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<blockquote data-quote="Kestrel" data-source="post: 3404773" data-attributes="member: 384">Celebrim's post does illuminate some of the problems Ive had.&nbsp; If the GM and the players are sharing an ultimate goal in what they want the story to accomplish, then the game can run pretty smoothly.&nbsp; The GM has an idea where the players want to go, and he can prepare without totally scripting the action.&nbsp; But starting cold is just going to lead to a boring night.&nbsp; The GM doesnt know what the PCs want to do, and the PCs have no idea what can be done.&nbsp; So everyone just stares at each other.DnD, at least in my opinion, lends itself to scripted play.&nbsp; The stats for pc and npc are so detailed that it requires a lot of leadtime to create.&nbsp; If you are going for unscripted play, whats a GM to do to prepare for the players to have more control of the story?&nbsp; If they figure out everything thats supposed to happen beforehand, then its just another railroad.&nbsp; What the best method in DnD 3.5 to &quot;prep&quot; for something that is supposed to be more on the fly?For another twist, I like to have fully statted npcs for combat challenges.&nbsp; Anything less is not quite as satisfying for running.&nbsp; If I just wing stats on the fly, those encounters will not be nearly as fun and if the players get wind that Im doing it, thier enjoyment is lessened as well.So far, Ive been designing encounters and less plots.&nbsp; What I mean is that I come up with a tactical challenge i.e. &quot;Assassin's ambush 2a&quot; and stat out those npcs and thier tactics.&nbsp; When a story appropriate point comes up, I'll throw that in.&nbsp; So far thats worked, but any ideas others have would be welcome.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kestrel, post: 3404773, member: 384"] Celebrim's post does illuminate some of the problems Ive had. If the GM and the players are sharing an ultimate goal in what they want the story to accomplish, then the game can run pretty smoothly. The GM has an idea where the players want to go, and he can prepare without totally scripting the action. But starting cold is just going to lead to a boring night. The GM doesnt know what the PCs want to do, and the PCs have no idea what can be done. So everyone just stares at each other. DnD, at least in my opinion, lends itself to scripted play. The stats for pc and npc are so detailed that it requires a lot of leadtime to create. If you are going for unscripted play, whats a GM to do to prepare for the players to have more control of the story? If they figure out everything thats supposed to happen beforehand, then its just another railroad. What the best method in DnD 3.5 to "prep" for something that is supposed to be more on the fly? For another twist, I like to have fully statted npcs for combat challenges. Anything less is not quite as satisfying for running. If I just wing stats on the fly, those encounters will not be nearly as fun and if the players get wind that Im doing it, thier enjoyment is lessened as well. So far, Ive been designing encounters and less plots. What I mean is that I come up with a tactical challenge i.e. "Assassin's ambush 2a" and stat out those npcs and thier tactics. When a story appropriate point comes up, I'll throw that in. So far thats worked, but any ideas others have would be welcome. [/QUOTE]

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