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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5721063" data-attributes="member: 8835">To keep it straight in my head, I'm going to assume this plot is not the same/related to the princess rescue plot idea.To recap the gist: the PCs hate the Lords and want to take them out.I assume the PCs are 1st level, and the Lords are high level.  The Lords may not know who the PCs are yet.This could be a good case for the Starter sessions.  Basically the PCs are good guys and MAY specifically hate the Lords.  The events of the first or second session cause them to directly hate the Lords (or underlings of the Lords).I try to arrange things as Level Appropriate.  Meaning the most obvious problem/opportunity/villain is level appropriate.  If the PCs choose to go off the reservation, that's their problem.So with this, the first sessions are 1st level adventures, probably resulting in the Villain of the Week hurting them or their family/village/interests.  Which gets them on board for specifically hating the Lords and working toward the big finish.I recommend looking at things as a cascade of bad guys to the top leadership.  Make sure there's motivation for pursuing the next bad guy (usually by bad guy misbehavior).So the outline could be:1st session: life as heroes in Despotopia, do a basic hero mission and SUCCEED (stop orcs from taking stuff as taxes from your village).  The peasants rejoice.2nd session: Boss Badd here's his orcs were thwarted bythe PCs.  He sends Goon Squad to take out the PCs (or their interests).  They are obviously from Boss Badd.  Partial success, Goons take out some interests, the PCs beat the Goons (probably).3rd Session:  The PCs are mad at Boss Badd and go gunning from him.  You'll want to outline his defenses, etc.  The PCs may attack directly, secretly, even infiltrate, you never know.  The expected goal is get to Boss Badd and take him out.  Duke Devious is visiting Boss Badd to inspect his operations.  Expect Duke Devious to be mad at the interruption, but he will retreat (not being prepared for PC-grade danger in his own territory).4th Session: Duke Devious has regrouped back at his house.  He does NOT want his superiors to know he's got trouble in his house.  he starts a hunt for the PCs.And so on it goes.  I run 4-6 hour sessions.  I do not plan out future sessions.  I write each session before I need to run it.  This lets me adjust to player interests and stated immediate plans.  So I squish in whatever else they want to do (get a flaming sword), sometimes interweaving it (Duke Devious owns a Flaming sword), to encourage them toward the planned goal.I always try to align the goal I write for the session to what the PCs would realistically pursue.  I try to avoid making quests to save princesses when the PCs have no interest in such.For the starting hook/PC match-up, I find requiring the PCs to be good guys, ties to the community and/or each other tends to set them up to pursue the "obvious" quest.  From there, I try to make the first session one where I think they will succeed, and it will unify them in a common goal (we all hate Boss Badd).  I like for them to end on a positive note (like Star Wars: a new hope).  Complications/screw-overs happen later.  I find plunging them into despair early hurts player morale when you are trying to get them to like their PCs and get used to working together.Also a note on what i mean by Success.  I expect the PCs to succeed at the quest.  Not that I purposely give it away, just that defeat usually means TPK and that's a start over, and there's not much good in thinking about the next session if you assume they don't live past the current session.  I think the challenge in actually suceeding is defining a good strategy and actually surviving the encounters.  If you do that, you should succeed and "win".  If you fail to do that, odds are good you are rolling up a new PC anyway.  If the party runs away, they'll either change their goal (stop trying to save the princess) or regroup and try again.  It seems reasonable that at some point they will succeed (or TPK/stop trying).</blockquote>

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