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Does the world exist for the PCs?
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 7613259" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>The world exists outside of the PCs, but it can be quite fuzzy until and unless the PCs interact with it. I usually do quite a sand-boxy world and I set things in motion that will have their own momentum unless the PCs decide to act on a plot thread. So I may have 5 plot threads going on and the players decide which ones they're going to pursue. While I try to avoid no-win scenarios (I'll never make people choose between a demon and a devil) the players do get to decide priorities and whether or not they're interested in pursuing something. </p><p></p><p>So if the group decides that ferreting out a corrupt official is less important than investigating the rumors of a village being attacked by a mysterious creature, I try to determine what the logical consequence of that is. Status quo? The corrupt official throws one of their allies in jail? When they get back the corrupt official has buried all the bodies so deep that there is no longer any proof of their wrongdoing? So I'll have high level notes on various allegiances, plots and things of interest going on and think about how or if that influences the world as perceived by the PCs.</p><p></p><p>However, I try to only go into as much detail as necessary to maintain a cohesive world that makes sense. It's a big world and by having a general idea of what's going on I can be more creative when the PCs go veering off on some tangent that I had never expected.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 7613259, member: 6801845"] The world exists outside of the PCs, but it can be quite fuzzy until and unless the PCs interact with it. I usually do quite a sand-boxy world and I set things in motion that will have their own momentum unless the PCs decide to act on a plot thread. So I may have 5 plot threads going on and the players decide which ones they're going to pursue. While I try to avoid no-win scenarios (I'll never make people choose between a demon and a devil) the players do get to decide priorities and whether or not they're interested in pursuing something. So if the group decides that ferreting out a corrupt official is less important than investigating the rumors of a village being attacked by a mysterious creature, I try to determine what the logical consequence of that is. Status quo? The corrupt official throws one of their allies in jail? When they get back the corrupt official has buried all the bodies so deep that there is no longer any proof of their wrongdoing? So I'll have high level notes on various allegiances, plots and things of interest going on and think about how or if that influences the world as perceived by the PCs. However, I try to only go into as much detail as necessary to maintain a cohesive world that makes sense. It's a big world and by having a general idea of what's going on I can be more creative when the PCs go veering off on some tangent that I had never expected. [/QUOTE]
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