Lastoutkast
First Post
Looking for ways to make a perpetual storyline. Maybe with quests ? Has anyone ever heard of this or made something similar.
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Looking for ways to make a perpetual storyline. Maybe with quests ?
- Thread starter Lastoutkast
- Start date
Lastoutkast
First Post
Something like random quests/short story that lead into a random ending.
MNblockhead
A Title Much Cooler Than Anything on the Old Site
Are you not really just talking about a sandbox campaign?
I kinda do what you suggest and I'll share some tips, but I'll also warn that it is a lot more work than just runnign an AP or series of loosely connected modules.
First, I create my own world. I have a huge map, but a lot of that is wilderness and ruins. Much of the world was depopulated through centuries of world-ranging war fare. The benefit of this is that it limits the amount of settlements and gives plenty of room for monsters, lost civilizations, and all the other fantasy fun stuff.
I use Realm Works to create and track my world and the character's activities in it.
I create high-level outlines of a small number (5-6) major storylines. I flesh out the major players and outline various posible quests, but I keep it high level. I fill them out as the players make decisions and affect the world.
I have a lot of "drop-in quests" that can be sorted by level, adventure type, possible locations (if specific to a realm or type of environment), etc. so that I have something ready if the party really throws me for a loop.
We meet once a month. I prepare for the next month based upon what the party did the prior month and what decisions they made. I try to get the party to make their decisions on where they want to go next or what they would like to do and I write up an adventure based on that.
So the story is constantly developing. I only now roughly how the next month will go, beyond that I have no idea. But whatever the players do, I have the high-level storylines that they can affect or be affected by. It helps them feel that they are part of a dynamic world where major events and intrigues are happening independently of their adventures. When this party dies or retires, the story will continue with the next party, whose world will have been shaped by the heroic deeds of the prior party.
I kinda do what you suggest and I'll share some tips, but I'll also warn that it is a lot more work than just runnign an AP or series of loosely connected modules.
First, I create my own world. I have a huge map, but a lot of that is wilderness and ruins. Much of the world was depopulated through centuries of world-ranging war fare. The benefit of this is that it limits the amount of settlements and gives plenty of room for monsters, lost civilizations, and all the other fantasy fun stuff.
I use Realm Works to create and track my world and the character's activities in it.
I create high-level outlines of a small number (5-6) major storylines. I flesh out the major players and outline various posible quests, but I keep it high level. I fill them out as the players make decisions and affect the world.
I have a lot of "drop-in quests" that can be sorted by level, adventure type, possible locations (if specific to a realm or type of environment), etc. so that I have something ready if the party really throws me for a loop.
We meet once a month. I prepare for the next month based upon what the party did the prior month and what decisions they made. I try to get the party to make their decisions on where they want to go next or what they would like to do and I write up an adventure based on that.
So the story is constantly developing. I only now roughly how the next month will go, beyond that I have no idea. But whatever the players do, I have the high-level storylines that they can affect or be affected by. It helps them feel that they are part of a dynamic world where major events and intrigues are happening independently of their adventures. When this party dies or retires, the story will continue with the next party, whose world will have been shaped by the heroic deeds of the prior party.
