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Running Phandelver - help me make it less like a video game
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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 7019847" data-attributes="member: 19857"><p>Scatter the folks around in the rest of the village and have the PCs encounter them more naturally. Tweak the "quests" from "can you do this for me" to "I heard a rumor about" where you can - dangle an opportunity in front of them instead of having someone set them on a task. It's a different set of tropes - more mercenary than do-gooder - but they work if your group is at all curious. (If you take this to one extreme it basically becomes a sandbox where you're dropping hints about locations/events and trusting that the players' natural curiosity will cause them to follow up on those hints. If you don't have players like that, you may have to add a bit more push to the hints). The big thing is to have more than one option available to them, and to make sure that none of the options are as dumb as the quests you get in video games.</p><p></p><p>Also look over your players character sheets (or just listen to what they're talking about) and see if you can tie the quests more directly into their own background/desires/interests. If you know that the bard in your group is looking for a magic lute, see if you can swap one of the treasures out in one of the side-quests for a magic lute. Then drop some rumors of a magic lute to one or more of the PCs (not necessarily the one you know who wants it). It doesn't have to be about stuff either - if one of your PCs has some background element in their character that you can call out it works just as well for a lot of players. Every campaign end up I having a player who has a background where some brother/cousin/parent/whatever is missing/dead/turned evil/whatever. I don't know why, but it happens. So I can almost always get at least one cheap 'buy in' from that player as I drop some quest cookie in front of them that relates to said missing relative.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Some mix of what I've outlined above along with blatant quest-giving. It's where the video games got the idea from. Starting "in media res" was often a part of those old adventures too - no explanation for why the party would want to be at the door of a particular dungeon, just here's where the adventure starts and it's up to you to figure out how to work it into your game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Jer, post: 7019847, member: 19857"] Scatter the folks around in the rest of the village and have the PCs encounter them more naturally. Tweak the "quests" from "can you do this for me" to "I heard a rumor about" where you can - dangle an opportunity in front of them instead of having someone set them on a task. It's a different set of tropes - more mercenary than do-gooder - but they work if your group is at all curious. (If you take this to one extreme it basically becomes a sandbox where you're dropping hints about locations/events and trusting that the players' natural curiosity will cause them to follow up on those hints. If you don't have players like that, you may have to add a bit more push to the hints). The big thing is to have more than one option available to them, and to make sure that none of the options are as dumb as the quests you get in video games. Also look over your players character sheets (or just listen to what they're talking about) and see if you can tie the quests more directly into their own background/desires/interests. If you know that the bard in your group is looking for a magic lute, see if you can swap one of the treasures out in one of the side-quests for a magic lute. Then drop some rumors of a magic lute to one or more of the PCs (not necessarily the one you know who wants it). It doesn't have to be about stuff either - if one of your PCs has some background element in their character that you can call out it works just as well for a lot of players. Every campaign end up I having a player who has a background where some brother/cousin/parent/whatever is missing/dead/turned evil/whatever. I don't know why, but it happens. So I can almost always get at least one cheap 'buy in' from that player as I drop some quest cookie in front of them that relates to said missing relative. Some mix of what I've outlined above along with blatant quest-giving. It's where the video games got the idea from. Starting "in media res" was often a part of those old adventures too - no explanation for why the party would want to be at the door of a particular dungeon, just here's where the adventure starts and it's up to you to figure out how to work it into your game. [/QUOTE]
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