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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5600980" data-attributes="member: 2067">Great post, pemerton! It's a lot, but it's worth reading.Not sure if I accurately understand what you're driving at, but...Generally, I'll combine the denouement of one storyline with the introduction of another, and I'll do what I can to weave my players' stories together, reinforcing the problem. For instance, the giants that slew Burin's clan might also possess the cleric's lost missionary mentor, and once they're dealt with in some way, the giants will tie into the next bit with the Grand Illusionist and also the thief's pursuit of a particular idol bilked from her in a gambling game gone awry (which happens to be in the possession of the rival Illusionist), perhaps by being illicit trading partners. I use rests and levels to mark transitions. After each major conflict, the party gains a level. After each session's bit of that conflict, the party can take an extended rest. I usually link "shopping trips" and the like to the very beginning of an arc, or to the end of it, when they're gaining levels. During the arc, there is little true safety to be reached.Yeah, I use these as natural "break points," by and large. By the beginning of the next "arc," the players should be basically "at full" (unless it's relevant that they're down for some reason -- like, the arcs both take place in the arctic wasteland, and the slow resource drain is something they're going through). Well, for me, the only point in bothering to roll dice is if there's a conflict to resolve. So if there's no conflict in getting from Point A to Point B, it basically just happens. It's a well-worn road, you buy some travel supplies, and take off down it, next scene you're in the town (perhaps with some foreshadowing)If there's a conflict -- if the trail isn't blazed, or the monsters around are dangerous -- it becomes a part of the rising action, or a part of the climax.As an example, my 4e group right now is in the arctic tundra going to find the Crystal Dragon who predicts the destiny of mortals. They're second level. I've determined that the big conflict of Level 2 will have to deal with the crystal dragon and her madness somehow (it plays into the "Return of Io" arc I have in mind for all 30 levels), but there's lots of other stories swirling around, too. The arctic tundra, being a harsh environment, presents a challenge itself, so they need to roll dice to overcome it, and might fail to do it, so they need to supply for the journey, make skill checks, loose healing surges as they succeed or fail (rule: they can't regain healing surges until they rest "somewhere warm and protected"), and get involved with a few possibly hostile locals. These scenes are mostly rising action: you're in the harsh arctic, there's blizzards and fey and undead and dire elk, deal with it. Then, when you hit the big aurora-illuminated castle at the top of the world where destinies are told, you'll have earned it! But when they were farther south and moving between towns, I didn't bother to do anything but tell them how many days they had to supply for, since I didn't feel the need to drive home the environmental aspects of the land.I'll link reward to threat more explicitly, mostly in the case of levels -- my group levels once they've resolved some major conflict. Treasure I sprinkle throughout the dungeons and minor conflicts that make up a level. The climax isn't the only threat they face, it's just the BIGGEST threat of the level. That matches up pretty solidly with what I do, too. Especially the "If I didn't expect there to be anything, but they WANT there to be something, maybe I'll put something there!" element. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I, at least, prefer thematic engagement. But I do want them to choose their own thematic engagements. I think this stems from me assuming that nobody automatically cares about my world, but they certainly care about their characters. So to bridge that gap, I have the world and their characters interact, rather than having their characters coast on top of a world that doesn't really care about their unique characters any more than it cares about Goblin #36.</blockquote>

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