To adventure!

[Angel of Adventure]

Whatever happened to Adventuring just for the heck of it? Seriously, anyone who is going to get bogged down in plot lines, especially when first starting out or meeting up with a party, hasn't figured out why they showed up at the gaming session.

Not that plot hooks/character development isn't great, but let's play first and ask questions second!

-AoA

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

For the above mentioned classic adventures, what motivated your character(s) to go to the Caves of Chaos or Bone Hill or the Temple? Was there a motivation above/beyond just to adventure? Did the DM insert a plot for the adventure?

We wanted wheelbarrows full of gold pieces.

Having said that, it sounds like you and your players just had different expectations. Conversely, I've worried about hooks and such, and discovered that I could barely restrain my players from racing off to the nearest dungeon/crypt/cave system/bank/alleyway to rob and plunder to their hearts' delight.

 

[Elf Witch]

I don't refuse to go into an adventure just because that is what the DM wants but I prefer that it be some kind of plot. I just get bored with nothing but random dungeon crawls.

It is not that hard to add some plot. For example when 3.0 came out we were playing in a homebrew. But when one of the first's modules came out The Sunless Citadel the DM wanted to run it.

He made it fit into his world so smoothly it was almost like it had been written for his world.

He made up plot hooks for us to follow. Now we are not the type who refuse to follow plot hooks. I cannot stand players like that. The DM works hard to put the game together and it just not make sense for the players to refuse to play.

I know a lot of people hate railroading but following the DMs plan for play is not railroading. If he has worked hard on a dungeon and has planned it to occupy several sessions just refusing to go to the dungeon just makes the game come to a halt while the DM recovers and tries to figure out what next.

Now what we do when we get to the dungeon is up to the players.

 

[Quasqueton]

There are many old adventure modules that had no built-in plot -- Keep on the Borderlands and The Secret of Bone Hill and The Temple of Elemental Evil come to mind. Interestingly, in my experience, even with no plot and no plot hooks, PCs went out and adventured in these sites none the less.

For the above mentioned classic adventures, what motivated your character(s) to go to the Caves of Chaos or Bone Hill or the Temple? Was there a motivation above/beyond just to adventure? Did the DM insert a plot for the adventure?

Those of you who played in these old adventures, what was the hook that got you to go in?

Quasqueton

 

[Crothian]

Those of you who played in these old adventures, what was the hook that got you to go in?

Quasqueton

DM wanted to run an adventure so we made up character to be run in that adventure.....

 

[Buttercup]

As a player, I like there to be some motivation other than kill things and take their stuff, but I'm happy to go along with whatever the DM cooks up. For instance, in Steve Creech's (Ghostwind's) game, my character has sworn to protect a young nobleman. Originally she was supposed to get him to the city where his betrothed was waiting for him, get him safely married and then back home, but, well, a comet hit the planet. That sort of changed everyone's plans, but my character still considers her oath to this kid's (now most likely dead) mother in effect.

In the other game I play in, my character and my husband's got arrested for scamming drunk rich customers in a roadhouse and we're now arena slaves with a number of other folks (the other PCs, obviously). Thus, we do what we're told until we can figure out a way to escape.

As a DM, I try to provide a rich and detailed setting, with lots of NPCs doing whatever it is they do, complete with their individual motivations, tales of woe and whatnot. I expect my players to pick one of the breadcrumb trails I leave scattered around and follow it. I don't allow PCs of evil alignment, so generally the desire to leave the world a better place is motivation enough, but to the extent I can, I try to work their background details in here and there. I also make sure the players know that there are consequences for everythng they do. Good deeds gain them the attention of powerful benefactors, and stupid or foul deeds gain them less savory attention. So far, that has always been enough.

I assume that we're all playing because we want to. So why try to be obstructive? I just don't get it.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Those of you who played in these old adventures, what was the hook that got you to go in?

We wanted wheelbarrows full of gold pieces.

In L1, we turned around and crawled the dungeon beneath the baron's (lord's?) keep. In B2, we figured out how to rob and murder anyone in the Keep that we could -- it was a lot safer than the caves!