Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 5038359" data-attributes="member: 66434">Multiple plots existing gets a little bit tiring when they are all " ZOMG NPC X is going to take over the world" type affairs.  Instead, I like to sprinkle some variety into the mix. Not every little scheme being planned and executed needs to be a bad thing for the campaign from the players perspective.  For example, lets say you start the campaign in a valley with 3 small towns, and a couple of different dungeon type locations. These are separated by well travelled roads and some untamed woodlands. The first thing I would do is decide who or what is in charge of the different towns and what thier relationship is with the others. The dungeons might be controlled by an organized force or perhaps not. Think about any visitors to the region that might have big plans of thier own. One of the dungeons is controlled by an orc tribe and the other is a hiddeen long forgotten burial crypt.  There may be a necromancer in one of the towns who has come looking for the crypt. Perhaps one of the town leaders knows about the crypt and settled here mainly to make sure it stayed hidden. An NPC in another town wants to get a logging operation going in the forest but his men won't go in because its supposed to be haunted.  So far we have three plots in play:  1) A necromancer wants access to a hidden crypt.2) A town mayor wants to keep said crypt from being discovered.3) A well to do merchant wants to operate a logging camp. The first two plots are not only connected, they are diametrically opposed. The third plot might have nothing to do with the other ones or it may be connected. Perhaps a logging operation in that area would result in the discovery of the crypt? Maybe the town mayor is running Scooby-doo operations to keep the locals out of the wood? What if the necromancer suspects this?  Even 3 simple plots can be connected in a number of ways. These are not even fully developed yet because we haven't established motivations for them yet. The necromancer could be a decent fellow with a terrible secret. There could be a war coming and the spirits in the crypt could be good souls who are needed in the upcoming struggle. If the town mayor has no idea of this then he is simply doing what he thinks is right by protecting the sanctity of the dead.  What about the orc tribe? What are thier plans? Why does this merchant want to set up operations in that particular area?  Setting up situations for conflict, determining motivations for the powers involved and letting the players decide how they will get involved in things is the meat and potatoes of this kind of campaign.  The scope of the plans and the stakes generally get larger as the campaign progresses. Making sure that the decisions made earlier in the campaign affect larger conflicts later on really help the players stay connected to campaign events. Once they know that thier actions will matter and stay relevant beyond a session or two they might start thinking more about thier options before deciding rashly on courses of action ( or not <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />).  Ok then enough rambling.</blockquote>

Verification