How set-in-stone is your campain?

[barsoomcore]

When I started my homebrew campaign I basically just made a big list of "Stuff I think is cool" and decided to include ALL of it. So I have dinosaurs, flintlock pistols, ironclad airships and vampires and wild desert nomads and whatnot.

I also had a bunch of NPCs and historical event ideas, so I threw all of them into the mix. Worried about how it would fit together later.

So there's lots of stuff going on. If the players don't get involved then stuff happens without them -- but what exactly will happen I don't know until I make it up. So even though I have lots of material and there's a number of very strong background stories going on, there's no "story" to the campaign. I have NO IDEA how it's all going to end up.

Not set. Not in stone, not in sticky goo.

 

[Nightfall]

Well let's see what I have presently in my Hollowfaust campaign.

Ban, elven ranger/rogue and soon to be Viligant, fighting for Vera Tre and goodness.

Varl, good natured rogue with tendacies to start trouble as well trying to make his way in the world.

Silas, silent, grim yet devout paladin of Madriel

Ophelia, a little less than worldy, yet very in tune with her goddess, also Madriel.

Then there's Yarblick, engimatic and strange rogue/cleric of Drendari, and his former lover, and strong paladin her own right, Miella. Plus Helvana Tarn, Uther and of course Janus Silverfox, half elf, Ban's friend, mentor and contact in the city.

 

[Aeolius]

So, I'm wondering, how much set in stone is your campain or adventures?

Actually, it's set in water. (sorry, had to)

 

[Psychotic Jim]

I tend to do a hybrid design. Some of the things I might decide before hand (like maybe a loosely defined planar structure or cosmology for the immediate area) but if players come up with good ideas for characters and stories, I am all for it. But I tend to twist and warp player ideas in such a way that they usually get more than they bargained for in contributing to the game . I really like it when players add to the game. It makes my job easier and often times they bring up better ideas to work with than I do.
I guess I use an "will be developed how-and-as-needed" basis.

 

[nopantsyet]

I create a setting with many options and set them loose upon it. Additionally, I draw on the storytelling tradition alot in modifying my original ideas in session when I think of something better. Which is usually the case because all the best laid plans can be laid to waste with an ignored hint or a stray critical. Plus, when you're in the thick of roleplaying, it never feels quite right to follow a script. Players don't follow a script, so why should the DM? For me personally anyway that works out better.

 

[S'mon]

I have a highly detailed setting that I've been running for 16 years realtime, 370 years gametime, but still I love adding player's additions and trying to rationalise it all out. One player added a Japanese-type culture to a mountain range in my European-style campaign area, initially that was hard to make sense of but after I inserted some Veridoran (Japanese) refugees from their homeland passing through a magical gateway to the new area, voila! And the richness of the setting has benefitted greatly as a result.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

At the beginning of the campaign, I try to think of a few major villains, and some loose plans they could be plotting. Then, once the campaign is running, I rarely plan things further ahead than one or two session - first, I don't actually need to plan things that far ahead, and second, this gives me time to throw in all the cool new things I have thought of.

For example, I recently introduced a bat-winged demonic entity made out of shadows that can suck the bodily fluids out of people and reanimates the bodies as zombies.

Then one of the players says: "Hey, remember that vampire a long time ago, the one that could transform into a swarm of mosquitos and that we never caught? Maybe this is the same creature!"

And so I think to myself: "Hot damn! Why didn't I think of this?"

As you can see, I am extremely open to player input...

As long as the PCs don't know about a certain piece of the puzzle yet, I feel free to change it as long as it doesn't create any logical inconsistencies.

 

[drnuncheon]

I try to use the best aspects of both the freeform and scripted approaches - and some parts of my campaign vary widely between the two.

For instance, I started my Freeport game with the original trilogy of modules, but the current storyline is almost completely freeform - I know what the villains are doing, and then I have to figure out how they will react to the roadblocks my players keep putting in their way.

I tend to think of 'set pieces' - scenes with a strong visual or emotional impact that I can picture - and I try to work towards them if possible...but sometimes it's not. I had to abandon one where an NPC laid into a character for making the choice she did, because when he finally had a chance to confront her there were more important things going on...but it wasn't wasted, because I knew that the character in question had been thinking about that speech and rehearsing it in his head, and it gave me some more insight into his personality. I'm definitely glad I didn't try to force it in, because it wouldn't have worked.

J

 

[barsoomcore]

As long as the PCs don't know about a certain piece of the puzzle yet, I feel free to change it as long as it doesn't create any logical inconsistencies.

Sounds like we work pretty much exactly the same way, Jurgen. I'm a huge fan of the "don't define anything the PCs don't know about" school -- I leave everything as open as I possibly can.

I'm just lazy. Why should I bother making decisions that will have no effect on the game? When the issue comes up, I'll make a decision. Till then, I have my list of stuff I think is cool. That's enough.

 

[alsih2o]

my regular sunday campaign isn't set in stone, heck, it isn't even set in lime jell-o

we make plans, we go someplace else instead, we don't finish stuff till later, we start and don't finish, a lot like my college experience