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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7452415" data-attributes="member: 6801286">One of my main focuses is exploration. I tend to over-prepare, so that if the players run off in a random direction, I know what is there. I have dozens of random encounter tables specifically for this purpose, and I'll usually find a way to tie some of these encounters into the overall narrative. To the players this makes it seem like their discoveries are all pieces of one gigantic puzzle, even if I'm just winging it. The main plot is basically just a framework that helps me build new stories on the fly.If the players don't follow the story, the story will come to them in some way. Be it directly or loosely connected to a plot.I also know that when my players ignore the plot, they tend to chase very predictable things. So I make sure to spread the breadcrumbs in exactly those locations, so that their personal side trips actually bring them towards interesting plot points. I know for example that since one of the players plays a priest, he will not miss an opportunity to visit the local church. So of course I drop some breadcrumbs there. But even if they completely ignore all those hooks, there's enough of a foundation to improvise things on the spot.For example, there were a few sessions where the players decided just hang around in a city for a while. I had no trouble coming up all sort of interesting things for them to do. From discovering a hag coven underneath the city, to attending a circus (where one of the players met their long lost brother), a dramatic assassination of the local ruler, a meeting with the local thieves guild, and getting a dwarf captain out of jail. Some of these were random encounters, others were things that I had pre-written, or improvised on the spot. But in the end I was able to tie most of these back into the main plot. Allies the players had made through these side-adventures, joined them on future exploits, and even joined them in battle.</blockquote>

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