NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 6723332" data-attributes="member: 6801286">I agree entirely. I don't think that a 100% sandbox game is a good thing, but neither is a 100% scripted game. I think you need to have at least some plot, in order to have a story. But what matters, is how set in stone this story is. I prefer to allow my players to affect the plot as much as possible.  And I want to give them the freedom to do what they want to do. I run a pirate campaign, and so my players want to sail the seas, explore new regions, raid ships, and build a pirate faction of their own. Currently they are even preparing to build their own base on a remote island. All this is perfectly fine with me. Their base will make for an excellent platform to further the plot.When my players explore an island, I randomly roll for what they discover on their travels. But if there was no plot what so ever, then it would probably get dull pretty quickly. So I write a basic mini plot for each island, that is waiting for the players to uncover. I serve them a mix of story and random stuff. And I change the plot depending on what the players do. For example, I had written a plot where one of the villains would attempt to steal a treasure map from the players. But considering the choices of the players, and their current location, it just didn't make sense for the villain to run with that plan. It relied too heavily on the villain knowing things he/she couldn't possibly know, and so I just let it go, and put the idea in the freezer for now. I may find a way to use it some other time.Now not everyone is going to agree on what makes for the perfect D&D campaign style. I know plenty of players who like a good story, and don't mind if they are being pushed from A to B. But personally I don't ever want to be in a position as a DM, where I have to tell my players "you can't go there, that's not part of the campaign", or "you can't do that, because the plot can't continue otherwise". I think as a DM you should simply never put yourself in that position, where the choice of a player can so easily undermine your campaign. That is why all the characters in my campaign are expendable.This is also why I often advise people that if they use an existing franchise as their role playing setting, to never introduce famous characters from that franchise. Don't introduce Darth Vader in your Star Wars campaign, and expect your players to not try and kill him. Don't introduce Gandalf or Frodo in your Middle-earth campaign, unless you are prepared to let them die. I know it's not always that black and white, but as a general rule, be prepared to have villains die. Nothing is more annoying than a villain that always gets away, because he has the DM's shield of plot invulnerability.</blockquote>

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