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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tav_Behemoth" data-source="post: 5104022" data-attributes="member: 18017">The Don't Prep Plots essay talks about a toolkit, and I think that's a great way to look at it. The tools a DM wants to have in there differ from person to person and game to game, but they all do the same thing: create adversity.When the players know what they want to do, your job is to find ways to set up resistance that they have to overcome. When the players don't know what they want to do, your job is to dangle bait in front of them that'll lead them onto the hook of facing some kind of resistance.Either way, having some elements that you can use to make things difficult for the players wherever they may go is invaluable. Some suggestions:- Look at previous actions of the players and think about how they might create consequences that will come back to bite them. This could be bad stuff (people seeking revenge) or good; if there's someone the players saved or helped once before, that person could send a messenger saying that there's a reward waiting for them if they go to (place where you have a night's worth of trouble waiting whenever you need it).- Have a couple of wandering monsters ready, by which I mean adversaries for which you've thought of a couple of different ways that they could come out of nowhere and disrupt a variety of different situations.- Think about events that showcase cool aspects of your setting and could derail or complicate whatever the PCs are trying to do. This could be as drastic as <a href="http://planetalgol.blogspot.com/2010/02/live-by-random-tabledie-by-random-table.html" target="_blank">"A terrible howling storm of acid and radiation lashes the land driving all into shelters where they must contend with cannibalistic madness."</a>, or as innocuous as the arrival of a pilgrimage that brings with it a problem or plot hook when and where you need it.- As others have said, have some NPCs plotting behind the scenes so that their plans can reach out and create entanglements for the players wherever.</blockquote>

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