Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Harlock" data-source="post: 1134121" data-attributes="member: 4545">Yeah, Someone actually asked my opinion!They matter a great deal.  I tend to DM for my players.  meaning I am there to serve them as a referee and guide the plot, but they can affect the plot and do what tey want so long as they are prepared for the world to continue on.Couldn't the DM have saved a lot of time by simply having one door that had the trap that led to another room with the other door to whatever it was supposed to be?  Kind of the glass half full or half empty thing: The glass is twice as big as it needs to be...I see lots of questions like this on this board and wonder if people have forgotten how to hook.  There's different levels of hooking.  A DM can say "Oh by the way, while you were wadering through the streets you heard that a caravan was hijacked two countries south of here..." in reference to someone hording supplies in preparation for an onslaught or a DM can say, "The supply train that had your new +X magic sword of bad guy slaying never showed up.  you've heard rumors that it was hijacked two countries south of here.  The merchant you ordered from points to a sign that says, 'All sales final, no refunds' and shrugs."  Giving PCs a personal stake in any plot hook makes it much more likely to snag them.  It doesn't have to be as blatant as my example was even as that can grow obvious and boring as well, and at some point your players will challenge it to see what happens if they ignore it either by choice or by happenstance as they get sidetracked.  But, as a player I must say I prefer a solid hook.  Presenting me with 25 vague plot hooks is likely only to get me more confused as I try and figure out what the DM "really" wants me to do.  It inspires second-guessing and distress in me as I wonder if by not taking hook A I am allowing some new Big Bad Evil Guy to rise to power or worse, if by doing hook A I am actually aiding his agenda.  I play D&D to be heroic and do amazing and fun things.  A Dm can hook me simply with the tried and true "The bad guy did this, you need to right this wrong".  It all comes down to knowing your players.  I've known DMs who do what the comic stated - giving the appearance of free will even if it is not there, and that is often times never known to players, so meh... who knows.  Still as a DM, save yourself the trouble and just make the non trapped door in a room behind the trapped one.</blockquote>

Verification