade into actors staring at each other trying to figure out even what genre they are acting out. One actor might like one genre better than another and will keep attempting to push the story toward that genre while another actor might hate that genre and keep trying to shift it in a different direction. I've seen it happen in improv acting before. I mentioned way earlier in this thread, but there is a play I go to every year called D&D Improv where it's basically an improvised D&D game with dice only being used in combat and rare circumstances. Each of the actors has made up their own character and their own backgrounds. They have a DM who has come up with an overarching plot and will narrate that events happen to push them towards it. You can tell that each of them wants their character to be more important to the story, however, so they will use dialog in order to mention their background more and more often to force the story to revolve around them more and more. Because the more their personal background is mentioned the more likely the other actors will attempt to revolve scenes around it and the more likely the DM will incorporate their backgrounds into the narrative of the story. Luckily, that play involves a DM to push the actors forward. They've been doing it for years and I've seen years where the DM takes a very light hand in the show. Those years were the worst. It mostly involved actors talking past one another. For instance: 1: "What happened to my parents? I still haven't found them! I've been looking all over!" 2: "I know what you mean. I am supposed to become the hero of the realm by destiny but so far I've just been beaten by Orcs. When will my destiny come true?" 3: "I want to get better at magic. I still can't cast a single spell!" 1: "At any rate, maybe my parents are in that wood over there. Let's go in there and see if they are there." 2: "Yes. Perhaps my destiny is in that forest. Let's go in there and see if I can become a hero." 3: "Maybe there will be someone to teach me magic in the forest. Let's go." Each of them is hoping that in the next scene in the forest, they can make the scene about their particular plot. [/QUOTE]
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