Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="MGibster" data-source="post: 8675484" data-attributes="member: 4534">I think we might define hook a little differently.&nbsp; A story hook is a premise that grabs your attention and promises something interesting.&nbsp; Traveling through the desert to a city for unspecified reasons isn't a hook, it's just the establishment of a scene.&nbsp; But what makes the scene interesting?&nbsp; The mysterious well dressed young man lying in the shade of a cactus not too far from the horse he's ridden to death of course.&nbsp; That is a hook because it piques your curiosity (What the hell is this about?), and it's going to lead to something interesting.&nbsp; It may have been a weak hook, but it was the only hook in play.&nbsp; No, my big flaw is that I assumed the PCs would see the &quot;Adventure This Way&quot; sign and act accordingly.&nbsp; Which, ultimately they did after a lot of hemming and hawing.&nbsp; Admittedly, this was my fault as I should never assume what's obvious to me is obvious to others.&nbsp; I've seen similar bizarre behavior at con games I wasn't running.&nbsp; I remember one fantasy game where all of us PCs arrived in town and were going to stay in an inn.&nbsp; One PC, the Ranger, insisted that his character wouldn't go into town and would instead just find a place to sleep out in the woods.&nbsp; After we wasted about 15 minutes talking to this character, the GM finally just said something like, &quot;Look, if you don't come into town you're going to miss the adventure.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MGibster, post: 8675484, member: 4534"] I think we might define hook a little differently. A story hook is a premise that grabs your attention and promises something interesting. Traveling through the desert to a city for unspecified reasons isn't a hook, it's just the establishment of a scene. But what makes the scene interesting? The mysterious well dressed young man lying in the shade of a cactus not too far from the horse he's ridden to death of course. [I]That [/I]is a hook because it piques your curiosity (What the hell is this about?), and it's going to lead to something interesting. It may have been a weak hook, but it was the only hook in play. No, my big flaw is that I assumed the PCs would see the "Adventure This Way" sign and act accordingly. Which, ultimately they did after a lot of hemming and hawing. Admittedly, this was my fault as I should never assume what's obvious to me is obvious to others. I've seen similar bizarre behavior at con games I wasn't running. I remember one fantasy game where all of us PCs arrived in town and were going to stay in an inn. One PC, the Ranger, insisted that his character wouldn't go into town and would instead just find a place to sleep out in the woods. After we wasted about 15 minutes talking to this character, the GM finally just said something like, "Look, if you don't come into town you're going to miss the adventure." [/QUOTE]

Verification