I love it when an unplanned/kitbash session comes together

[barsoomcore]

Oh, yeah, all the time. The latest season of Barsoom has been pretty well-planned out, but very often I've thrown stuff together out of the blue (or had it thrown together by my players) and sometimes it works out great and sometimes not so great.

I find that planning is more important over the long term. If you're trying to run a game where what happened two years ago is expected to influence events now, it's very hard if you're winging it session after session. The individual sessions might be okay, but the long-term development of the campaign is very difficult if you're not putting in a bit of thought before each session.

 

[shilsen]

Happens all the time, sometimes in really weird places. Last session in my Eberron game, the players (in character) got into a fairly detailed discussion of their warforged companion's physiology, based on the question of what happens when a warforged swallows a consumable item. Turned out (among other things) that warforged have a small baglike area at the bottom of the throat. After a half an hour discussion and the consideration of a few ways in which these facets could be used in ways both helpful and detrimental to the party, one of the players (OOC) said, "It's pretty cool that they thought ahead to include that." At which point I grinned from ear to ear and said, "Nope, that's just me." I'd been making up the entire thing all along.

And then they went off and did something I didn't expect them to and gave me three new plot openings. I love my players

 

[Psion]

And then they went off and did something I didn't expect them to and gave me three new plot openings. I love my players

Cool. I love it when a game comes together.

Of course, I think I've already said that.

 

[Psion]

I find that planning is more important over the long term. If you're trying to run a game where what happened two years ago is expected to influence events now, it's very hard if you're winging it session after session. The individual sessions might be okay, but the long-term development of the campaign is very difficult if you're not putting in a bit of thought before each session.

Good point.

That's why I used to (and should get back to) use the method of "planned events." Basically, if there was something I needed the players to observe, an event to occur, I would fill out a little "card" on my laptop that describe the event and potential complications and outcomes. Then, during play, I look for a way to work it in. If it didn't work out, I saved it until next time. That technique really helped me manage one of my more dynamic games.