My players' pet theory is better than what I had planned. Is it cheesy for me to change things to match?

[Halivar]

Simple question:

My players' pet theory is better than what I had planned. Is it cheesy for me to change things to match?

My players are currently trying to get to the bottom of a major mystery, and they have come up with a theory that matches all the evidence available, plus lines of connection I had not realized. The theory itself is not correct as I have the story planned. But their idea is so much better than mine (not to mention cooler and more epic) I just want to change what I have planned to match.

Do you think this is cheesy, or a sacrifice of artistic DM integrity? Would you, or have you, ever done similar?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Go for it

Nothing cheesy at all just pretend they got it right all along...

 

[RedGalaxy00]

Players love it when they guess something, and it ends up happening. So, I vote: Give it to 'em.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

For most playstyles, that is just good DMing. Do it.

 

[Echohawk]

Do you think this is cheesy, or a sacrifice of artistic DM integrity? Would you, or have you, ever done similar?

You should absolutely change what you have planned to match the cooler idea. I'd say it's a sign of good DM skills to recognize that's the best option here. I have altered planned stories to better fit player's ideas many times, and would definitely do so again. I can't really think of a good reason to taking the story in a direction that is less cool and less epic, just because that was the original plan.

 

[mattcolville]

Simple question:

My players' pet theory is better than what I had planned. Is it cheesy for me to change things to match?

My players are currently trying to get to the bottom of a major mystery, and they have come up with a theory that matches all the evidence available, plus lines of connection I had not realized. The theory itself is not correct as I have the story planned. But their idea is so much better than mine (not to mention cooler and more epic) I just want to change what I have planned to match.

Do you think this is cheesy, or a sacrifice of artistic DM integrity? Would you, or have you, ever done similar?

There's no such thing as DM integrity, there's only what works. Go with their idea. Or add to it, permute it. You're the gm.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

When I was DMing on a regular basis, if an idea occurred to me that was superior than what I planned to do, I would definitely reshuffle my plans accordingly. That idea could come from anywhere... the players, a novel I was reading, wanting to change up the pacing because a story element wasn't really working the way I planned... etc.

My only bit of advice to the OP is that if he can figure out someway to add a slight twist on their idea while retaining the integrity of their idea, I might go that way.... especially if it is a mystery based scenario. They can pat themselves on the back for getting most of it and still be surprised when there was an element that they didn't expect. Sometimes those kind of twists can be hard to come up with, but you need to definitely start planting those seeds as soon as possible so it isn't too gimicky though. There is no shame in just using their idea if it was better than what you came up with.

 

[innerdude]

One of the things I love about Savage Worlds is just how easy it is to just go along with ideas that your players / group have collectively come up with, outside the planned GM stuff.

Barring any major discontinuity or an egregious amount of additional prep, you should absolutely go with your players' idea.

 

[delericho]

My gut instinct is to leave it as-is, for the same reason as I generally avoid fudging - making the change gives you a quick win now, but may well lead to bad habits/worse consequences later.

That said, it depends very much on just how much cooler their idea is than your answer. If there's not much in it, stick to your guns; but if their idea is much, much better, so that your answer will feel like an anti-climax, then definitely make the change. I'm not entirely inflexible.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Ah, the olde play style question: See for yourself!

On a more serious note, I'd base my decision on the implications for the campaign. What effects does your planned plot have? I wouldn' re-write teh rest of the campaign to honour the player's idea, but if the adventure has no further implications I'd do it on a whim.

If you decide to retain your original concept you should analyse the players' theory to see which additional nuggets of information could get them rethinking. Grant them a "Oh, but then´s ... this means ...!"

Regardless of your decision, you seem to have a cool group of players!