Open ended Campaigns are possible ?

[Rashak Mani]

I was wondering if anyone runs a campaign where the Players themselves actually determine most of the way the Storyline is going. Not only choose among several options... but actually deciding things and changing the course of the story without being led by the nose by the DM.

One possibility I imagine would be a anti-slavery campaign like the Guardians of the Flame series by Rosenberg. Players basically have to take care of a community as well as make raids on slavers. The DM basically creates encounters and develops the plot according to PCs actions and not the other way around.

Only giving the PCs many choices isnt what I mean by PCs leading... I mean PCs really determining what they want and so forth.

DMs if you have a campaign like this, how do you manage and set it up ? Ideas, tips ? If it failed why ?

Are open ended campaigns impossible ?

 

[Darkness]

I think "open-ended" means that the campaigns don't have an end, but rather run forever (until they stop for some reason).

Anyway, what you're proposing (which is an extreme form of character-driven - as opposed to plot-driven - campaigns, BTW) is quite possible, if a little difficult for the DM.

The main problem that I see with it is that the DM has to improvise a lot. Some DMs are good at it, but others have problems.
Also, the players have to do lots of thinking and planning, too, in such a campaign - which might leave some players uncertain on what to do. Not to mention that they might choose to do something that's too dangerous for them, or completely insane...

 

[Rashak Mani]

Well players do insane things even when the DM is running the show... so I do suppose they could get oversuicidal.

Character Driven is a good definition... as opposed to "Led by the Nose". I know most gamers like to be led around by the DM... but sometimes it gets tiresome for players too.

 

[Darkness]

I know most gamers like to be led around by the DM... but sometimes it gets tiresome for players too.

Two examples from my own experience:

1. A beer-and-pretzels-style player used to power gaming and hack-n-slash games (but not quite a power gamer himself; it was just what he was used to) who was relatively new to my games.

He was somewhat "lost" because the problems before him were neither crystal-clear, nor could they be easily solved with violence.

Heh. I think he was just used to solving problems like an action hero would, and would have preferred being able to use a more direct route than the options available to him.
But my games required him to think and choose his own path...

(This player is quite good at running amok and completely taking over a campaign if the GM is inexperienced, though. He's also quite good at finding something for his character to do if he's aware that the GM doesn't have a plot - still, what he does then tends to get him killed rather quickly...)

2. A GM who let the road beneath our characters crumble. Our characters fell in with no chance to spot or avoid it. And what we landed in was a dungeon that he had created randomly - and used without changing a thing. In the end, we braved all dangers only to be sucked into another plane with no chance to spot or avoid it.
And he's like that in other games, too: There's always only one direction that the PCs can go - and when they stray from the one true path, something immediately brings them back.
It's just too much - so we won't let him run games any more (he's one of the best players that I've ever met, though).

 

[Crothian]

Well, I always allow the PCs to choose their own path. I like for characters to have goals. THis way the PCs do direct the action with these choices. I will throw out plot hooks, but the Pc sare free to do whatever they want.

 

[Grazzt]

Well, I always allow the PCs to choose their own path. I like for characters to have goals. THis way the PCs do direct the action with these choices. I will throw out plot hooks, but the Pc sare free to do whatever they want.

That's similar to how I do it.

And my campaign (pre-3E) was started around 1984-85 and is still going (though we started a new one about 2 years ago with 3e, the other is still run on occassion). So, its pretty "open-ended" (17-18 years going..and no signs of stopping).

 

[Fenes 2]

As a DM I want to know what the players and the PCs want so that I can plan accordingly. I am Dming open-ended campaigns, where I (try to) weave plots and sunplots around the driving motivations of the different PCs.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Crothian how free are they really thou ? Its one thing to throw 3 plot hooks and wait for them to bait one... its another for them to literally take the campaign where they want.

Besides the improvisation part how do you manage it ?

Are the players more pro-active now... or you feel they like being led by the nose ?

 

[Neo]

I run an Open Ended campaign

There is a central plot but it is not linear and there are numerous player oriented plots in play also about the characters themselves.

The trick is to set session goals, e.g. need to pcikup this information, or meet this NPC, or fight this creatures etc.... and leave it at that, then allow the group to follow thier own lead make their own decisions and follow whichever path they choose and work theses session goals into the path they take.

It tends to mean a heap of on the spot improvisation but with practice it gets easier and makes adventures much more personal and removes that linear can only go one way direction feel completely.

 

[Crothian]

Crothian how free are they really thou ? Its one thing to throw 3 plot hooks and wait for them to bait one... its another for them to literally take the campaign where they want.

Besides the improvisation part how do you manage it ?

Are the players more pro-active now... or you feel they like being led by the nose ?

I'm not currently running a game, so this is from about a year ago. At the staretof the game I spent a whole session with the PCs and helped develope them and their history. Second, throughout the week (in between sessions) I was in contact with my PCs through e-mail asking what the characters plan to do this week. That allowed me time to prepare for what they wanted to do. We had a rythem going and the players did get more pro active. At the end of every session I'd go off and the PCs would talk about what they want to do next week. They liked to discuss things when they were fresh in everyones mind. And they perfered to do it without the DM there.