Site Based or Event Based?

[Gez]

I prefer event-driven, myself.

This...

I especially hate running across dying NPCs who give long rambling speeches but you're unable to heal them because they're 'beyond healing'

... Is especially bad design. Lots of writers seem to forget the capacities of PCs, the rules of the world. There's insta-healing in the game.

Though there's way to turn around this. For example, poison. A beginning party has nothing to fight instantly against poison. Or disease. If the guy drops into comatose sleep from a nasty disease, then they can't do much about it.


And when I use a site-based part, dungeons are dynamic.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I am with alsih2o, it takes both.

Events capture the changing nature of the world, be plot elements or just a random one, they show the world is alive.

Site based really work well with established locations, the player can come to know the campaign world because of them.

 

[Mystery Man]

I'm partial to a site based event. A close second would be an event based site.

That's strictly IMHO!

 

[tzor]

I agree with the need for both, but at the same time I also agree that "dying NPCs who give long rambling speeches but you're unable to heal them because they're 'beyond healing'" is wrong, although it's wrong no matter if it is site based or event based.

Of course both methods can be done poorly and both can be done well. The trick is understanding that the best laid plans of the DM will often go astray. The players should somehow feel as if they have a say in the way the plot develops, and that means that the choices they make should effect things to some extent. Never the less events can occur outside their sphere of influence and these can have an impact on the charaters. Likewise some things are always based on "location" and are more or less stable no matter the day or season.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Event based.

Dungeons bore me. I find it really hard to have a justification for more than a few dungeons around. Now caves, jails, and other little things can be around a bit more. Fallen cities, ruined sewers and all that but actual dungeons... rare.

Event based allows the party to have a pretty good say in what goes on and that makes things more meaningful for 'em.

 

[Nightfall]

I don't mind site based, as long as its some thing other than your standard dungeon exploration. Exploring lost dwarven mines, or ruins in a mountain are okay. But not just "Hey look it's a Dungeon!" At least as DM. So event based often get me more interested. Though there are plenty of sites in the Scarred Lands I'd love to have my player's explore. Playerwise, I'm a Necromancer Games junkie. Send me to Rappan Thuk! Toss my corspe into deserts of Khermit! Let me wander around in time to fix the Faceless Lord! That's fun to me!