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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5594046" data-attributes="member: 15538">I've gamed with some of my players for over 18 years. I can certainly steer them, manipulate them, trick them, excite them... but I never do so with the intention of bringing about a specific story resolution. I think doing so is an unqualified negative choice. It's like always taking your spouse to the same restaurant for your anniversary. It's not bad, and if you know your audience, it's likely good. But it's not likely to be fantastic unless this visit has some element that makes it additive to your last visit.That's true. So why should I even impose my preferences? Just as an example, I close my last campaign with a scene in a desecrated temple. At the heart of the temple is an ancient artifact that served as the prison of a monstrous demigod. After having defeated the demigod and imprisoned him, the PCs are faced with a choice. While imprisoned, the demigod can still be theoretically freed by mortal means, and his followers might even be able to contact him. Inside his prison, he is still scheming. To truly imprison him, the PCs must re-enact the ritual used to bind him centuries ago. In order to accomplish this, one living, sapient being must willingly choose to enter the gate, also becoming trapped in eternity, their spirit steadily ground down into nothingness until they evaporate and their eternal essence moves on, to whatever state of being beyond the reach of gods and magic from whence the universe arises. If the person entering the gate has any hesitation whatsoever about choosing oblivion, the ritual fails. For instance, anyone who schemes even momentarily to have someone else take their place cannot fulfill the sacrifice. As the ritual unfolds, they experience something more dread than the act of suicide. Hence, the ritual fails if even a willing person tries to fulfill the ritual but does so with regret.Now, there are a number of possible endgames.1. One of the PCs chooses to sacrifice themselves. This could ultimately fail if the PCs try to convince each other not to do it, and succeed at any level. 2. There is an NPC, a villainous henchman but also someone who has made overtures to the PCs in the past of friendship. He hates the demigod, but feels he belongs entirely to him. If he were subjected to the ritual, he would actually go along with it, simultaneously fulfulling his need to be with his master for eternity and achieving a release from the suffering of being an evil creature. 3. There is a friendly NPC, a young person the PCs have previously rescued. She has seen such terrible things she would not hesitate to give her life to prevent worse, if the PCs would let her. 4. The PCs say "good enough" and walk away. Mind you, that makes them notorious foes of an ancient and powerful cult, but they never exactly planned to die in bed anyway.5. One of the PCs willingly becomes one of the demigod's minions. This could be a "choose the Dark Side" moment, or it could be a lesser of two evils kind of situation. The PC could betray their master, continuing to keep him imprisoned for the time being; as long as the fulfulls some of the demigod's purposes, this situation might be stable for a long time, particularly if the PCs manage to kill off the one remaining other minion. As a plus, they potentially gain the service of the NPC described in scenario #2, who could provide them the information they need to stall the dark god's return for decades. Sure, the PC group might fracture along alignment lines, but there's the end of the campaign for you.Note also that this situation was not scripted; I simply noted the location of the temple on the map (the same temple they encountered at Level 1, actually), and over time, the PCs overcame various of the demigod's servants and gradually acquired the pieces of the puzzle needed to trap their foe.This whole thing played out over 20 levels, with little to no insistence by me as to how the scenario would play out. I kicked off the campaing with three pages of notes and about a dozen prepped NPCs.</blockquote>

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