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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4860519" data-attributes="member: 80487">Yeah, superheroes tend to be pretty reactive. When they get into proactive, "Let's really solve problems and change the world!" mode, they often end up switching dramatic roles to villains (or at least tragic heroes) -- "Power corrupts", especially when Utopia would be narratively inconvenient.Sometimes I have gone with a complete plot (including climactic scene) in mind, but there are so many ways things can go "wrong" that it's a gamble.Mostly, I just work out what the NPCs plan to do, and have them respond in keeping with their natures when the heroes intervene.For D&D, I think the original "underworld" concept is brilliant. I don't think it's really necessary to map even half a dozen levels before players make their first descent into the dungeons beneath the "huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses".Indeed, experience suggests that keeping just a couple of steps ahead of the players is probably preferable to developing much without the inspiration of active play. I find that the pressure helps to focus attention on essentials and override a tendency to perfectionism, keeping an immediacy that is very vibrant in play. Not playing for a while, there can be a tendency to forget how much players' imaginations "fill in the blanks" and how much of the fun comes from improvisation. YMMV, of course.Anyway, it's brilliant because the labyrinthine catacombs and caverns provide an environment with a huge number of possible paths through it -- and yet a sharply finite number of immediate choices at any given junction -- and whichever way one goes promises peril and plunder, mystery and wonder. By keeping it dynamic, rather than letting levels be permanently "cleared", one can ensure that the ever-growing maze remains fresh for players new and old alike.Couple that with a town initially sketched in broad strokes, and a wilderness environs even less defined (details to be discovered when the players are strong enough for exploratory expeditions), and you're ready to roll!Over time, you can gradually flesh out the core area and expand outward. Provision for the adventures of early players tends to produce material that can be reused in years to come, and the campaign gets richer year by year. Eventually, the first characters to attain "name" level retire to become basically "NPC" lords of their domains cut from the wilds (occasionally venturing forth to deal with matters of such level as to interest them). Their biographies (and those of the valiant fallen) by then contribute to the history and legend of the realm.There can be a lot of pleasure in the organic development, something different from playing in someone else's world neatly packaged.</blockquote>

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