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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ravilah" data-source="post: 1569570" data-attributes="member: 19724">I (think I) combine a slightly heavy hand with good improvisation skills.  I love what I call those "cinematic" moments: the heroic leap from the exploding mountain, or the sudden arrival of the celestial cavalry at the most desperate hour.  I will, admittedly, maneuver events so that the cinematic moments occur. However, players often have this nasty habit of pulling something out of their hats that you don't expect.  Sometimes, I like what they have done so much, that I completely alter my original plans to follow up on the new direction the PC s have taken. Or even better! More than once a player has suspected or hypothosized something about an NPC or situation that is way off of what I have planned. But I like the idea that they've come up with so much that I change everything so that their guess is right!    For example, some 12th level PCs were in the midst of a rather large scale quest to locate three lost, prophesied hereos; but they suddenly decided to visit an old high-priest friend in order to get some free healing and help. Well, the high priest had passed away, and the new high priest is a jerk. Well, my players mistrust the new guy so much that one of them says, "I don't want him to touch us; he'll probably curse us or dominate us or something." Well, I hadn't intended for the priest to do much more than be offensively rude (I had, after all, had to make him up on the spot). But the idea of him doing more was too delicious to pass up, so I had him geas the whole group into doing a whole side quest. The Quest (though made up on the fly) ended up escalating into a major, major story event. They ended up tearing down a despotic Caliph, collapsing the heirarchy of nobles, and reinstituting a new government. So now a major world leader owes them his throne. All because I decided to spontaneously follow up a player's suspicious guess.I may manuever my players into some things, but just as often I just ride the wave of improvisation.</blockquote>

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