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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Serge" data-source="post: 284571" data-attributes="member: 4049">I've been reading some of these posts and thinking, "Wow.  I can't believe what some people perceive as railroading and what it means to be a plot-nazi.  Also can't believe that storytellers are bad DMs!"I am a storyteller.  I admit if freely.  Heck, my players have always considered this one of my strengths.  I enjoy letting the players discover that they are just one element in a huge world.  At lower levels, they are easily manipulated, easily abused, and often overlooked.  As they rise in levels, this changes.  They have greater and greater control over their own destinies, although, as a result, they draw the attention of ever more powerful NPCs.  That said, I don't consider myself a plot-nazi or railroader.Case in point.  I asked all of my players to create fully-fleshed out characters with backgrounds.  I like this because it requires players to ask me for information on my campaign setting.  I consider it of no little importance that players become at least a little familiar with my world and I'm generally uninterested in playing with those not willing to do this.  Between the player and myself, I find a way for my world to fit their backgrounds.  I don't just up and change their character to fit my world, although I will clarify things to players if something doesn't gel at all.Well, one character created a deposed, young noble on the run from a kingdom.  As far as he knew, his family was decimated by the King.  Well, we adjusted it so his family ruled a county within a duchy and it was the Duke who ordered the deaths of his family.  I created an entire backstory.  The purpose of this backstory was to grant him the opportunity to do his own research to further develop his character.  I knew who was responsible for what happened, why it happened, and had a good idea of what could happen if the PCs did what I expected to do with the clues left behind.  During the earliest parts of our games, he would conduct research about his background and he slowly learned that perhaps they weren't all dead.  He decided, with the approval of his party, to return to his land of origin and reunite with his sister.  On the way, an assassin attacked him, an assassin who he would later discover was his other sister.  I didn't expect his character to die...  But, his death added an additional dimension for the rest of the party.  They were now invested in this because one of their own was murdered.  As time progressed, the PCs did things which required me to adjust the story.  This was fine because it was very, very fun.  The expectations I had already drafted allowed me to make educated decision as to how the true villains would react.  By the time we were done (and he discovered that the assassin was his brainwashed sister, and that the person pulling her strings was their mother), the party did ABSOLUTELY nothing I expected and really had a great impact on the story.  To this day, they have no idea what was awaiting them...Anyway, I don't think storytelling is a bad thing.  I think that for really three dimensional games that having a full story is essential.</blockquote>

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