Best non-linear adventure modules / mini-campaigns

[Jorunkun]

The only drawback I've found thus far is that some of my players have repeatedly asked for a list of "open issues" because they lost track of it all. (...) Essentially I was springing plots at them, offering them more choice, but players would have prefered less choices (as in three or four plots instead of ten or more).

Interesting observation, this. Reading your (very entertaining btw) session reports, I came away thinking that this is pretty much the campaign style I was aiming for: Keep the world moving in multiple directions at once, douse the players in plot-strands - but let them decide where to go next and whom to support.

So do you reckon this problem is specific to your group, or is there a limit to how many plot strands should be open at any one time?

I once read that as a rule of thumb, complexity starts at seven of anything ... apparently this is the number of different things humans can keep track of subconsciously.

 

[Morpheus]

Necormancer's The Lost City of Barakus and The Vault of Larin Karr are both really good for this sort of thing.

QFT

 

[Silver Moon]

My suggestions is the module "Beast of Burden" from Dungeon #100. The story concerns an extremely large monster (100 feet high by 500 feet long) ravaging the countryside with a Gnoll city atop its back. While there is a definite mission to the storyline there are a lot of different ways to go about it. I have a Story Hour posted in that forum of my group's playing of this module and based upon some of the reader's comments posted other gaming groups went about it very differently.

 

[S'mon]

Interesting observation, this. Reading your (very entertaining btw) session reports, I came away thinking that this is pretty much the campaign style I was aiming for: Keep the world moving in multiple directions at once, douse the players in plot-strands - but let them decide where to go next and whom to support.

So do you reckon this problem is specific to your group, or is there a limit to how many plot strands should be open at any one time?

I once read that as a rule of thumb, complexity starts at seven of anything ... apparently this is the number of different things humans can keep track of subconsciously.

I agree this is a valid observation, especially when it comes to loose matrix type campaigns with multiple interlocking plot threads - in a pure 'open' campaign the PCs' actions are the primary driver, so they only have to track what interests them, anything else can be forgotten. In a matrix campaign there is an intended resolution/climax, but several threads leading there.

I think 10+ threads is definitely too much for most players. I'd suggest 3-6 developing over the course of the campaign, eventually several should fold back together.

Edit: BTW I ran Barakus over two years and had a good time. I'm planning to run Vault of Larin Karr soon; I've just started a new C&C campaign at 1st level. I was thinking Larin Karr could be used with ca 3rd level C&C PCs.

 

[eric mcloins]

I'd like to second Tales from the Infinte Staircase. It's an excellent adventure and one of my favorites. The players can choose which door they'll pass next, and those choices have great impact on the flow of the adventure.

I'd also like to mention Ptolus. It's such a detailed city the players can do whatever they want, but the plotlines are so obvious for the DM, plus the adventures at the end of the book and the two accompanying adventures (Night of Dissolution and the Banewarrens) are integrated so well into the city it is really easy for the Dm to run a plot oriented campaign, but with alot of options for the players to just do whatever they want.

 

[kensanata]

So do you reckon this problem is specific to your group, or is there a limit to how many plot strands should be open at any one time?

I guess it's a human urge to tie all the loose knots in a narrative. If keeping track of the number of knots is starting to be a problem in itself...

If you like to offer a similar number of choices to your players without running into this problem, you might want to try something I was thinking of: Make it clear that players should follow some of the open plots and that by following them, the other plots would get resolved eventually by somebody else.

For example: After running Crucible of Freya the party discovered that a. Tavik the half-orc priest of Orcus had fled to the East, and that b. Gnolls have been sneaking into the province. The party chose to investigate the Gnolls and I kept Tavik as a plot option for the longest time. Instead, I should have said two sessions later: "The innkeeper tells you an amazing story. It seems that a half-orc cleric of Orcus was rooted out of Bard's Gate and returned to the Stoneheart Dungeon. Can you believe it? The cult of Orcus must be growing strong in the East. Good thing that's not our problem, harr harr."

Just make it clear that it's "no longer our problem" and remove the item from the plot list. My hope is that this would give a sense of closure while still offering a lot of choice and making the world seem alive.

But I haven't tested it. Let me know if it works for you.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Might I suggest taking a sandbox setting (Wilderlands, Greyhawk, Fr, etc ...) and then dropping in a sprinking of site-based adventures as a means of achieving what you're after?

It requires you to put together 3-4 "plot threads" to link what might be otherwise unlinked adventures, but I've found it to work pretty well, as players can choose to follow a particular plot thread that leads to a particular adventure, and depending on what they do they can continue to follow that thread, or jump to another. Of course, the world evolves over time so some threads die out and others emerge.

For example, I began my last campaign with a standard "monster bandits are raiding the area" trope, and the PCs (after the party was brought together) were basically offered three missions: escort a convoy to a keep, investigate a kidnapping, or go after a lost patrol. The first led to an adaptation of module B2 (Keep on the Borderlands), the second to Sunless Citadel, the third to a Dungeon magazine adventure. I planned branches and sequels of adventures from there based upon what they did. Over a four-year, 15-level campaign, I used probably 80% pre-published material linked in the sandbox, and 20% original material (not counting my adaptations of published stuff).

One of the things I did to keep the player options manageable, and remind them of what was going on, was to periodically -- usually every time the returned to civilization -- give them a "Current Clack" of rumors and goings-on in the area. They'd get about 10 bits of history & rumor. 2-3 would be bogus, dead-ends. The rest would refer to 3-4 different plot threads. The rumors would adjust as the party closed out their thread (or it led them to new ones) and the others would get resolved and new ones introduced as time passed. Worked pretty well.

 

[Psion]

Heck, the last three adventures can even go in different orders.

Nice. Can't wait to see 'em.

 

[Jorunkun]

Make it clear that players should follow some of the open plots and that by following them, the other plots would get resolved eventually by somebody else.

(...)

Just make it clear that it's "no longer our problem" and remove the item from the plot list. My hope is that this would give a sense of closure while still offering a lot of choice and making the world seem alive.

I like this idea, and not just to close off the (plot-) road not taken. It's actually an elegant way of structuring a dynamic, multithreaded sandbox-style campaign:

Set up six or so major plot strands, most of which are fairly low level, the players decide which of them to pursue, and how far. The ones not taken up by the players develop without their participation, usually by things getting worse: Enemies get more powerful, supporters die or turn against players.

That way, the world and plot develops organically as a result of player choice. And there are always adequate challenges until the last thread is tied up and the campaign ends, without the GM having to prepare stuff that isn't used.

As for setting entire modules in a sandbox environment; I would rather use two dozen smaller adventures ("Dungeon" sized) than three monolithic module-size ones. I like the idea of the PCs going back and forth on the same map to advance multiple plot strands in parallel. Weaving the parts together is key imho.

Again, thanks for all the input. Oh, and Vaults of Larin Karr truly is great.