Plot Templates

[GMMichael]

Perhaps unintentionally, you've just captured the thing that is wrong with so many modern published adventures. . . And, indeed, present the various NPC factions in a more-or-less standalone fashion so that if the PCs go well off the beaten track the GM is equipped to improvise. But, alas, all that takes space, and limits what a 64-page adventure can contain.)

This is what's wrong with published adventures. They have limits, just like the video games do. The GMs, in theory, don't.

Because of the need of the story, players can't be allowed to choose, because if they are then they might make the 'wrong' choice. So, they get railroaded into the 'right' choice.

Railroading isn't always wrong.

The better way to structure this is to provide a good story if the player flanks right (he gets the epic helicopter shootout and the comrade-death scene), and a different good story if the player flanks left (perhaps his own right wing collapses and his love interest is captured, or some such). That way you get a good story either way, but you still get meaningful choice.

If you're using event-based or time-based encounters, you can use the same good story regardless of where the PCs go. If you're using location-based encounters, you can use the same good story regardless of when and why the PCs go.

However, a good story isn't always easy to make up on the fly. This is one reason to have an interesting plot.

 

[Mark CMG]

http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/plots.htm