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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5509648" data-attributes="member: 52734">"No plan survives initial contact with the enemy".  While players may be not be your enemy, they sure act like it when you have something planned for them.As the others have stated, develop in bite-size chunks, focusing on what you need at the moment.Don't plan for too far in advance, as players have a tendency to "do their own thing".  You might never get from point A to B, be willing to accept that if it happens.  Most cases though, you might have to insert a few extra points before things get back in the direction you were expecting - just don't force the point, so to speak.  Usually, whenever players have exhausted/finished whatever side trek they've headed down, they will be more open to coming back to whatever plot you have in mind.  That may be the way to handle things.In the end, the best games, I usually find is where you, as DM, simple plop something in the player's lap and basically ask them "What are you doing about this?"  As they involve or avoid the situation, make notes on what they did or didn't do; after a few levels of doing this, you can start to see trends of where and what they'll do and you can start tailoring things more and more, until you can build up the climax of the adventure.Do it well, and they'll think you planned it all from the start - even when you didn't.</blockquote>