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World Building Theme and idea theft
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<blockquote data-quote="LordEntrails" data-source="post: 9061453" data-attributes="member: 6804070"><p>I want to say I don't. But I do, sort of.</p><p></p><p>First and foremost, I don't develop a story line. So I never know what's going to come back in 6 months and be perceived as foreshadowing. I just lay out lots of things going on in the world and then as the players continue to interact with them or return to them then it's akin to foreshadowing.</p><p></p><p>For example, the 5+ year campaign I finished a few months ago. It started int he Undermountian, then moved into Dragon Heist. Ammalia Cassalanter escaped with the kids, so she became a recurring adversary in between other events. And became the force behind one of the factions working against the party. Then we went into Sleeping Dragons Wake etc and several of those NPCs became recurring threats. The minor leader Nixoxious escaped, so I had him come back, several times until they finally killed him. And Ebondeath, he was recurring and became the main BBEG the defeated at level 20. But also the Dreadnaught was a reoccurring villain because well, I could.</p><p></p><p>All through there were little flavor things. A trip to Myth Drannor, and then to the deserts of Anauroch to get a McGuffin to lure the dreadnaught into combat. Clues and adventures for Ebondeath's phylacteries, and a means to destroy them. Including a trip to the City of Brass. And, and killing the lich Iniarv.</p><p></p><p>But none of that, or the little tidbits that turned into the story, were planned or foreshadowed from the start. It all developed as the party pulled on some of the threads I placed. I could have done better, and given them more threads or recalled old ones they hadn't pulled on and re-presented them more often, but it worked for us.</p><p></p><p>In short, don't plan the story line. Build a world of factions with motivations and see what develops as you go. Present lots of threads (at one time I had several issues of the Waterdeep Wazoo newspaper with stories in it that were mostly all threads the party could pull on) and see what happens. When it makes sense, represent those threads, or even give news of the outcome from the thread. (Oh, did you hear that Frewn's Brews caught fire? It's said that the Watch had a fight with several wererats that fled the flames!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordEntrails, post: 9061453, member: 6804070"] I want to say I don't. But I do, sort of. First and foremost, I don't develop a story line. So I never know what's going to come back in 6 months and be perceived as foreshadowing. I just lay out lots of things going on in the world and then as the players continue to interact with them or return to them then it's akin to foreshadowing. For example, the 5+ year campaign I finished a few months ago. It started int he Undermountian, then moved into Dragon Heist. Ammalia Cassalanter escaped with the kids, so she became a recurring adversary in between other events. And became the force behind one of the factions working against the party. Then we went into Sleeping Dragons Wake etc and several of those NPCs became recurring threats. The minor leader Nixoxious escaped, so I had him come back, several times until they finally killed him. And Ebondeath, he was recurring and became the main BBEG the defeated at level 20. But also the Dreadnaught was a reoccurring villain because well, I could. All through there were little flavor things. A trip to Myth Drannor, and then to the deserts of Anauroch to get a McGuffin to lure the dreadnaught into combat. Clues and adventures for Ebondeath's phylacteries, and a means to destroy them. Including a trip to the City of Brass. And, and killing the lich Iniarv. But none of that, or the little tidbits that turned into the story, were planned or foreshadowed from the start. It all developed as the party pulled on some of the threads I placed. I could have done better, and given them more threads or recalled old ones they hadn't pulled on and re-presented them more often, but it worked for us. In short, don't plan the story line. Build a world of factions with motivations and see what develops as you go. Present lots of threads (at one time I had several issues of the Waterdeep Wazoo newspaper with stories in it that were mostly all threads the party could pull on) and see what happens. When it makes sense, represent those threads, or even give news of the outcome from the thread. (Oh, did you hear that Frewn's Brews caught fire? It's said that the Watch had a fight with several wererats that fled the flames!) [/QUOTE]
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