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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 8934576" data-attributes="member: 63">In the ZEITGEIST murder mystery Death of the Author, I didn't dwell too much on 'good' or 'bad' endings. The PCs can successfully solve the murder and catch the killer, or they can die, or they can realize that the killer has a good motive that they agree with, and help the killer get away with murder. But all that is only really a couple paragraphs of text after a bunch of details earlier about the motivation of the various NPCs. The GM ought to understand everyone well enough to manage different outcomes.Similarly the one-shot Bonds of Forced Faith has some witches trying to do a ritual, and the PCs include a king and his intended successor, and the various outcomes are basically &quot;1. The Witches Beat You,&quot; &quot;2. Some or all of the party help the witches win.&quot; and &quot;3-6. Different members of the party end up being picked as the next king.&quot;But for longer ones, like the sprawling thriller The Dying Skyseer which spans 3 levels, there are various plot lines that can end up different ways depending on PC actions. The titular skyseer might get to deliver his prophecy or be thwarted. The factory that's trying to resist the crime syndicate's efforts to get it to help their smuggling operation might get burned down, or you might save it, or you might ally with the syndicate to persuade the owner to give in. The secret info a murdered spy stole might be recovered or lost, and if you recover it you might decide to do all sorts of stuff with it. Along the way you might ally with a couple sketchy characters, or make friends with a heroic fugitive, or become famous for helping a workers' protest.It's really too complicated to have a 'good ending' or 'bad ending.' But at the start of the campaign, for character creation each player is told that they need to make a character who is motivated to serve their nation and protect it. They can be 'good' or 'bad' or a mix along the way, but the campaign expects buy-in from the players.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 8934576, member: 63"] In the ZEITGEIST murder mystery Death of the Author, I didn't dwell too much on 'good' or 'bad' endings. The PCs can successfully solve the murder and catch the killer, or they can die, [I]or[/I] they can realize that the killer has a good motive that they agree with, and help the killer get away with murder. But all that is only really a couple paragraphs of text after a bunch of details earlier about the motivation of the various NPCs. The GM ought to understand everyone well enough to manage different outcomes. Similarly the one-shot Bonds of Forced Faith has some witches trying to do a ritual, and the PCs include a king and his intended successor, and the various outcomes are basically "1. The Witches Beat You," "2. Some or all of the party help the witches win." and "3-6. Different members of the party end up being picked as the next king." But for longer ones, like the sprawling thriller The Dying Skyseer which spans 3 levels, there are various plot lines that can end up different ways depending on PC actions. The titular skyseer might get to deliver his prophecy or be thwarted. The factory that's trying to resist the crime syndicate's efforts to get it to help their smuggling operation might get burned down, or you might save it, or you might ally with the syndicate to persuade the owner to give in. The secret info a murdered spy stole might be recovered or lost, and if you recover it you might decide to do all sorts of stuff with it. Along the way you might ally with a couple sketchy characters, or make friends with a heroic fugitive, or become famous for helping a workers' protest. It's really too complicated to have a 'good ending' or 'bad ending.' But at the start of the campaign, for character creation each player is told that they need to make a character who is motivated to serve their nation and protect it. They can be 'good' or 'bad' or a mix along the way, but the campaign expects buy-in from the players. [/QUOTE]

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