No way. That wouldn't be any fun for anyone.
Darkness said:
Why? Do you like to script your games in great detail and leave PCs little room to maneuver?
No, I use a broad brush stroke at the ADVENTURE level. That is my script.....
For instance, I take a game year calendar and lay out WHEN a particular adventure, scenario, encounter, natural disaster or event will generally occur. Not an exact date mind you, just a window of opportunity, like between weeks 24 and 30 of the game year.
Then, when the time draws near, I start throwing the bones to the players through rumors, innuendo, capturing a BBEG....any way I feel I want to disseminate the plot hook. I also make sure that I have hooks overlap, so at times it creates tension as to WHICH hook to pursue. This allows me to weave my own adventures in with prefab Dungeon adventures, modules, etc.
What happens when they get into the adventure? Anything goes.
Kill a BBEG? OK.
TPK? Hey it's been known to happen.
Fail to complete the adventure? Check.
Walk thru and aventure like it wasn't there? Yup.
LEAVE the campaign area? It happened in my current campaign.
All bets are off once we sit down at the table and start rolling dice.
Essentially, I plan events in the region that will happen REGARDLESS of the PC's existence. Now if they pursue an adventure hook and change the future based on the outcome of the adventure, then I look down the line of events that are still out there and see if the changes will affect anything and make updates.....
So what happens if the PCs come up with in-game ways to pursue their own adventures and goals? GREAT! Sure it's more work for me, but that means the players are way into their PCs. This means it's a successful campaign all around.
The fun part, and the part that takes a ton of work, is tying all the adventures and player motivations together in some meaningful story arc. I've gone through 5 or 6 BBEGs during one campaign that stretched 3 years of real time. On the other hand, I've also had a campaign where there was only one BBEG that survived until his death ended the campaign.
So no, I DON'T plan every last detail. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I plan a framework to work within, and then wing everything else, crafting a story out of the events that happen.
AS far as context for my earlier comments, in a micro-planning sense, if I need the BBEG to make a cameo, I want to make sure that he does so with a modicrum of caution - caution that the NPC would exercise since his goal is to survive to accomplish his own goals! By having a stable rule set, I can have a measure of certainty as a DM and understand better when a situation is too threatening or not at all dangerous, or somewhere in between.
So when I talk about planning, this is what I mean.
