Where To Start? Plotting the Plot.

[Zombophile]

I wouldn't really say I'm new to the whole roleplaying scene. I've been doing chatroom freeform for a few years now, and I own a modest amount of rule books (namely d20 Modern, the D&D core rules, and some campaign settings). But I've never had a chance to use any of them in real play (not enough geeky friends) and I never thought of playing online. So I know all the rules, but I'm still an inexperienced RP virgin. A noob.

My question is, I'm wanting to GM my first game, so where do I start when writing the plot? I want to know how you go about coming up with interesting campaign ideas and organizing them to the point where you have a fully fleshed-out storyline.

What methods do you use for coming up with a plot? Brainstorming? Maybe stealing something from a movie here or there?

How do you organize these ideas and how much do you write before it's considered ready? Is it all improv on the players' parts or do you jot down enough story to fill a book with?

 

[pogre]

Start with your BBEG and his minions. The plot will flow naturally from there.

 

[Nomad4life]

I think on one major definitive, dramatic scene or event that encompasses everything that I want the game to be “about” thematically.

I peg this point as my “middle.” Then, I figure out the events leading up to this point, and the events after it. This is my “unaltered timeline” of the campaign (what will occur if there were no players to intervene or shape destiny.)

Everything else just sort of appears from there, from the mists of random creativity.

Over time, I’ve discovered that the best campaigns in practice are the ones that seem to write themselves durring the set-up process. If I’m struggling too much to make something work or make sense, I know I have a problem somewhere.

 

[reason]

...

You're going to have to replot the plot on the fly every time the players do anything interesting - so the less time invested in "plot" (in the sense of future story) the better. Instead invest time in motivations and desires of the major NPCs and organizations. "Plot" (in the sense of what happens next) unfolds naturally from that in a sketch format. You just need to fill in the details.

This methodology will make your life much easier when responding to the unexpected - which is most of the time.

Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Seeten]

You're going to have to replot the plot on the fly every time the players do anything interesting - so the less time invested in "plot" (in the sense of future story) the better. Instead invest time in motivations and desires of the major NPCs and organizations. "Plot" (in the sense of what happens next) unfolds naturally from that in a sketch format. You just need to fill in the details.

This methodology will make your life much easier when responding to the unexpected - which is most of the time.

Reason
Principia Infecta

Players have a very disturbing tendency to do everything just in the way you didnt intend/expect. This means your plot will quickly devolve into something else, and you'll be scrambling.

 

[shilsen]

In both of my Eberron games I began by not having a plot. Instead, I threw out a dozen plot hooks within the first session or two. The one (or, in the case of one group, two plots) that the PCs decided to follow was the one I then fleshed out. And due to the actions the PCs took and the NPCs they interacted with, a plot for the campaign gradually emerged.

At discrete intervals I throw out a few more unfleshed-out plot hooks and then flesh out the one they follow. And while fleshing it out I tie it back to their previous actions and backgrounds, as well as into what they're currently involved with and what NPCs around them have been and are doing. All of which ties into a larger, overall plot. But the overall plot isn't one which I had the least idea about at the beginning of the campaign or even until I was over a year into it.

In short, I don't pre-plot.

 

[Gahnomen]

My usual way of going about plot has been to throw situations at the players and just seeing how they deal with it. In earlier games this tended to be things like "An army of orcs is amassing", and letting the players scramble to find a solution to the problem.

More recently in Eberron it's been akin to "your Band of Brothers from the Last War is getting picked off one by one by a serial killer".

If the players get struck with apathy, (and this tends to happen in open-ended games) you shove a more immediate situation in their face (a group of gnoll thugs is attacking you right NOW). Even better if you manage to sneak in a clue or plot-forwarding item or npc with the threat (a note on one of the thugs seems to indicate that they are in cahoots with a family of nobles). It's good to have a couple of these situations ready to go on the fly, as sort of panic buttons if things start going really slow.

Lastly, make a bunch of npc. Bosses and underbosses of various organizations, with different goals and motives. The one thing these people should have in common is ambition. Stereotype them at first, and when you find that you can use them directly or indirectly in the actual plot, you get to know them better, flesh them out. If you can keep track of enough npc's like this, the plot will take on a life of it's own along with your player's actions.

The real fun is when a session goes somewhere completely unexpected, and it turns out much better than you'd originally planned.