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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 2198891" data-attributes="member: 786">Allow the players to skip aroundBrent_Nall, Janx, and Rel already covered the basics (as far as I'm concerned) in their earlier posts.But the key thing to building the "non-linear" adventure is to build multiple ways to your key points, let the players pick their avenues of approach, and be prepared for "wasted" effort.An example:My players are currently wandering around the Imperial Capital, trying to find a demon cult that has their next MacGuffin.I had three basic approaches - the court angle (a lot of the cultists are disaffected nobility), a crime lord angle (one of the cult leaders heads a kidnapping/slavery ring that supplies the necessary sacrifices), and a long shot undead disturbance (one of the oldest graveyards is located over the cultists ritual room).Now, I had a certain plot in mind. The characters would get introduced into the Imperial Court, spending a significant amount of time there, and allowing me to start transitioning them away from the hunt-and-kill setup. In the court,  they'd find the necessary hooks to lead them to the crime lord. Who'd flee down the secret passage just as they burst into his inner sanctum. The secret passage would lead to a maze where they'd encounter all kinds of oozes and abberations (an entire cave filled with maxed out Gibbering Mouthers, for instance). That in turn would eventually lead them to the cult's ritual room, just in time for them to (possibly) interrupt the cult's final ritual. All kinds of time-induced tension goodness.My players however.Decided to smack the Undead Trouble for fun, ignoring the great big "go to court" hints. So instead of the plot I had intended, they literally waded through zombies and skeletons to kill a Bone Ooze, then down cramped catacombs filled with Wights to kill some Boneyards, to the Undead BBEG - a Vilewight Alienist. Whose Sanctum was (intentionally, I'll admit) built right over the Cult's Ritual Room. And they discovered it.Skipping over all the rest of the plot, straight to the main encounter. At that point, I had to stop the session early, because they had just skipped over about a session or two, into stuff I hadn't prepared. And I have to think things through with the consequences.I guess what I'm saying is that if you don't railroad your players, non-linear adventures take care of themselves.</blockquote>

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