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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 4628256" data-attributes="member: 8835">I think overplottting and trying to have grandiose storylines is the bane of "traditional" storytelling and adventuring.D&D as I see it sets the stage for how to write for a group of characters that increase in power and prestige.At low level, you write adventures for the local area, because that's all the PCs know, and all that know of the PCs.As they level up, you make up NEW problems at a larger scale.  And so it goes.The result is, during the early stages, the GM has no plan or clue about some major threat to the universe.  Nor do the PCs.  Nobody does.And in terms of campaign survival, that's smart as well.  Why invest a whole lot of writing and planning on players and PCs that might not be there at the end.Now, go watch ANY long running TV series.  Pretty much the same thing.  At most they plot out a season (a couple levels worth of plot).  The next season, they invent a new threat, or bring back some element from a past season as a twisted new threat.  See the pattern.The same thing should go for a WoD game.  I'm not going to worry about writing twisted giant conspiracies before the first game.  The PCs are not the top dogs yet.  They only see the local conspiracies.  Once they've risen in prominence and power, the greate scheme of things (that I invent right about when they get there) is revealed.To sum up, here's my "adventure writing program":-Choose a problem the PCs can solve from:--a) a new source that the PCs can stumble on--b) an element from a past session becomes a new problem-Setup the problem such that the PCs will probably want to solve it--a) make it relate to something the PCs care about--b) make it so the PC knows it will affect them-Choose a barrier to overcome to solving the problem--a) This is something that a NPC can't solve, but the PC can--b) use multiple if needed-Choose a setback, to complicate the story partway through--a) bring in a 3rd party competing for the solution--b) incorporate a mistake the PC made earlier--c) reveal that an earlier assumption was false (betrayal, lie, misinformation)-Prepare the climactic confrontation--a) assume it'll be at the BBEG's base (man vs. man)--b) invent an interesting location/scene with skill challenges (man vs. nature)That's rough summary.  A few holes, and more clarifications could be made.  But ultimately, I don't plan too far in the future, other than rough ideas in my head.  I write for what I need for the next session.  Each session I write builds up on material from the past.  Each session's problem gets bigger to match the level of the party.  As does the scope of the adventure.</blockquote>

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