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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6594243" data-attributes="member: 82106">This is why meta-plot is the enemy of scene-framing play. There is no big DM-generated backstory that the player has to fit his character into. As you described earlier there may be 'setting elements' that could engage a player and speak to what motivations and backstory they want to give to the character. Nor am I implying that the world has to be entirely void of significant conflicts and events, just that the DM should present these in response to player input and shouldn't invest himself in a plot beforehand. This is one of the reasons I wrote about, and criticized, my own heavily scripted 2e campaign from years ago. That heavy scripting virtually dictated what the parameters of the campaign were, what things the players had to engage, etc. Not only was it a horribly inefficient use of time and energy as a DM, it was plainly actively undermining the fun of the game. My modern campaigns present a number of threats and issues that might be brought to the forefront depending on what the players indicate interests them. If they ignore some of those campaign elements, then I probably will just let them rest, they won't impinge on the character's story arc. Perhaps at most the characters might hear some rumors of events taking place outside of their sphere of interest, perhaps.</blockquote>