Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5122259" data-attributes="member: 2067">My style is more strongly narrative, I think. It is largely this way because of my focus on "what gets used at the table."As a result, I don't worry about creating too much background. I may hint at things during play, toss off asides, play a little "fantasy mad libs" here and there ("The <humanoid race>s in the <terrain feature> to the <compass direction> are working on <long-term plot>, according to <NPC> from <village the PC's have already visited>"), to create the sensation that the world exists outside of the PC's actions.So if the PC's decide to snap this up, I'm ready to roll.But generally, I know what the characters in my game will want, and I put that goal wherever I have an idea for a story or a scene, and I let them fill in the details between Point A and Point B. The characters are often tied inextricably to the campaign, and I swap campaigns about once a year, once the plots involving these characters and the antagonists are over with.I don't make long-term, persistent sandboxes, by and large. My interest is far too short-term for that. My style generally favors a more scripted approach, with a beginning, middle, and end, so that I can move on to the next shiny thing quickly and easily.That doesn't really mean I force anything on anyone, of course. Players always choose their actions. It does mean that I actively try to find out what motivates the characters, like a good director or writer, to find out how to create a reason for them to be in the scene. Because at my table, that's generally the way that stuff gets used: by being linked to the characters' goals and motives. I could have a goblin camp somewhere Out There, but unless that goblin camp actually is going to involve one of the characters, I don't bother developing it much beyond the "Fantasy Mad Libs" stage.</blockquote>

Verification