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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 6812934" data-attributes="member: 467">It really isn't. "Plot" is defined as, <a href="http://literarydevices.net/plot/" target="_blank">"a literary term used to describe the events that make up a story or the main part of a story. These events relate to each other in a pattern or a sequence. The structure of a novel depends on the organization of events in the plot of the story."</a> The Colonel hunting the A-Team is a motivating factor, an element of the setting. You could have an A-Team style sandbox with, for example, an evil Duke who just took over and the PCs are on his hit list. they have to be careful about staying in one place too long or revealing their true identities. But that is not the plot of the campaign. the campaign doesn't have an overall plot until it is over.Now, i want to be clear that I am not saying that it is bad if story emerges through play. It should, IMO. Characters should have subplots because players make choices based on their preferences, character motivations, etc... A PC falling in love with a tavern owner NPC is subplot, for example, and if it happens the GM should take pains to helpt the player build that story and involve the NPC. Another PC might want to find hiis character's ancestral sword, once used to slay a demon lord or whatever. That is not a plot, that is a detail the player has added to the setting. The GM should decide where that sword is, who (if anyone) wields it now, and how its existence interacts with the larger sandbox. Once all that is laid out, though, the "plot" of the story of retrieving that sword is incumbent upon the player purposefully hunting down the clues, convincing the party to make the trek to its location, and facing the current owner, or whatever.In other words, "no plot" does not mean a static world without any interesting things happening in it. it means that the GM does not prescribe any series of events. He sets up a setting and situation that are interesting to interact with and that interaction on part of the players creates the plot.</blockquote>

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