D&D General Campaign character focus tracking

[robus]

But what did the PLAYER do to pursue and prioritize his or her "personal stories?"

Were you running an event-based game in the form of a storyline that didn't have any deviation from the plot?

Well it's quite hard in my experience for players to generate conflict in their personal stories if their pasts don't catch up with them. If they've run away from some trouble and are in a new town, that trouble is history if I don't do something to dredge it up?

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I like to use a FATE technique sometimes where you chat with the characters about overarching Campaign Themes and Threats.
Then, during character creation, when they do background stuff like Flaws and Bonds, some of those things can tie into the Campaign themes directly or indirectly.

 

[robus]

Maybe a little overthinking, but if so I'm also guilty of that. I also run character-driven games, both in the heart of the game improvising around the tables and in preparation working with players (and on my own) to weave their personal PC arcs into the campaign's overarching story.

Yep - I just need a way to make sure I'm thinking about opportunities to enrich the campaign with personal touches that pull in the players characters. The main campaign can be kind of a steam roller. Folks need to remember that I'm still very much in the noob category of DMs. I feel like I've finally gotten the basic running of the game down, describing the scene, action resolution etc. Now trying to up my story evocation game. Those are some good ideas Quickleaf. Thanks.

 

[robus]

In addition to ideal, flaw, and quirk, I ask for an "ambition" (some longterm goal) and an "endeavor" (some shorterm goal). The endeavor tends to change from level to level, such as to acquire a specific magic item. Meanwhile the ambition, such as to start a family or found an institution, tends to involve several levels and form a story arc.

My plan is similar for the next Session 0 is to ask players to describe (in private) what their characters are pursuing and what they are running from. That would give me two different sources of potential conflict and character development. Adding a longer term ambition would be nice too. Thanks!

 

[NaturalZero]

I really like it when players come up with background hooks and motivations for their character and if they provide such things, I'll gladly roll them into the story. If players don't care about these things, i might come up with the little something to throw their way but I recognize that some people aren't invested in personal plot stuff.

I think making matrices or flow charts aren't conducive to how i think, personally. I like to make a straightforward, linear concept of how each character's personal plot might go and then organically evolve it and interlace it with other characters or the main plot. Maybe I decided that one session that character A's father is the same merchant that employed character B, so there's a connection. Maybe the archnemesis of character C is that same guy I planned on as a foil in the main plot. It's pretty close to how I plan the main storyline - I think of beats, NPCs, and specific events, but I leave things open so that players can feel like their decisions are driving things.

 

[robus]

I really like it when players come up with background hooks and motivations for their character and if they provide such things, I'll gladly roll them into the story. If players don't care about these things, i might come up with the little something to throw their way but I recognize that some people aren't invested in personal plot stuff.

Absolutely. If the players are just interested in killing monsters and sticking to the main quest then I'm happy to do that.

I think making matrices or flow charts aren't conducive to how i think, personally. I like to make a straightforward, linear concept of how each character's personal plot might go and then organically evolve it and interlace it with other characters or the main plot. Maybe I decided that one session that character A's father is the same merchant that employed character B, so there's a connection. Maybe the archnemesis of character C is that same guy I planned on as a foil in the main plot. It's pretty close to how I plan the main storyline - I think of beats, NPCs, and specific events, but I leave things open so that players can feel like their decisions are driving things.

I like those ideas, thanks!

 

[iserith]

Well it's quite hard in my experience for players to generate conflict in their personal stories if their pasts don't catch up with them. If they've run away from some trouble and are in a new town, that trouble is history if I don't do something to dredge it up?

Okay so what we're really talking about is "backstories" then, which is something I don't generally recommend players spend much time on, nor the DM, except when a player is inspired to establish something during play. The DM can then latch onto that and run with it if it's interesting. This requires no special prep by the DM ahead of time.

 

[robus]

Okay so what we're really talking about is "backstories" then, which is something I don't generally recommend players spend much time on, nor the DM, except when a player is inspired to establish something during play. The DM can then latch onto that and run with it if it's interesting. This requires no special prep by the DM ahead of time.

Cool, but then I think we're looking for different experiences from our campaigns is all? I've found the campaigns I've run to be a little too 2-dimensional because the characters (whilst being the protagonists) seemed quite static and disconnected from the world. I'm trying to make things feel a bit more 3-dimensional.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Back when I've run character arcs, I used to plan them out on white boards, then connect intersecting elements.

 

[robus]

Back when I've run character arcs, I used to plan them out on white boards, then connect intersecting elements.

Now we're talking!