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<blockquote data-quote="Rel" data-source="post: 2169835" data-attributes="member: 99">I think that the players have a certain obligation to &quot;meet you halfway&quot; when it comes to finding reasons to participate in the adventure.&nbsp; But that means HALFway, not all the way.Let me pose another scenario:The players make characters who are all from the same village.&nbsp; This village was destroyed by an army of Undead lead by Necrolad.&nbsp; The PC's escaped to a nearby small city and want revenge.The Mayor asks for the PC's help in rooting out the Orcish raiders of the Stony Hills.Now, IMHO:A &quot;Bad&quot; Player immediately says, &quot;Forget it.&nbsp; We want revenge against Necrolad and his minions and we're not doing anything but that.&quot;A &quot;Bad&quot; GM says, &quot;Look, this is the adventure!&nbsp; Love it or leave it!&quot;A &quot;Good&quot; Player says, &quot;If we do this for you, can we expect your backing when we go after Necrolad and his minions?&quot;A &quot;Good&quot; GM says, &quot;The Stony Hill Orcs are the smiths who are providing weapons to Necrolad's army of undead.&nbsp; If you destroy them then many lives will be saved from the Orcs and Necrolad's march of destruction will be slowed.&quot;Now did the Good GM have another adventure ready to run if the PC's balked?&nbsp; No.&nbsp; Do you think he needs one after that plot hook?&nbsp; I doubt it.&nbsp; To borrow a bit of philosophy from The Matrix trilogy, &quot;What is most important is the illusion of choice.&quot;&nbsp; The idea that the PC's are doing something because they WANT to and not because they HAVE to makes for happy players in my experience.It could be that I'm personally &quot;hot-sh*t-good&quot; at tying adventures into the PC's backstories but I think a more likely explanation is that it really isn't that hard to do.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Rel, post: 2169835, member: 99"] I think that the players have a certain obligation to "meet you halfway" when it comes to finding reasons to participate in the adventure. But that means HALFway, not all the way. Let me pose another scenario: [b]The players make characters who are all from the same village. This village was destroyed by an army of Undead lead by Necrolad. The PC's escaped to a nearby small city and want revenge. The Mayor asks for the PC's help in rooting out the Orcish raiders of the Stony Hills.[/b] Now, IMHO: A "Bad" Player immediately says, "Forget it. We want revenge against Necrolad and his minions and we're not doing anything but that." A "Bad" GM says, "Look, this is the adventure! Love it or leave it!" A "Good" Player says, "If we do this for you, can we expect your backing when we go after Necrolad and his minions?" A "Good" GM says, "The Stony Hill Orcs are the smiths who are providing weapons to Necrolad's army of undead. If you destroy them then many lives will be saved from the Orcs and Necrolad's march of destruction will be slowed." Now did the Good GM have another adventure ready to run if the PC's balked? No. Do you think he needs one after that plot hook? I doubt it. To borrow a bit of philosophy from The Matrix trilogy, "What is most important is the [i]illusion[/i] of choice." The idea that the PC's are doing something because they WANT to and not because they HAVE to makes for happy players in my experience. It could be that I'm personally "hot-sh*t-good" at tying adventures into the PC's backstories but I think a more likely explanation is that it really isn't that hard to do. [/QUOTE]

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