Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 515251" data-attributes="member: 2480">It's interesting, because as a player I generally prefer a 'Goal Oriented' campaign, whilst when I DM I am definitely of the 'Open Campaign' persuasion!I think I like the Goal Oriented campaign as a player because it absolves me from second guessing what the DM really has in mind. Despite protestations to the contrary my experience has been that most DMs have an underlying plot that they are pushing. or rather, if the campaign lasts for a while, it will have several underlying plots in succession, as the DM's fancy is taken by new ideas. I can think of one in particular who is influenced markedly by the books he has read and films he has seen recently. His current interests definitely shape the campaign! As such, I have found as a player that it's easier to go with the flow, even when there are protestations to the contrary (that 'yes, do what you want'). Perhaps it is as Eric says, that many of the DMs I know can't evolve plot freely. For whatever reason, I get a lot less joy when I try and do my stuff, than when I accept what the DM has to offer.It's because of this that when I DM I have always striven to create multiple, overlapping story arcs, and players can interact with them or ignore them as they will. I keep track of these arcs in the background, so I have some idea how they evolve with time, but I never force the PCs to follow them. For example, in my Shattered World campaign, one arc concerns the striving between a basically decent County and its evil Kingdom neighbour. The PCs involved themselves in a couple of stories showing that the Kingdom is setting up nefarious plans to undermine the Count and lauch an assault. But I never force the PCs to continue with the story - in fact they've been following the leads to an ancient artifact that they sought early on, and they left the area. For reference, I happen to know that the Kingdom will luanch an assault in 5 months and will actually win the battle. If the PCs go back they are in for a surprise! But it doens't worry me that they aren't 'interested' in this story; I am happy to let plots unfold in the background.I think the real trick with Open Campaigns is to provide enough material to let the players make meaningful choices for their characters' desires. And to have the flexibility to provide interesting things for them to be involved in whatever they choose to do. This genuinely empowers the PCs to set real goals for themselves, but also avoids the sense of aimless wandering where nothing much happens. I find that with practise the need for heroic tales can be fitted in to an open setting with reasonable verisimilitude.</blockquote>

Verification