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General Tabletop Discussion
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Judgement calls vs "railroading"
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<blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 7077970" data-attributes="member: 6785785"><p>I'll sometimes do that, or something very similar. I do it when we are either on a bit of a tangent to the main story, especially one spurred by the players in some way, or when I want to add some unknown or random element in order to change things up. </p><p></p><p>I find the first useful for allowing players to add their PC's goals and interests in a bit more if I haven't been incorporating them. So now and then they'll use such an opportunity to add an NPC or some story hook they want to explore. So I let them decide who it is (or what or where, etc.) and then we see how their choice influences things. I've had some really key elements of my campaign come about like this. </p><p></p><p>More often, though, I found them not using such an opportunity to further their own character's interest but instead someone else's, or just a story element that they thought would be cool to add. I really like that a lot, and that's the main reason I use it. They add something that I wasn't expecting...a person, place, organization, whatever...and I have to figure out how to incorporate it into the ongoing story.</p><p></p><p>My campaign uses a lot of classic D&D lore from all kinds of sources, as well as material from a homebrew world and the history of several campaigns we've played over the years. I've found that sometimes it's the random unplanned ideas that spring up which really become memorable. And I also think that I'm at my most creative when I'm given some seemingly unrelated story elements and I have to somehow bring them together. </p><p></p><p>Just the other night at our last session, I was describing a vision being relayed to the PCs through illusory images. This vision was very expository in that it relayed a lot of (dreaded!) secret history of the campaign. But as I relayed it to them, I left two elements entirely up to the players and asked them questions to provide the missing elements. They saw a powerful being in the image, and he was holding something in his hand....what is it? </p><p></p><p>I also provided a glimpse of someone watching the events of the vision...who is it? </p><p></p><p>The players decided both elements, so now I have some new canon to play with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="hawkeyefan, post: 7077970, member: 6785785"] I'll sometimes do that, or something very similar. I do it when we are either on a bit of a tangent to the main story, especially one spurred by the players in some way, or when I want to add some unknown or random element in order to change things up. I find the first useful for allowing players to add their PC's goals and interests in a bit more if I haven't been incorporating them. So now and then they'll use such an opportunity to add an NPC or some story hook they want to explore. So I let them decide who it is (or what or where, etc.) and then we see how their choice influences things. I've had some really key elements of my campaign come about like this. More often, though, I found them not using such an opportunity to further their own character's interest but instead someone else's, or just a story element that they thought would be cool to add. I really like that a lot, and that's the main reason I use it. They add something that I wasn't expecting...a person, place, organization, whatever...and I have to figure out how to incorporate it into the ongoing story. My campaign uses a lot of classic D&D lore from all kinds of sources, as well as material from a homebrew world and the history of several campaigns we've played over the years. I've found that sometimes it's the random unplanned ideas that spring up which really become memorable. And I also think that I'm at my most creative when I'm given some seemingly unrelated story elements and I have to somehow bring them together. Just the other night at our last session, I was describing a vision being relayed to the PCs through illusory images. This vision was very expository in that it relayed a lot of (dreaded!) secret history of the campaign. But as I relayed it to them, I left two elements entirely up to the players and asked them questions to provide the missing elements. They saw a powerful being in the image, and he was holding something in his hand....what is it? I also provided a glimpse of someone watching the events of the vision...who is it? The players decided both elements, so now I have some new canon to play with. [/QUOTE]
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