have players submit plot hooks?

[cmanos]

usually as a player, when I write my background, I include lots of things that could be considered plot hooks. Some DM's grab onto them, others don't.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I always give homework, asking for descriptions or people or places, names, rumors, NPCs, and plots. It is always helpful to build a library.

 

[loki44]

my players submit all the plot hooks. it is my job to blend them.....

.....and twist and distort and warp and pervert them into something that is always horrible and evil.

The idea works great in this campaign and we, as players, are always overjoyed when one of our innocently mentioned plot hooks winds up screwing us somewhere down the road. Take the hooks and run with 'em.

 

[Rel]

I listen to the players all the time about where they want to go with their characters. But too much detail early on can be a problem. I mean, if the Dwarf is sworn to destroy all the orcs in the Blackiron Hills and the Paladin must assault the Keep of Darkbone and the Wizard must uncover the secret magics of the Ten Pillars of Dust then suddenly all these competing agendas are threatening to pull the party apart before the game even gets started.

 

[ST]

I just wanted to chime in. I actively encourage player input in the adventures, from plot hooks on to actually having them frame scenes. I know that's a bit out there for D&D, but at least the player-submitted plot hook bit is very sound.

One thing I try to get them to do is to have their plot hook be a kind of open situation. Not so much "This happened, now I'm dealing with the fallout," as "This is happening, and oh crap I'm in the middle of it."

 

[Dragonbait]

Oh boy, have I had player input in future adventure design.

Player A - "You should make an adventure where I become seperated from the other players, and I have to fight a bunch of uber-baddies to save the rest of the PCs."
Player B - Have us rescue the NPC, then I will confess my love to his daughter. He will get mad, then the villain shows up we fight him, one of the PCs kills him, and then I find the item and...
Player C - I like big wars. I don't like small, dramatic fights. Everyone must think the same way as I do. I want to do an adventure of gurilla combat.

Only a few players do it, but those that do, do it all the time. All three are real examples, and only Player B would claim that I'm ruining their character when I didn't GM their script. A and C would come around, roll with it, then go back to giving suggestions.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Awesome. Tell us how it went!

Well, it didn't go so well thus far!

I asked one guy to give me three plot hooks that would interest his character. His answer?

"I don't have time."

Well, before getting upset with him, since we don't play in three weeks, I talk to him and realize that what he gave me was an in character answer! It appears that he's fearful of any new plot hooks that might come up in the game, and he basically begged me not to throw any more out! He's worried that he won't have time to finish the plots that are running around currently, which admittedly are a lot. He's asked me several times, actually, to halve XP gain so that they don't level too much before finishing all this stuff, so I should have seen this coming.

I have to wonder if this is going to be a pattern. And, I have to wonder if this is a good or bad thing.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I have had semi-pseudo-sort of mixed results using them in my Spycraft 2. campaign. Out of six players five use them and love them (going so far ast to try to get one or two more), and one who took some at character generation, but felt he was walking around with 'a great big target on [his] head' (mostly a quote there). When I asked him why he took them then he replied 'everyone else was'. (I felt like thumping him, time spent on the plots that he didn't really want could have been spent pn plots that the other players did want.)

I allowed him to drop the plots, and have had no complaints in that regard since.

My advice is make them optional, and make sure that the players know that they are optional.

The Auld Grump

 

[tetsujin28]

Instead of (or in addition to) players developing detailed character backgrounds, what if they submitted 2 or 3 plot hooks that would help me as DM see what kinds of adventures the player wants his PC to be involved in?

This is what I've been doing for 30 years Personally, I prefer a game to go even further than that: forget the character. What does the player want the character to be doing? 'Cause those are two very, very different issues.

 

[diaglo]

I listen to the players all the time about where they want to go with their characters. But too much detail early on can be a problem. I mean, if the Dwarf is sworn to destroy all the orcs in the Blackiron Hills and the Paladin must assault the Keep of Darkbone and the Wizard must uncover the secret magics of the Ten Pillars of Dust then suddenly all these competing agendas are threatening to pull the party apart before the game even gets started.

welcome to Roleplaying.

each of the PCs works out just what they are willing to do or compromise on to get help with their individual plot hooks.

where this fails is of course when one player decides his PC would never compromise and would prefer to find another party of adventurers to complete his hook. thus... he rolls up a new PC or the player leaves the group. this is a group game. and in that context there are meta reasons for the PCs to stay together.