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<blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 1866774" data-attributes="member: 2205">First of all, if you throw intrigueing enough plot hooks at the players, they are likely to want to follow them on their own.&nbsp; A little judicious help and guidance during character creation can help make sure you have a group of PCs that are likely to be interested in the adventure's you've planned, rather than doing whatever the heck you never thought of.Second, if your &quot;adventure&quot; is a selection of loosely connected plot hooks that all come together at some point, the players are making the decisions, but you're still not &quot;winging it;&quot; you've got plans to cover what they may decide to do.Third, it's not hard to give your players the illusion of control, while still having them encounter what you planned, if you're just a little bit creative on the fly.&nbsp; &quot;OK, so instead of going to the abandoned temple out in the desert, you want to go to Lady Dinkus' party and look for spies?&nbsp; It turns out that the storage cellars under her mansion connect to a series of caves, and have ... many of the same encounters you would have faced had you gone to the temple!&quot;&nbsp; Not a great example, but hopefully my point is clear.Fourth, yeah, this is a game, and although it shares a number of things with stories, novels and whatnot, it isn't a collaborative novel writing exercise.&nbsp; You do have to be a bit fast and loose with narrative structure if you hope to not totally frustrate your players.&nbsp; My personal preference is to create an environment, with dynamic NPCs that have goals and plans, and then wind up that environment and let it run on its own.&nbsp; Throw the PCs into the mix and see how they impact the goals and plans of the NPCs, instead of trying to tailer the goals and plans of the NPCs particularly to interact with the PCs.&nbsp; I think its fascinating to let the PCs gradually come to realize that some of the things that are happening around them are the results of either things they did, or things they choose not to do.&nbsp; Didn't want to go rescue the princess from whatever?&nbsp; Guess what?&nbsp; Now the kingdom you live in is at war with the guys who kidnapped and killed her.&nbsp; And so the environment in which the PCs interact changes, and they can see why.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Desdichado, post: 1866774, member: 2205"] First of all, if you throw intrigueing enough plot hooks at the players, they are likely to want to follow them on their own. A little judicious help and guidance during character creation can help make sure you have a group of PCs that are likely to be interested in the adventure's you've planned, rather than doing whatever the heck you never thought of. Second, if your "adventure" is a selection of loosely connected plot hooks that all come together at some point, the players are making the decisions, but you're still not "winging it;" you've got plans to cover what they may decide to do. Third, it's not hard to give your players the illusion of control, while still having them encounter what you planned, if you're just a little bit creative on the fly. "OK, so instead of going to the abandoned temple out in the desert, you want to go to Lady Dinkus' party and look for spies? It turns out that the storage cellars under her mansion connect to a series of caves, and have ... many of the same encounters you would have faced had you gone to the temple!" Not a great example, but hopefully my point is clear. Fourth, yeah, this is a game, and although it shares a number of things with stories, novels and whatnot, it [i]isn't[/i] a collaborative novel writing exercise. You do have to be a bit fast and loose with narrative structure if you hope to not totally frustrate your players. My personal preference is to create an environment, with dynamic NPCs that have goals and plans, and then wind up that environment and let it run on its own. Throw the PCs into the mix and see how they impact the goals and plans of the NPCs, instead of trying to tailer the goals and plans of the NPCs particularly to interact with the PCs. I think its fascinating to let the PCs gradually come to realize that some of the things that are happening around them are the results of either things they did, or things they choose [i]not[/i] to do. Didn't want to go rescue the princess from whatever? Guess what? Now the kingdom you live in is at war with the guys who kidnapped and killed her. And so the environment in which the PCs interact changes, and they can see why. [/QUOTE]

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