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How should a GM handle refused plots
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<blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 7103385"><p>Frankly, I question how possible this is. We saw the horrible flop that was No Mans Sky precisely because the "DM" has provided a vast, theoretically endless world to explore, but filled it with nothing but random wandering monsters. And that is a multi-million-dollar computer game developed over several years by multiple people. DMs have to put <em>something</em> in their world and there's no guarantee that <em>any</em> of it will entice the players. So, unless the players themselves are adding things to the world, I don't see how a DM can actually do what you are suggesting. Eventually "reactive" <em>must</em> become proactive because a series of events <em>must</em> lead to <em>some</em> kind of conclusion. You find a Prince lost in the woods (who <em>must</em> by nature of being a Prince, belong to or be related to a King, a Queen, a country, it's people, and so forth, and all of those things <em>must</em> exist in order for the Prince to exist.) Right here is the defining moment where a DM <em>cannot</em> be reactive. Sure, they can say "oh yeah, Princeling has a quest for you." </p><p></p><p>But, and this is speaking from experience, "on the fly" DMing can only get you so far. It only goes so deep (and usually only just past your ankles). But the more the players go down that rabbit hole, the more the DM <em>must</em> become proactive instead of reactive. That Prince means the DM must now create a King, a Queen, a nation (past, present or future or even otherworldly!) but now it <em>must</em> exist. That means names, places, descriptions, inhabitants that <em>must</em> be created. We're well past "reactive" DMing here and deep into the territory of proactive DMing.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Speaking from personal experience, every time I have veered off from the "interesting things I have created" into the "random whatevers the players want to do" my games have wholly collapsed. Which is why I don't do this anymore, and I wouldn't advise it to <em>anyone</em> who didn't have a fairly massive sandbox world to play with (even if it's someone else's world they're running). Inevitably the players chew through content faster than the DM can create it and the content gets inevitably shallower as this goes on.</p><p></p><p>Being reactive takes an entirely different skillset than being proactive. An entirely different way of thinking. It's not something a lot of people can simply "switch" over to.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sunseeker, post: 7103385"] Frankly, I question how possible this is. We saw the horrible flop that was No Mans Sky precisely because the "DM" has provided a vast, theoretically endless world to explore, but filled it with nothing but random wandering monsters. And that is a multi-million-dollar computer game developed over several years by multiple people. DMs have to put [I]something[/I] in their world and there's no guarantee that [I]any[/I] of it will entice the players. So, unless the players themselves are adding things to the world, I don't see how a DM can actually do what you are suggesting. Eventually "reactive" [I]must[/I] become proactive because a series of events [I]must[/I] lead to [I]some[/I] kind of conclusion. You find a Prince lost in the woods (who [I]must[/I] by nature of being a Prince, belong to or be related to a King, a Queen, a country, it's people, and so forth, and all of those things [I]must[/I] exist in order for the Prince to exist.) Right here is the defining moment where a DM [I]cannot[/I] be reactive. Sure, they can say "oh yeah, Princeling has a quest for you." But, and this is speaking from experience, "on the fly" DMing can only get you so far. It only goes so deep (and usually only just past your ankles). But the more the players go down that rabbit hole, the more the DM [I]must[/I] become proactive instead of reactive. That Prince means the DM must now create a King, a Queen, a nation (past, present or future or even otherworldly!) but now it [I]must[/I] exist. That means names, places, descriptions, inhabitants that [I]must[/I] be created. We're well past "reactive" DMing here and deep into the territory of proactive DMing. Speaking from personal experience, every time I have veered off from the "interesting things I have created" into the "random whatevers the players want to do" my games have wholly collapsed. Which is why I don't do this anymore, and I wouldn't advise it to [I]anyone[/I] who didn't have a fairly massive sandbox world to play with (even if it's someone else's world they're running). Inevitably the players chew through content faster than the DM can create it and the content gets inevitably shallower as this goes on. Being reactive takes an entirely different skillset than being proactive. An entirely different way of thinking. It's not something a lot of people can simply "switch" over to. [/QUOTE]
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