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when the unimportant details are a little too interesting...
- Thread starter EricNoah
- Start date
DrunkonDuty
he/him
Just remembered a good anecdote about PC's going after minor details.
There's a strange curse effecting the citizens of the Dwarven Kingdom. Previously honest, upstanding citizens are committing thefts. Most of them are down right stupid crimes: apprentices stealing their masters, a drunk stealing a barrel of expensive beer. The PCs know that the BBEG is a priestess of Abbathor the Dwarven God of Greed and, using divinations discover that "Fafnr's Curse" is stalking the land. A Bard tells them that Fafnr was a Dwarf who turned into a Dragon because of his greed. So of course they have to go and spend the next session and a half trying to find out if Fafnr was real, despite me telling them thru various NPCs and eventually out of character that it's just a poetic name. Thing is they knew that the person casting the spell was a Dwarven cleric: they didn't actually think that there was a mythical dragon behind it all.
And of course one of the players decides its my fault and gives me the "You're not giving us any clues. Whay are just stymying us?" Grrrrrr.
There's a strange curse effecting the citizens of the Dwarven Kingdom. Previously honest, upstanding citizens are committing thefts. Most of them are down right stupid crimes: apprentices stealing their masters, a drunk stealing a barrel of expensive beer. The PCs know that the BBEG is a priestess of Abbathor the Dwarven God of Greed and, using divinations discover that "Fafnr's Curse" is stalking the land. A Bard tells them that Fafnr was a Dwarf who turned into a Dragon because of his greed. So of course they have to go and spend the next session and a half trying to find out if Fafnr was real, despite me telling them thru various NPCs and eventually out of character that it's just a poetic name. Thing is they knew that the person casting the spell was a Dwarven cleric: they didn't actually think that there was a mythical dragon behind it all.
And of course one of the players decides its my fault and gives me the "You're not giving us any clues. Whay are just stymying us?" Grrrrrr.
Is what Players go after ever "Minor"?
Players are playing PC "heroes of the story" and their time "on screen" is about what is interesting and important.
Should that ever be "minor, not what the adventure or plot is really about"?
I'm a fan of the "Story Now" rather than "Hidden Story" concept. Story isn't what the GM wrote beforehand that you may or may not find. Story is what the PC's are experiencing. If the PC's are engaged with X, X matters - just maybe not the way they think.
I think if something is going to be "minor", it needs to be settled "off stage", narrated past quickly and then "at table" play move to the next "not minor thing".
If something is going to settled "on stage" (played out at table as if it matters) then it should matter in whatever way that table considers things mattering (be important to story, be a cool fight with neat loot, whatever)
If the visit to the island has to not involve too much just because there's not time to prep something, then the island should, not too much later (when GM has had time to work it up), turn out to be very important and the visit still manage to have paid off (it was not a minor fact the PC's went there).
Players are playing PC "heroes of the story" and their time "on screen" is about what is interesting and important.
Should that ever be "minor, not what the adventure or plot is really about"?
I'm a fan of the "Story Now" rather than "Hidden Story" concept. Story isn't what the GM wrote beforehand that you may or may not find. Story is what the PC's are experiencing. If the PC's are engaged with X, X matters - just maybe not the way they think.
I think if something is going to be "minor", it needs to be settled "off stage", narrated past quickly and then "at table" play move to the next "not minor thing".
If something is going to settled "on stage" (played out at table as if it matters) then it should matter in whatever way that table considers things mattering (be important to story, be a cool fight with neat loot, whatever)
If the visit to the island has to not involve too much just because there's not time to prep something, then the island should, not too much later (when GM has had time to work it up), turn out to be very important and the visit still manage to have paid off (it was not a minor fact the PC's went there).
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I love when players get interested in the little campaign details. If the players want to take the initiative and explore areas (places, character plots, etc.) other than the main adventure, it let's me know that they have found things that interest them. I'm hoping that three new additions to my group are the type of players, who will do just this.
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