DMs with limited time, and wasted efforts

[random user]

I agree with having multiple hooks and consequences. I know you said don't concentrate on the specifics, but using these examples may help explain the way I look at it...

I make up a lair of strange, evil monsters living in a cave complex too near a halfling village. In the game, the PCs discover the tracks of the strange creatures, and follow them back to the cave entrance. And then they walk away from the adventure and go elsewhere.

Did they stop by the village? If so, a villager can tell them about the scary things in the cave. If they were just traveling through, maybe a farmer will warn them that some monsters had waylaid some other adventurers a week before and they should be careful.

If they still don't go, maybe they get ambushed by some of the creatures in the night if they aren't too far away. Or simply have the monsters raze the halfling village. Or if the party isn't traveling too far, a couple nights later they can overhear some other adventurers boast about cleaning out a cave that was just two rooms and they got [insert cool item here].

I make an interesting and notable encounter with a local patrol who can give the PCs some useful information about the old abandoned temple they are heading to. And when the PCs spot the patrol on the road, they detour around them to avoid the encounter.

The information could also be provided in a town or inn they stayed at recently. Perhaps the patrol notices the party's tracks and notices the party was avoiding them. They follow them to the temple, wondering if they are up to no good. Perhaps the patrol left a message somehow with a vague warning that might get the party to try and find the patrol again.

I create an Assassin's Guild in the main city of the campaign. An assassin attacks the PCs in the night trying to kill a particular PC. The next morning the PCs decide to not bother investigating why they were attacked, and instead decide to just leave town.

And the assassinations stopped? Send another assassin! Also, create a plot hook so that they eventually need to return to that town, and instead of just sending a single assassin, send multiple, or at least something harder. After all, last time they tried, one assassin didn't work, so the assassins will try harder next time. And who was behind the assassins anyways? I'm sure they would come up with some plan to continue to harrass the party.

I create a bandit gang with a special treasure. The PCs come across the recent remains of the bandits' attack, with clear evidence of who did it and where they may be now. But they figure they need to keep on their current travel, and so merely bury the dead and then walk away.

Did the bandits notice them? If so they might think the PC's are a good target and just attack them. Note this isn't railroading them as long as the PC's haven't taken extrodinary protections to not be attacked (which, if they do, then don't have the bandits attack). Or, have them come upon another remains of another attack, perhaps with a NPC who survived, "They were here less than 30 minutes ago! They killed the rest of my family!" the pale survivor gasped as he lay wounded in a pool of his own blood. Or even have the NPC be in the first attack. A man or woman pleading for the party to help them is a lot harder to turn away than random evidence on the ground.

Are the PC's headed to somewhere to meet someone? If they don't do anything perhaps the NPC will be disconsolate over the death of a friend on the very road the PC's were on... and of course he died to bandits. The PC's will have to seek vengeance on the NPC's behalf, or otherwise cheer up the NPC, or lose the NPC as an ally for a period of time.

 

[RFisher]

just improvise it all.

This was something I decided a couple of years ago. I'm so bad at preparation that I used to end up having to improvise & feeling guilty that I hadn't prepared better. Then I realized that I'm probably better when improvising than when prepared. So now I've embraced improvising.

But, I am doing a lot of...trying to do a lot of prep work for when my time behind the screen comes again.

I take the position that making new monsters and NPCs, statting up encounters, writing plotlines, etc is something that I can enjoy for its own sake. If the party meets these NPCs and encounters, then that's a bonus. If they don't, then I've still had fun anyway.

I guess I've had pretty much the same philosophy, though I'd never put it into words. When/if PCs encounter anything, it'll just be icing on the cake.

 

[Chimera]

This happens to me, too. Historically the best way to ensure that the PCs don't pursue a plot thread is to map and detail it.

Sad but true. My last game group was nothing but a Beer and Pretzels group that didn't want to do anything harder than walk in circles until they encountered something, then find and loot it's lair.

They turned their backs on EVERY adventure that was more complicated than that, to my great frustration.

Remember the concept of consequences. If the group doesn't explore the cave, then the monsters go and kill other people. Maybe rival adventurers (including a paladin) track them to the cave and discover the PCs' tracks. Are these people allied with the monsters? Once the NPCs kill the monsters and take their loot, they work to track down the PCs and question them about their suspicious presence there.

Everything the PCs do, good or bad, has consequences that ripple forward. Predict these and you'll never run out of plot hooks.

Unless they're like my last group.

One example;

They heard of some trolls coming down from the hills, so they went to investigate. Found the cabin with the gate in the basement. Couldn't figure out how to open said gate. Didn't bother to place a guard or alarm spell on it, camped out upstairs and got ambushed by wizards coming through the gate. Got angry at me the GM for this, believing I was punishing them unfairly.

Killed a bunch of trolls and decided to leave the area. (8th level Ranger out scouting comes across a single troll. RANGER WALKS AWAY!!!) Party walks straight to a new settlement being built by a powerful NPC ally. Fails to warn them of the trolls nearby. Settlement wiped out by trolls who followed the party. Ally and a handful of survivors really PO'd at them. Party reputation in the toilet. Again, got mad at me the GM for this. I was just so unfair...

And on and on and on.

Good idea in theory, great idea if you have the right players. But it won't do you any good if your players refuse to "get it". (No, I don't play with any of those people anymore and never will.)

 

[Rel]

I too think that more personal plot hooks will get your players to engage these side adventures a bit more readily. The other solution is to have only the tip of the "encounter iceberg" ready at a given time. Take the example of the Assassin Guild:

Don't stat out every NPC in the guild when you imagine the encounter. Know the stats for the assassin you send after the party. More than likely the PC's will (if they want to pursue the encounter) start asking around about the local Assassins Guild. Gin up the stats for a band of thugs (generic Fighters or Rogues from the DMG work just fine here) along with the earlier assassin and have them come after the PC's, preferably someplace interesting. If the session hasn't ended yet, feel free to drop another bunch of thugs on them or hit them with a Roleplaying encounter by somebody whose family member was killed by the guild and wants to offer info about one of their hideouts or something.

If you've made it that far then the PC's have effectively bitten the hook. At that point you go home from the session and work up the details you need for a more full-blown confrontation between the PC's and Assassins to follow next session.

And on a completely unrelated note, I hope both Quasqueton and Mulkhoran will both be able to make it to the next NC Game Day (Sept 25). Look for a thread to start on that subject next week.

 

[Farrigan]

One trick that worked for me. Once the gaming session has ended, as the players are gathering their dice, their papers and packing their bags causally ask: "So, what do your characters plan on doing next session?"

Ask when they are busy, starting to leave-- you'll get shorter more honest answers. You'll get an idea of what the party as a whole wants, and what individual characters may want. Plus, it instills in the party a sense that they should actually have goals.

 

[Asmor]

I don't prepare. At all.

I just think about things through the week. For example, on Sunday we're starting a new campaign. Eventually they're going to end up in Sigil, at a very low level (probably level 2, 3 at the highest), and I have only a vague idea how. Possibly following one of the villains through a portal.

In the more immediate future, I know that I want them to try to rescue the daughter of a desert chieftain, who has been taken by a slaver. What they don't know is that the daughter actually eloped with the slaver and is a powerful mage who will help to fight them off.

I'll probably write up a stat block for the daughter, and maybe the slaver, but then again I just as likely might not.

Of course, my players aren't very knowledgable in the system and wouldn't really be able to tell if I screwed up something in my attempts at improvising, but I don't really care.

Where the story goes is as much a suprise to me as it is to them.

 

[Tilla the Hun (work)]

Frankly, I feel that the open-ended, completely character driven story method of play that has become popular lately(?) is highly over-rated. I much prefer a good story with the understanding that, to a point, you need to follow the GM's lead over spending half the session arguing over what the party should do next and whether or not a given character would go follow this or that course. Granted, I am a tactical player who enjoys overcoming challenges over roleplaying out every little bit of my character's personality. I have seen many cases where people roleplaying their characters led to deadlock and no-one having any real fun.

Just a quick comment as I'm a 'winger' GM and have been such for years.

If you wing the adventure correctly - the players will never realize that nothing is prepared. In fact, if they realize that, then that is when the big discussions 'where to go' 'what to do' start up. In fact, if you are winging it, they a) should never know and b) if they figure it out, stop winging for a session or two, take them by a firm hand and guide them down a defined path, then go back to winging it.

Provided the players DON"T know your winging it, it's a heck of a lot of fun for all involved as it mixes RP with Tactics in a very even balance that the players aren't even aware of.

That said, let me further point out that D&D is by far the hardest system to successfully do this with, for a very simple reason - the overly complicated mechanics behind spell casters. Fighters? Bah, I can fake them in my sleep and fight hordes against players with absolutely nothing written down, except maybe the different damages of different weapons. Rogues - same thing, though skills add a little extra dimension, it's still quite doable.

But a 10th level Mage or a 10th level Cleric - heck even a 3rd level - has 10's to 100's of options available at design time. Then there's the spell choices to worry about, then what spells they have memorized, then what items they have, etc. that just ruins the easy flow.

I've dealt with this by having a huge stable/harem full of clerics/mages organized by level then by concept that I can pull from. I hate it, because I prefer not having anything prepped, but it works. I've taken to doing the same thing for 'stock' monsters and encounters. Done properly, you'll know when a party will encounter a mage, and you'll have the details ready to hand.


As for the base issue here - it's been summed up quite nicely. You're players remain focused on the prime story while avoiding side plots. That's fine. You can follow any of the great suggestions here to help you cope with it.

If you choose the improv technique - good luck to you. My record was a 2 year, 7 month campaign that ran until the players figured out I was improving every second of it. Then they stopped discussing the plot at the game table, and I started coming up a little short Then a holiday and college grads, and deatht to the campaign

Anyway - good luck.

 

[RFisher]

One trick that worked for me. Once the gaming session has ended, as the players are gathering their dice, their papers and packing their bags causally ask: "So, what do your characters plan on doing next session?"

Yeah. I do that all the time. There's typically been a problem with it for me, though.

90% of the time, the next session begins something like this: "I've been thinking about it all week, and I think that instead we should..."