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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7097076" data-attributes="member: 29398">In which case this tells me one or more of several things:1. You're looking too hard at it and-or maybe taking it too seriously, rather than just relaxing and enjoying the game for what it is2. You're expecting the game to be about how the world interacts with the PCs (sun revolves around the earth) rather than how the PCs interact with the world (earth revolves around the sun)3. The DM is doing it wrong - were it being done well the players' hooks etc. would be seamlessly incorporated into her story such that you couldn't tell how they were interwovenObviously.  By the same token, however, not every episode will relate to this (and nor should it); some episodes will relate to other characters' stuff and some will not relate to any.This is one where, instead of having it come up every single night the party camps (which would very quickly get tedious - most adventuring parties do a lot of camping!) I'd just assume that when camping with this PC in the party the campfire would be constantly kept alight unless there's something indicating otherwise e.g. a very heavy rainfall or an opponent who intentionally tries to douse the fire to plunge the camp into darkness.At play in a given episode, yes.  Every episode?  No.Not necessarily.  Using your Marshall of Letherna example, it'd be pretty easy to make sure that what had to be done in order to uphold the Raven Queen's interests just happen to dovetail with the series of adventures I have in mind.If the PC is passive about her fanatacism and waits for the DM to frame something, sure...but if the DM instead waits to see what this fanatic decides to go out and do on her own initiative and then reacts to that, the tables are turned.A wandering small pack of wolves is just as much a part of the "action" as a fight with Orcus cultists.  The only difference is that none of the PCs have any particular concerns etc. about wolves built into their backstories or goals; they just don't want to get eaten.  The "something big" could have been part of the action as well except the PCs chose to avoid it...which in itself is an action, only (as it turns out) less dangerous.Or to change the direction of the evolving story, or to give the party a reason to get to B sooner, or just to throw another log on the fire.Any of these player-driven games you keep talking about.Not at all.  The player is lobbing a pebble in the pond by narrating that there's something out there (which could include a great wide variety of things, lots of cultures/creatures use drums); the rest of the party then have to decide what if anything to do about it, and the DM has to narrate what's out there if the party decide to investigate."Wants the players to do something" - by this do you mean "wants the players to do a specific thing as opposed to some other thing they're doing now" (which is bad as it means she can't hit the curveball they've thrown) or "wants the players to do something as opposed to the nothing they're doing now" (which is good in that she wants them to get on with it)?There's another thread going on right now in which I just brought up this exact thing.  The thread's about what's a DM to do if the players reject the plot; my point was that it can also happen in reverse, where the players get gung-ho about something the DM just isn't interested in (this has happened to me in the past).  The DM has very limited options:1. Treat it like a band-aid: grit your teeth, get on with it, and get it over with as quickly as possible and then hope they go on (either with or without some nudging) to something more interesting2. Do as you mention above and try to force a change toward something more interesting3. Shut the game down.It's the DM's game.  If the DM isn't interested in what's happening in it she's not going to be all that keen on running it, and if she stops running it it's game over: no game can survive the loss of its DM.  So, assuming the players want the game to keep going it's in their better interests to ensure the DM is one or more of engaged, interested, amused, entertained, or curious about what happens next.Lan-"I solve this by making sure I have entertaining players, and then I do my best to entertain them in return"-efan</blockquote>

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