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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nameless1" data-source="post: 5292075" data-attributes="member: 83379">What makes RPGs great for me is being a participant in the types of stories that are told in great literature and myths. RPGs =/= literature, but literature is good when it tells great stories, and RPGs are good when they tell great stories. The fact that RPGs =/= literature is not what makes them great.This is not mutually exclusive to pre-established relationships. I am often not a fan of characters with no connection to other characters. There are fun stories to be told of characters with no connection, but they are a minority. Most people have connections. The self taught orphan who comes from someplace else and neither cares for nor dislikes anyone here is a weird character type. Everyone else has some connections. I have a feeling that you misinterpret me here, mostly because I realize that my statement might be a little misleading.By plan, I mean that we have a theme and situation in mind. I do not mean that we have a plot or outcome in mind. Creating characters that fit into the situation creates much tighter games. Think of the Iliad. There are already well established relationships and a situation at the start of the story, as well as characters that fit the situation. It is actually the characters and their relationships that create the situation. Finding out what happens is the fun part.Your linked campaign and it's obvious inspiration make me think that you do not approach things that differenty than I do. Swashbuckler stories thrive on intrigue, and intrigue is all about relationships and motivation. There is situation in the Three Musketeers prior to the start of the story, even if you just simplify it to the scheming of the cardinal and his relationship to the french king, the Musketeers, and the various nobles of France.I think that the issue that I see in a lot of this thread is GMs, in my opinion, starting play out too early, and without cohesive background/situation/characters. It seems like many campaigns go:Unconnected characters -> Start play -> Search for the action -> Action!I find that a more efficient scheme is:Decide theme/basic situation -> Characters that fit the theme -> Flesh out the situation with character motivations/relationships -> Start play -> Action!It probably takes as long, but I HATE the search for the action step. It is the worst part of any game. It is boring. It is solved through discussion of what kind of game people want to play, group chargen including explicit discussion of character motivations and relationships, and starting play off in the middle of the action.</blockquote>

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