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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tilla the Hun (work)" data-source="post: 1666349" data-attributes="member: 14214">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 <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Then a holiday and college grads, and deatht to the campaign <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Anyway - good luck.</blockquote>

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