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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5793253" data-attributes="member: 8835">I probably should have said Opportunity OR Problem.But the point is, one way to look at a plot hook is that it really is information has come to the players attention, do they choose to use that information.To run a more Adventure Pathy game, you keep throwing Problems at the players, and they have no choice but to deal with it.  You provoke a response when you present a problem.My concept of a Problem is that it is the kind of thing a person cannot ignore.  One time, I was in a concall with my boss and I noticed water dripping down from my ceiling in my bedroom.  I had a choice, keep talking to my boss, or fix the leak before the water wrecked the sheetrock and the furniture.  My boss said goodbye, and I spent the day fixing the leak in my attic that I had JUST caught in time.That is the example of a Problem.  Ignoring it is technically a choice, but no rational person is going to because the outcome would affect them personally.To make players do what you want, you present them with problems.  They are stuck dealing with them.  That's the opposite mindset of a sandbox.Opportunities, are things that are OPTIONAL.  You can pursue it or not.  If you don't pursue it, it is not an immediate loss or penalty to you.In real life, that could mean 3 offers for work in 3 different roles.  Nothing bad will happen because you did not take offer #3.Sandboxes seem like they run better with Opportunities than Problems.In a generic sandbox, a GM might make 100 cool places to explore.  While it's cool those places exist and the PC can go there, there is no built-in reason WHY a PC would go there.  Once you fluff up Opportunities at those places, you have a motivating factor for a PC to go there.If you have a PC who wants more magical power, you create one or two Opportunities for him to get more power.  The Dungeon of Disastrous Doom has a lost artifact.  Lord Puffinstuff has aquired a new nifty book of knowledge, and by the way, another PC has business with him...By framing the choices as applicable Opportunities to the players, they will pursue one, because an Opportunity is a plot hook framed to fit somebody's goal.I may make a PC who seeks political power.  Telling me about 100 dungeons I can explore or 50 rat-killing jobs I can take is NOT what I'm looking for.  Telling me Lord Puffinstuff is looking for some discrete men may be EXACTLY the Opportunity I'm looking for.  I will get some reputation with the Lord, and probably get some dirt on him.</blockquote>

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