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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5021482" data-attributes="member: 8835">continuing with Hussar's discussion.. he said something about having an idea of the ending..hold on, let me find it...&quot;But, your final picture is pretty much completely known at the outset. The goal here is the process of building that picture, not the picture itself.&quot;Let's take my example of the PCs at Monk Dojo island.bad guys have taken something from the dojo.&nbsp; The monk will do whatever his sensei says, because I told the PC that in his player briefing when the campaign started many sessions ago.&nbsp; This game is his &quot;character&quot; episode, so it's mostly about him, though he is socially obligated to involve the other players (meta game rule, don't take NPCs on the away mission, take other players).I figure out ahead of time all the basic stuff, like where did the bad monks take the mcguffin, and then how would the PC monk figure out where to go (so he can find clues, and so I know what to plan).&nbsp; Then I plan out the basic path assuming those clues are mostly followed.&nbsp; Throw in asome challenges, and put the BBEG at the end.&nbsp; I pretty much assume the PCs will beat the bad guys and go back home.So that &quot;sounds&quot; like it matches what Hussar said.Here's the twist.&nbsp; I may be a lazy DM and only planned what I wrote.&nbsp; However, I don't expect the PCs to follow the plan.&nbsp; Once the PCs are hooked in, I gotta wing it.&nbsp; My default ending is they deliver the McGuffin to the sensei.&nbsp; The reailty is, I have to adapt to what the players do.&nbsp; If they make good choices or plans, I move them closer to the success path, using most of my written material.&nbsp; If they do something different, I make up a new ending to fit it.&nbsp; As long as they're doing smart things to get the McGuffin, I'll make the path they take get there, there's no sense not doing that.&nbsp; If they get wierd on me, or get new information that changes their outlook, then I change it up completely.The adventure was years ago, I'd have to open the file to see what I actually ran that session.&nbsp; The monk was &quot;Garibaldi&quot; from B5 and this was monk backstory. He was only partly successful, which led to some shame, which led him to alcholism, which fit in perfect for my real plan...It wasn't important to the long term plan on this contributing to his alcoholism.&nbsp; I had allowed for not having that parallel.&nbsp; But on the other hand, take it when you can get it.Heck, I even managed to get the Sinclair equivalent Paladin PC to ram his ship into an elven destroyer at the Battle of the Line.Players are easily manipulated.The risk I took in running a B5 emulation was railroading players into exact copies of the tv show.&nbsp; On the other hand, the game was rich in story-ism and since the players hadn't seen the show, they thought they had the coolest adventure ever.&nbsp; Because it was dramatic and epic and about them.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Janx, post: 5021482, member: 8835"] continuing with Hussar's discussion.. he said something about having an idea of the ending..hold on, let me find it... "But, your final picture is pretty much completely known at the outset. The goal here is the process of building that picture, not the picture itself." Let's take my example of the PCs at Monk Dojo island. bad guys have taken something from the dojo. The monk will do whatever his sensei says, because I told the PC that in his player briefing when the campaign started many sessions ago. This game is his "character" episode, so it's mostly about him, though he is socially obligated to involve the other players (meta game rule, don't take NPCs on the away mission, take other players). I figure out ahead of time all the basic stuff, like where did the bad monks take the mcguffin, and then how would the PC monk figure out where to go (so he can find clues, and so I know what to plan). Then I plan out the basic path assuming those clues are mostly followed. Throw in asome challenges, and put the BBEG at the end. I pretty much assume the PCs will beat the bad guys and go back home. So that "sounds" like it matches what Hussar said. Here's the twist. I may be a lazy DM and only planned what I wrote. However, I don't expect the PCs to follow the plan. Once the PCs are hooked in, I gotta wing it. My default ending is they deliver the McGuffin to the sensei. The reailty is, I have to adapt to what the players do. If they make good choices or plans, I move them closer to the success path, using most of my written material. If they do something different, I make up a new ending to fit it. As long as they're doing smart things to get the McGuffin, I'll make the path they take get there, there's no sense not doing that. If they get wierd on me, or get new information that changes their outlook, then I change it up completely. The adventure was years ago, I'd have to open the file to see what I actually ran that session. The monk was "Garibaldi" from B5 and this was monk backstory. He was only partly successful, which led to some shame, which led him to alcholism, which fit in perfect for my real plan...It wasn't important to the long term plan on this contributing to his alcoholism. I had allowed for not having that parallel. But on the other hand, take it when you can get it. Heck, I even managed to get the Sinclair equivalent Paladin PC to ram his ship into an elven destroyer at the Battle of the Line. Players are easily manipulated. The risk I took in running a B5 emulation was railroading players into exact copies of the tv show. On the other hand, the game was rich in story-ism and since the players hadn't seen the show, they thought they had the coolest adventure ever. Because it was dramatic and epic and about them. [/QUOTE]

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