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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 5664097" data-attributes="member: 54846">There are several mindsets when it comes to gaming. But for both players and DMs, there's two opposing mindsets that I'd like to point out.1) The Players make the adventure. In that they may as a group decide "Hey let's buy a boat, sail around and fight pirates, explore islands". Or one player may decide "Hey I want to be a sea captain" "I want to found my own cult who worship me as a great hero" and "I want to create a new race", those are their goals and they pursue them as hard as they can. The DM says, "Well, I shall put forth opportunities to do that. I shall seed tales of an ancient wizard who managed to create his own race, and tempt the player to find his scattered texts. I shall offer a small ship at first and give one player the option of seizing larger ships if he is wily. I shall give the other player a few disciples, and give him opportunities where his explots are spread far and wide, and people come to him to worship. As well as chances to convert people to him." The Players decide to lead with their goals. The DM makes each adventure (or every other adventure) a step towards those goals. Players set their destination, and the DM draws their map.2) The DM says, "Alright in this adventure, you guys will be sailing around in a ship." The players say, "Ok. We're diding in this ship. Fighting pirates. Yo ho." Then the next adventure, "In order to tackle this, you will have to get people to worship you like a cult figure." "Hey everybody, check out these impressive feats I'm doing, you should worship me." The DM says, "To win the day, you must create your own race. Here's how you do that." "Let's give'm big breasts." The DM decides the direction of the adventure or the campaign, and the players follow suit. They look to the DM to both set the destination and draw the map, and while they may detour at some points, they still are following the DM's lead.  In my experience, most players and DMs fall into #2. If that's how you like it, it's ok. But even if you are a DM who wants to run a game like #1, it's tough to break your players out of the mindset of #2. They are used to the DM handing them the adventure, and they reacting to it. If the gaming style at the table, or the player, is not the pursue something type (the pro-active "I shall seek out and make happen what I think is cool"), then the adventure is limited to the opportunities for cool the DM hands to the players. If the player thinks constructing tactics or plans is cool, then an adventure where they have a day to prepare a town's defenses against a giant raid, or must devise a way to extract the secret documents from a locked box in the secure bank would have opportunities for the player to do something cool. Escorting the princess through the troll-infested swamp would have few to no opportunities for this player to do what they think is cool. If your player isn't thinking outside the box on how to be cool with what he has now, then you have to make the box so that the preferred thinking is inside it.</blockquote>

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