Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Where To Start? Plotting the Plot.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Gahnomen" data-source="post: 2856276" data-attributes="member: 19133"><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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".</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>The real fun is when a session goes somewhere completely unexpected, and it turns out much better than you'd originally planned.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gahnomen, post: 2856276, member: 19133"] 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. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Where To Start? Plotting the Plot.
Top