How set-in-stone is your campain?

[brun]

So, I'm wondering, how much set in stone is your campain or adventures? I mean, is it all written and you just run it, is there place to accomodate for the players doings or goals, is it completely random?

 

[Pyske]

My campaign is set in silly putty. Extremely flexible, but hard to pull apart, and the PCs tend to leave impressions in it.

. . . . . . . -- Eric

 

[Crothian]

I always have a solid foundation for which the players to build. There has to be room for many things, so much is left rather ill defined until a time when I or someone needs something to be placed there. As more and more of the world gets defined, other places are opened up and sometimes the well defined areas need to be taken down and made to be less rigid.

 

[roytheodd]

I try to come up with a world and a story arc, then I allow players to create PCs, then I try to make it all revolve around them somehow during gameplay. It's the kind of thing that I devote a lot of downtime to (you know, I think about it while I'm on the bus and stuff). Keeping the story about the PCs is one of the best ways to make the game fun and to encourage roleplaying, but it's also somewhat difficult because you're not creating adventures in a void anymore.

 

[Kelewandar]

Well, in my campaign, I use to be very flexible. I mean, the player can do anything they want. To give you a good example of that. One day, they felt very stupid. They were prisonner into a dungeon. A powerful mage had betray them and teleport them into his personnale prison. Eventually, another player who was playing a powerful barbarian/ranger/fighter ( POWER GAMER ... with a good background, though ) sneaked in and freed them. To escape the place. They had to bypass an alarm system and to play on the diversion. I planned they would follow the ranger who actually know the safer way to exit the place without attracting the 350 vilains in the place. Unfortunately, they didn't do as I think they would, and they decided to explore the place, when they exactly knew they were overwhelmed by the ennemy, The ranger player protested, but you know how sun elf can be arrogant and mean toward half-elves , furthermore when the player are playing it stupidly... Anyway, they were eventually capture again, this time with no chance of escape, and I the mage sent them into a Zhent gladiator arena. The point, actually, is that most of my player were very stupid ( at a very disturbing point, I mean when the player let run a guard between two levels so he can alert all of his 100 fellow sleeping at this level, there is indeed a big problem and when they leave only one person to back them off from them ... hum ! ). If my campaign was set into stones, I could have arrange myself to push them into the right way, but it wasn't the case. And I think it's a good thing. Next time, they will think twice before fighting 350 enemies rather than running out for the exit....

 

[brun]

I mostly do it like roytheodd does, I created a world and have a story. The next thing is getting the PCs involved and, maily, giving themall an opportunity to get what their caracters seek. This is the tricky part:

- I have a notorious, well-known,powerfull, influencial, good-natured wizard who seeks privacy
- a warrior seeking self-rightousness and the resurection of old gods
- an aristocrat collecting rare demonic artifacts that are spread around the corners of the world
-a dark man with delusions of grandeur (I won't give details,players watching...)
- a mostly powerless druid seeking to save the dying planet

Tough work...

 

[brun]

mmm... Kelewandar, this was the one and only time you were flexible. Normally, you freak out whenever we players find a way you didn't think of to work a situation out. But yes, you've been better lately...

And my sun elf, leader of the group wasn't gonna fallow a bastard, especially since he HAD NOT bottered to tell us he knew the easiest way out! But I blame myself for stumbling on the barracks instead of the exit...

 

[Kelewandar]

Hey relax ! I just want to help you out , Brun

 

[Kaji]

I also used to play super freeform, allowing the players to do whatever they wanted and allowing them to determine which way the story would go. I ended up scrapping that campaign, because they never seemed to want to go anywhere and it would piss me off. My new campaign is far more structured, they are all worshippers of Osiris and work for the Temple. I excluded a few classes from play but left enough options open for creativity. They seem to dig it, and my story arc is loosely scripted out for the next 22 levels (yes, we're going Epic for the first time. Wish me luck.) I think I prefer some type of themed campaign and would suggest it for a change of pace if you have not already tried it. I think my next campaign will be an all Dnderdark racket, maybe with all the players being Drow or Drarves (or Gray Dwarves) and thoroughly exploring the mysteries the deep can hold. What I like about a theme is tht it gives you a chance to use very specialized PrC's, like the Dungeon Delver (or whatever the name of that dungeon specialist from Song and Silence is.)

 

[NewLifeForm]

Not Set in Stone...

...But much more like that slimy goo they used to use on Nickolodeon.

I have general ideas about my world/universe and let the players create virtually any character they can think of that fits the genre and has a cool story. I then use the story elements in the PCs' backgrounds to formulate subplots and define the campaign milieu a bit more.

80% of everything I've run over the past 10 years has been ad libbed. A few of my players are note keepers and write things down so that I can reference what I said later. I then transcribe it into my GM book for further use and reference in later adventures.
Compared to most GMs, you could say I run my games backwards.

In my Star Wars, Star Trek and a few other campaigns, I exert a little more control and structure...but not much.

NewLifeForm
Where No One Has Gone Before...