Best Plot Your Players Never Noticed

[demiurge1138]

I was reminded of this one when I was reading something about sea cucumbers. Long story.

You see, I'd decided on a new reoccuring villain for my Planescape game. Echidna, the mother of such creatures of import to the Olympians as Hydra, Chimera, the Nemean Lion, Cerberus, and so forth. My version of her was sort of a tauric succubus/chimera hybrid who had only evaded the gods and classical heroes due to her abilities as a supreme trickster and shapeshifter. Kind of off canon, I know, but I was feeling inspired.

She ran into the party in part of a power struggle over the gate town to the Abyss, hoping to use the PCs to empower her own faction (and since they'd earned a bounty on their last trip to that town and had been harassed by bounty hunters throughout the campaign, they were willing to listen to anyone who could get rid of the price on their heads). She was disguised as a male half-fiend (named Holothuroid, which is the scientific classification for sea cucumber. Because they're echinoderms, you see. Don't judge), and Echinda ended up being seduced by a female character in an attempt to win "his" favor.

So after the PCs were double-crossed, running for their lives and one was considering fearfully the prospect of being pregnant with a half-fiend (she realized that her one-night stand was a succubus once she woke up with level drain), I expected them to be chomping at the bit to go back and confront "him", whenceforth she'd reveal her true nature, all sorts of interesting complications, tie-in to some greater Olympian-themed plot.

Never happened. The PCs never considered the possibility of revenging themselves. They just wanted to stay the hell away from one of the few enemies who ever outsmarted them. Good for them, I guess. Might have to bring her back if there's a sequel game.

So what clever plots have you ever concoted only to have been completely ignored by the players?

Demiurge out.

 

[ThirdWizard]

The first one that pops into my head was a city where the PCs had to get to a certain location that was heavily guarded. I had set up a bunch of political intrigue, as two high ups in the city were vying for control. The PCs could have sided with either one or played both sides against each other or whatever else they thought of.

Instead they ended up opening a rift the fabric of reality, allowing Devils to sweep into the city, killing all the inhabitants that they didn't take as slaves, and used the ensuing chaos to walk up to the place while the authorities were desperately (and ineffectively) trying to stop the inexplicable Devil invasion.

It was fun, though. In a "Oh sweet mercy, the PCs are so very very evil!" way.

 

[Harmon]

I have a Player that is a friggin' genius (Coyote6) so missed plots- nah, not gonna slip by him. Another Player (DarthJaye) is pretty good at spotting the obvious clues of a plot, so that is another bonus to them not missing anything.

Coyote6 however could fill reams and reams of one line plots that we have missed however- as he tends to have plots that take years to clear up, dropping clues from one campaign into another, then having a cross over years later (when we forgot all about the plot and the clues).

He is a great GM- I wish he had better Players I would not feel so guilty about missing the plots.

 

[vulcan_idic]

Echidna, the mother of such creatures of import to the Olympians as Hydra, Chimera, the Nemean Lion, Cerberus, and so forth. My version of her was sort of a tauric succubus/chimera hybrid who had only evaded the gods and classical heroes due to her abilities as a supreme trickster and shapeshifter. Kind of off canon, I know, but I was feeling inspired.... <snip> ...She was disguised as a male half-fiend (named Holothuroid, which is the scientific classification for sea cucumber. Because they're echinoderms, you see. Don't judge)

I've never run into this, yet... but I'm sure I will as I DM more, so far I'm still a novice.

On an entirely tangential note, I love this whole train of thought!! I just love the way you think man!! Cool!! I also love the complications and side plots, I may borrow from this at some point!

 

[Plane Sailing]

At the start of the campaign there are merchants coming from the religious kingdom beyond the barrier range mountains, and the odd missionary. (one PC is a paladin from this nation)

As the campaign developed, the merchants stopped coming

party does adventures.

Then they started to see a trickle of refugees.

party does adventures.

The trickle of refugees starts to become a flood.

party does adventures.

Problems housing refugees, party gets involved with negotiating favours with local baron, eventually allow refugees to repopulate a village which was decimated by goblins some years ago.

party (now average 12th level) discovers that evil priests have infiltrated the religous structure, started a pogrom against those 'weak in the faith'. Only one mountain city still holds out. They desperately need help to repel the attackers and organise resistance, to free the nation!

party goes and does something else

It was one of the best slow-building plot hooks I've ever done, gradually building up over a period of two years of real time, and it never happened. A couple of adventures later the party manages to TPK themselves.

Ah well.

 

[green slime]

At the start of the campaign there are merchants coming from the religious kingdom beyond the barrier range mountains, and the odd missionary. (one PC is a paladin from this nation)

As the campaign developed, the merchants stopped coming

party does adventures.

Then they started to see a trickle of refugees.

party does adventures.

The trickle of refugees starts to become a flood.

party does adventures.

Problems housing refugees, party gets involved with negotiating favours with local baron, eventually allow refugees to repopulate a village which was decimated by goblins some years ago.

party (now average 12th level) discovers that evil priests have infiltrated the religous structure, started a pogrom against those 'weak in the faith'. Only one mountain city still holds out. They desperately need help to repel the attackers and organise resistance, to free the nation!

party goes and does something else

It was one of the best slow-building plot hooks I've ever done, gradually building up over a period of two years of real time, and it never happened. A couple of adventures later the party manages to TPK themselves.

Ah well.

LOL!!

Ah well, its good to know I'm not alone.

 

[Ashrum the Black]

Man this is my group to a T!

Last campaign I had an adventure that was supposed to tie up loose ends concerning on of the characters backstories. I had it all set to run, and they just kept finding other things to do. For SIX levels! When they finally decided to go I ended up having to revamp the whole thing for their new level.

My current campaign I keep dropping hints and clues all over, they just keep jumping left instead of right, or sometimes even backwards. They played through the first two adventures of the classic slave lords adventures. In the end of the second one some of the villians escaped on a ship out to sea. Tow of the characters backstories make them loathe pirates. Instead of tracking them down or giving chase, they decided to go after the brother of one of the characters in a completly different country on the other side of the continent. :\

Earlier, they were bound and determined to go into a monster laden desert after an artifact they found mention to in a book they recovered. They had no clue where in the desert it was, but they wanted to go after it. I finally destracted them with hints of great wealth and power in a much easier to get to location. Now something like eight levels later and they're ready to try for it I start dropping more hints about the fabled staff, and I can hear the crikets chirp. Now they want to go kill the unspeakable undead horror loosed two thousand years ago by the total destruction of five city states.

One of the character's is engaged to be married to an extremely beautiful and wealthy woman. She has made it her job to push him along the path to power and wealth. She has also begun spending quite a bit of time with his estranged father. The father has begun to set aside years of hate and now is warming to him. His father has also begun to look unwell as of late. His mother is seen less and less often. For the players part there are holes in his memory of some of his late night escapades with her. He himself has felt, drawn, lethargic, and unwell after spening the night with her. And .... nothing. He just keeps on going and adventuring, always sending loving letters back as well as including her is all of his business ventures.

Maybe I'm sprinkeling two many plot hooks around as they go, but they always seem to jump left instead of right.

-Ashrum

 

[Gilladian]

I set up a whole ruined city deep in a swamp for the PCs to explore. They could have spent the entire campaign there. But as soon as they ran into a wizard who was living in the ruins they decided he was a lich, must be evil, and was too powerful for them. They did one job for him, promised to do more, left and never came back.

The funny part is that he WASN'T a lich, just a wizard who had been in an enchanted sleep for centuries... He was about 12th level to their 6th. And eventually they'd have discovered the REAL evil lich deep within the ruins, and this guy would have been their main ally, with his lizardfolk and half-dragon servants.

Instead they went back to the city to have political adventures which I'm much less capable of running well...

 

[demiurge1138]

To be fair to myself, when playing I've missed plot hooks a time or two. The most memorable of which entailed the DMs having to rewrite huge chunks of the campaign based on my spur-of-the-moment attempt at diplomacy. In the first session. "No, that half-dragon who ended up setting the tavern on fire wasn't that bad of a guy, he was working against, uh... the Scarlet Brotherhood!" sort of thing.

Fortunately, those DMs were pretty much making it up as they went along. So they could afford some flexibility.

Demiurge out.

 

[tetsujin28]

Plots are the bane of civilization.

Seriously. It's like saying, "See how cool I am! And yet those players, what ignoramuses!" Once you let go of plots, you start realizing how constricting they are. Why talk about all the plots your players missed, when you can talk about all the great stories they had?