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<blockquote data-quote="Rune" data-source="post: 6855904" data-attributes="member: 67">Lesson 28: Always leave an out.It probably goes without saying that you generally want your significant villains to avoid getting boxed in by the PCs - or, at least, they probably want that. What you may not have considered is that the game will flow much better if you avoid doing the same to the PCs, as well. This doesn't mean you should never put the PCs into desperate situations, but that, even when you do, you should never narrow their options to the point where desperation becomes frustration. Desperation can foster innovation; frustration can only ever hinder it. And in so doing, it will suck the energy right out of a game. Frustration is the enemy of improvisation, and, hence, the enemy of low-prep play. To that end, you should never engineer a scenario in which the PCs do not have a way to make progress - even if that progress is a retreat - nor should you require progression to go through a narrative choke-point. In fact, you shouldn't require anything; that's just extra work you're putting on yourself! Remember, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?316091-Full-time-DM-Part-time-Prep&amp;p=6075339&amp;viewfull=1#post6075339" target="_blank">trust the players to come up with their own solutions</a> and give them the latitude to do so! Save yourself from all of the extra effort that distrust entails!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rune, post: 6855904, member: 67"] [b]Lesson 28: Always leave an out.[/b] It probably goes without saying that you generally want your significant villains to avoid getting boxed in by the PCs - or, at least, [i]they[/i] probably want that. What you may not have considered is that the game will flow much better if you avoid doing the same to the PCs, as well. This doesn't mean you should never put the PCs into desperate situations, but that, even when you do, you should never narrow their options to the point where desperation becomes frustration. Desperation can foster innovation; frustration can only ever hinder it. And in so doing, it will suck the energy right out of a game. Frustration is the enemy of improvisation, and, hence, the enemy of low-prep play. To that end, you should never engineer a scenario in which the PCs do not have a way to make progress - even if that progress is a retreat - nor should you require progression to go through a narrative choke-point. In fact, you shouldn't [i]require[/i] anything; that's just extra work you're putting on yourself! Remember, [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?316091-Full-time-DM-Part-time-Prep&p=6075339&viewfull=1#post6075339]trust the players to come up with their own solutions[/url] and give them the latitude to do so! Save yourself from all of the extra effort that distrust entails! [/QUOTE]

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