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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 9254354" data-attributes="member: 11">Different players/groups want different things.I am definitely one of those DMs/players who rankles at the idea of D&D being about "playing out a story." I  know it may just be different language for the same or a similar thing, but I am the type to argue "the story is what emerges from character interaction with the world." I also know that this preference is not everyone's, and some players want to play out a story where success is, if not guaranteed, then the obvious long term and very likely goal.In my current in-person campaign, I am running my take on ToEE. The premise began with PCs who have had apocalyptic visions of elemental destruction stemming from an unearthed temple being rebuilt and having come to this part of the world to investigate and pursue these visions to hopefully stop whatever is going to happen. This premise was presented by me, the DM, and agreed to by the players. So in a sense we have a "story" - these would-be heroes, plagued by disturbing visions, seeking out their subject to potentially stop the end of life as they know it. That said, the campaign itself does not follow a story or have "story beats" or have outcomes based on "what would happen in a book or movie." In fact, we are about to play our 12th session and the characters recently hit 3rd level and they have gone nowhere near the moathouse or the town of cultists working to uncover the temple (despite having a map that shows them where it is) but have followed up on other rumors and wandered around the area based on their immediate interests. Heck, I thought once they found out the bandits who captured them and killed one of their number immediately after their first adventure were using the moathouse as an HQ, they'd head over there for some revenge and justice. But maybe the near TPK made them reticent to mess with those bandits! If this campaign were the "story" of heroes fighting the forces of the temple, well the audience would probably be disappointed in how it is going so far - but in terms of building out events that are fun to play through and experiencing these characters "in the world," it has been fun as hell - and I assume eventually they will make their way back to "the main plot" and even if they don't - we'll have a story to tell, at the end. I don't know what they will choose to do, how, or why. I just know the options that exist in the area I detailed, and am ready to expand those options as we go along, based on what they do decide to do.I guess there is a reason why I usually prep locations that have NPCs with agendas tied to them and not "what is gonna happen." Sometimes I have to figure out what happens when the PCs don't intervene, but I only when that might effect the PCs or effect the world to the degree that they'd hear about it.</blockquote>

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