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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 5209720" data-attributes="member: 63">Crap. I just realized last night that I have populated my world with a vast assortment of characters with personal motivations, sometimes selfish, occasionally even altruistic but opposed to the party's interests. Sure, there's the half-succubus chick, but she's not trying to kill them, just get more power. And the ogre shaman is trying to keep his people from rioting after their demon lord 'god' was slain. The riverfolk want to attack the ogres to rescue their kin who are being kept as slaves, which is bad because the PCs are trying to keep the ogres peaceful; they'd jump at the chance to slaughter some riverfolk. See, the PCs are trying to make allies. They've only actually dealt with one actual villain, someone who wanted to kill them and had absolutely no interest in cooperating. And they killed him first. Now they're trying to make peace with the ogres that used to worship him. These players love them some shades of gray.I have other 'villains,' but the PCs haven't run across them yet. I figured they'd go sandboxing for a while, check out some places of interest, and eventually they'd connect a few dots and realize, "Oh crap, there are some villains doing some bad stuff. Good thing we've gone sandboxing, because now we have friends."Most of the party enjoys exploring the world, experimenting, having small bits of influence in the world. Hell, for a while, their favorite accomplishment was taking a decanter of endless water to give their village fresh water, and using the spare to make a pool for the kids.But one of the players feels adrift. We had a talk after last night's session, and I figure I've got to throw the guy a line. The plan had been:a. Visit ogres, deal with a complicated politics and history, and learn that the Maelstrom is a threat that needs to be nipped in the bud. (Basically, it's a vortex to the Elemental Chaos that's slowly sucking all the mana from the surrounding lands; it had been gathering the power in order to summon a minor demon lord. He appeared. The PCs thumped him. Now it's just building up dangerous levels of magical energy.b. Visit the areas around the Maelstrom trying to get enough mana to close the portal.c. Hear tell of the Golden Legion, who is doing some bad stuff, also trying to gather mana. Go look into them. I think I need to speed things along. Have them get a call for help from their home town, after they run afoul of a member of the legion. Get the PCs to rush home. Spotlight the bad guys as a major threat that needs to be worked on, give the party a bit of straightforward "stop these guys" fun, and then pull back again a bit, with a renewed sandboxiness as they figure out how to deal with the full legion.I mean, there is a plot, but it's sorta like Fallout 3, and the 4 out of the 5 players are enjoying wandering the Capitol Wasteland collecting bobble-heads.</blockquote>

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