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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7276000" data-attributes="member: 6801286">Exactly. I use the living world as a means to:-Show the players that their actions (and inaction) have impact on the world.-To provide plot hooks (when the plot comes to them).-To provide hints when the plot is going on elsewhere in the world, which they are free to seek out or ignore.-So that plot twists don't entirely drop out of thin air. If evil is afoot, someone is bound to notice some of it.For example, I had one npc approach the players at some point, while they were visiting a city and doing some shopping. The npc informed them that she had seen a battle in progress at a nearby coastal settlement. She had seen lots of smoke, and heard many gunshots, but she was unable to determine what the settlement was fighting against. This was a bit of clever misdirection on my part. I knew the players would presume that the town was under attack from pirates, and that they would not expect the twist...It seemed that a left over plot point from the start of the campaign, had come back to haunt the players. Many sessions ago they had fled from a massive living ship, and they were only able to escape, because they befriended a giant, who picked up the living ship, and threw it somewhere on the island. But they never believed they were truly rid of this foe. Since the players were quite a distance away from the settlement, having an npc relay the story was the only logical way to let them know this was going on. The players now had a choice: Finish up what they were doing, or hurry to assist the settlement. By having this npc show up, I was able to inject some excitement and suspense into the campaign, at a point when I felt it needed some action. The players were hanging around in the city for a long while, and not much was happening. So I gave them an exciting plot hook to respond to. -If they responded right away, they would be able to join the battle, and prevent a lot of damage to the settlement. -But if they waited, the battle would be over by the time they arrived, and the damage to the settlement would be severe.Both outcomes are interesting. The first choice obviously throws them right into a battle, which is always fun and exciting. The latter has them witness the aftermath of the battle, and piece together exactly what happened, which is also quite interesting.As it just so happened, they delayed, and a large part of the settlement was in ruins by the time they arrived. Some huge creature had left a path of destruction throughout the coastal town, which was not at all prepared to deal with this threat. The players talked to eye witnesses, and collected bits and pieces of what had transpired. At the town square they found the corpse of the massive living ship; riddled with gunshot wounds and covered in arrows. By the looks of it, it seemed like the entire town had fired just about every weapon they had at it to bring it down. In the local tavern they learned that it was the local weapon smith who had stood his ground, and emptied every last of his merchandise on the creature. He now was the hero of the town... but at a grave cost; his shop lay in ruins. The players sat with the smith, and offered him a drink. They commended him for his heroism, and then decided to offer the poor smith a job to work for them. They felt responsible for what had happened, and offered to pay for the rebuilding of his shop. And so it all ended well. It was a fantastic role playing moment, where the players were confronted with the consequences of their own negligence.</blockquote>

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