plot and npc-driven adventures

[cwhs01]

I found a copy of "unhallowed halls" and "shades of grey" a few days ago in a bargainbin. After looking through them, i was rather impressed at how unusually npc and plotdriven those adventures are compared to 99% dnd adventures on the market. Most other products seem to rely heavily on the "chase the mcguffin" gimmick. To often anyways, perhaps a little exageration to say 99%...

The adventures unhallallowed.... and shades... aren't the best modules i've seen, but get points for being different.

So in addition to kickstarting yet another discussion of the merrits of different types of dnd modules, i want to know of other better plot and pc driven adventures.

 

[Bloodstone Press]

I really like character driven plots. I like it when the adventure happens to the characters, whether they like it or not. i'm not really a role-player, I am really more of a war gamer and a story teller. I like complex stories with many sub-plots. I love it when players spend hours trying to figure out WTF is going on and what they should do in a difficult situation.

In fact, I wrote a supplement a few years ago that can help you design your own character driven plots. To quote from the introduction of chapter 2:

This system generates thousands of different personalities that span the spectrum of sanity and provides you with insight into their motives and perceptions. Once you achieve a conceptual understanding of your major NPCs and their mindset, planning campaigns becomes impossibly easy. One need only ask himself “what would this character do now?” to know what happens next in any given situation. With a cast of well-rounded characters, plots and subplots will spawn and evolve with a life of their own. This focus on role-playing (rather than “roll” playing) increases drama, suspense, and interpersonal difficulty, bringing a new source of conflict to the PC’s lives. Now, rather then encountering typical two dimensional NPCs that are villains, friends or inconsequential, PCs can meet and interact with complex individuals who are not necessarily good or evil, but instead simply being themselves.

If you are interested in this method of campaign design, check out the Book of Broken Dreams.
[/shameless plug]

I personally use those rules when planning nearly all my games. They make it so very easy to develop interesting, dynamic characters and plots.