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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ktulu" data-source="post: 4589887" data-attributes="member: 13465">I do a combination of things:1. Begin with a general idea of what the game will be about.  This is based on what I want to run as a DM, and what the players (and by extention, the characters) want.2.  Each week, I have the players give a follow-up of what they enjoyed, didn't enjoy and what they're planning on doing.  I combine this with the over-all plan I have and, it usually plays out well.3.  This is a harder thing, but I try to pay close attention to what's engaging the players.  If Gaelen's player isn't interested in the politics behind the war, but the rest of the players are, I'll make sure the next session has something special set aside for him.  If Garr's barbarian is having trouble with the primal aspect of his character, then next week they'll encounter a Nereid and her minions.4.  The hardest part, in my opinion, is getting the characters invested.  They won't care about railroading if you get them sold on the world.  If you spend enough time making sure they care about the story, they'll already be doing what you want.  For instance, in my current game, I've got them seeing red whenever the enemy is mentioned.  I know they'll defy logic in going after their enemies, so I can easily plan for that.  I can literally throw out three possible hooks and right now they'll take the one causing pain, as they're wanting as much revenge as possible.  However, if even one of their NPC's is in destress, they'll come running to the rescue.  They've suffered enough losses and don't want a pyrrhic victory.</blockquote>

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