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<blockquote data-quote="Blue" data-source="post: 2226017" data-attributes="member: 20564">I've got to agree with this.&nbsp; I started running a bi-weekly campaign back when then 3.0 core books first came out and it's still going.One long running game I play in has several groups of players in the same world, and it makes it feel very rich - things are happening besides what directly affects any one group of NPCs.&nbsp; When I started my current campaign, I took this with me.&nbsp; I sprinkled dozens of big plots around, many more then any one group could deal with.&nbsp; This way, things happen regardless of the PCs, and it makes it feel very real.At any given point I'll try to have a mix of big plots, character-specific plots, and side-plots going on.&nbsp; This means lots of variety for the players and for me - it's not always like we're plugging away at the same goal.This also leaves me flexible enough to deal with the large number of player-inspired plots - things I hadn't planned that the players want to do.&nbsp; The characters found an artifact that they believe can cause eclipses that a group of vampires were hunting, and the dwarven priest started a whole thing of bringing it back to the dwarven homeland to put in this dead-magic asylum.&nbsp; Not the diretion I had planned, but still good stuff.&nbsp; Roll with the punches, and take everything and think &quot;how can I turn this into something fun to play&quot;.Now, a lot of plots and secrets touch on other ones, so it's a lot of fun when they're doing X, and how it relates to Y that they did two years back comes up.&nbsp; Interrelated but separate plots are fun.&nbsp; Even just touches - NPCs who know each other, or multiple plots that have clues in the same location, came make everything feel very connected and real.There was a series in Dragon mag a number of years back about campaign design, and the biggest thing I took away from it is to make sure that everything I design has a secret built into it.&nbsp; It may not be a secret that the players ever touch, but that option is always there.&nbsp; Just last session the humans in the group found out that according to dwarven racial classifications, humans are &quot;goblin-kin&quot;.&nbsp; What does this mean to any active plots?&nbsp; Perhaps nothing, but it's been a richness that has helped me design a real feel.Cheers,=Blue</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Blue, post: 2226017, member: 20564"] I've got to agree with this. I started running a bi-weekly campaign back when then 3.0 core books first came out and it's still going. One long running game I play in has several groups of players in the same world, and it makes it feel very rich - things are happening besides what directly affects any one group of NPCs. When I started my current campaign, I took this with me. I sprinkled dozens of big plots around, many more then any one group could deal with. This way, things happen regardless of the PCs, and it makes it feel very real. At any given point I'll try to have a mix of big plots, character-specific plots, and side-plots going on. This means lots of variety for the players and for me - it's not always like we're plugging away at the same goal. This also leaves me flexible enough to deal with the large number of player-inspired plots - things I hadn't planned that the players want to do. The characters found an artifact that they believe can cause eclipses that a group of vampires were hunting, and the dwarven priest started a whole thing of bringing it back to the dwarven homeland to put in this dead-magic asylum. Not the diretion I had planned, but still good stuff. Roll with the punches, and take everything and think "how can I turn this into something fun to play". Now, a lot of plots and secrets touch on other ones, so it's a lot of fun when they're doing X, and how it relates to Y that they did two years back comes up. Interrelated but separate plots are fun. Even just touches - NPCs who know each other, or multiple plots that have clues in the same location, came make everything feel very connected and real. There was a series in Dragon mag a number of years back about campaign design, and the biggest thing I took away from it is to make sure that everything I design has a secret built into it. It may not be a secret that the players ever touch, but that option is always there. Just last session the humans in the group found out that according to dwarven racial classifications, humans are "goblin-kin". What does this mean to any active plots? Perhaps nothing, but it's been a richness that has helped me design a real feel. Cheers, =Blue [/QUOTE]

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