Either I have to chuck out the whole rationale behind the campaign (which means I've wasted my time designing it in the first place), or you have to accept the world blowing up not long after your shiny new tele-net opens for business because you've left the adventuring until far too late.
[sblock=On teleport networks and the end of the world]I think there's some kind of miscommunication going on here. What I'm reading this as is "You're not adventuring unless you do what the DM expects you to do." I don't think that's what you're saying, though, so maybe a clarification of what you mean by "adventure" would help?
I think creating a teleport network is adventuring because: at low levels you need to gather cash, XP, and contacts. The best way to get this is to adventure. At mid-levels you might start using your cash on research to develop a way to create a teleport network without having to cast 9th-level spells. This would probably mean political intrigue - getting access to a library to research, getting access to NPCs who can do the research, gaining allies and dealing with enemies. At high levels you put what you've discovered into place and start heading out to other cities - which gives the DM a chance to add city elements that wouldn't fit in the original city, the "added depth" - to forge treaties, fight wars, and work out trade deals.
As this is going on, you're getting involved in the plots and backstory of the campaign world - so if there is something that will end the world in five years, its likely that you'll stumble across it. Obviously "the end of the world" is an extreme example, because there's no option - how much energy should I put in my teleport network vs. saving the world isn't really a choice. If the backstory was something smaller, like some guys are trying to perform regime change, then I've got some decisions to make. Can I work with these guys? Who do I want to support? What will be best for my teleport network?
Is that what you meant by putting off adventure - single-mindedly pursuing a goal to the exclusion of all other considerations? That's not what I had in mind when I said I like to achieve the goal I set for my PC. It's more like: given this campaign setting, what goal will be interesting for everyone at the table? Once that question is settled, I want to make choices - about how best to achieve my goal given the challenges that the campaign world poses, how to balance that with the goals of my strongest allies (the other PCs), and if I want to change what my goal is.[/sblock]
One of the problems with the 15-minute adventuring day and goal-oriented play is that, as I said before, if taking a rest doesn't have any cost then I might as well do that. (Assuming that taking a rest is going to refresh those resources that help you achieve your goals.) I want to make a choice about pressing on vs. resting. How much can I get done today while still making sure I'm safe if a group of drow decide to get their revenge for my past deeds?
I think this is a difficult thing to do as DM, but I think it's relatively
easy for the system to do it. The system can have rules for wandering monster checks, a method to determine how much more powerful NPCs and their organizations get, and other ways to spend your down-time, among other things. If the novice or lazy DM (like me!) decides not to spend too much time thinking about that but instead applies the (hopefully) simple rules, he can say, "Hey, look at that, the NPCs whom the PCs have pissed off just got access to an assassin squad. Off to kill the PCs, then!" Or other things: that vein of gold in the ground is now being mined by duergar. The bandits who kidnapped the princess didn't get their ransom and now the peace her marriage was going to create hasn't happened.
I think a system can be a great asset here. Coming up with a good one that gives various DMs enough flexibility for different campaigns is tricky.
