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General Tabletop Discussion
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Worlds of Design: Improvising the Adventure
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8660520" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>I tend to improvise quite a bit, using the definitions above I'd say I'm situational. Maybe. I try to develop interesting environments, obstacles, a general idea of locations. Then I add in NPCs, organizations and motivations/goals for them, who's who and what are their goals? A beast may simply be hungry or defending territory, a succubus could be tempting a vulnerable city leader while convincing another of falsehoods in order to achieve her goals. The military commander of a local garrison may despise a local crime lord but is being pragmatic and knows there's little they can do.</p><p></p><p>Then I throw in various moving pieces to the plot, often with just the vaguest outlines. The PCs always get a choice on what threads they pick up or ignore, although I do ask that they decide which particular thread they're pursuing at the end of a game session so that I can prep for the next session. </p><p></p><p>When planning a session, I decide what encounters would be likely and consider possible triggers and events that would cause the encounter. I usually plan out an extra encounter or two so that I can improvise something on the fly. I usually don't plan out the physical environment in detail unless the PCs goal is to infiltrate a specific location. Usually I just make up the battlefield on the fly and fit it to whatever scene is appropriate. </p><p></p><p>So no random monsters, it will be monsters that make sense for the depth of Gloom Swamp. Perhaps they will encounter bullywugs defending their territory, which may lead to a fight. Perhaps they'll convince the bullywugs they can help by taking out that young black dragon that's threatening the bullywugs. Maybe they'll bypass the bullywugs somehow but still fight the dragon when it come across them while hunting or I'll go to encounter "C" because it makes the session more fun. Heck, maybe the bullywugs get their fluff changed and turn out to be malformed humans under a curse because I had a moment of inspiration to set up a higher level nemesis that could be an ongoing threat.</p><p></p><p>So I almost never have a set story in mind. I have threats, opportunities, my best attempt at a living breathing world that will respond to the PCs actions or lack of action. Small arcs may be fairly story driven because if you have to escape the prison of the giant lords, there's only going to be so many options. But once the group escapes? Up to them if they want revenge against their captors by following up on a possible alliance they learned about from a fellow prisoner or continue to pursue the golden McGuffin they were originally after before they ever knew there were giants in them there hills. </p><p></p><p>The PCs give the direction, I just set the stage.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8660520, member: 6801845"] I tend to improvise quite a bit, using the definitions above I'd say I'm situational. Maybe. I try to develop interesting environments, obstacles, a general idea of locations. Then I add in NPCs, organizations and motivations/goals for them, who's who and what are their goals? A beast may simply be hungry or defending territory, a succubus could be tempting a vulnerable city leader while convincing another of falsehoods in order to achieve her goals. The military commander of a local garrison may despise a local crime lord but is being pragmatic and knows there's little they can do. Then I throw in various moving pieces to the plot, often with just the vaguest outlines. The PCs always get a choice on what threads they pick up or ignore, although I do ask that they decide which particular thread they're pursuing at the end of a game session so that I can prep for the next session. When planning a session, I decide what encounters would be likely and consider possible triggers and events that would cause the encounter. I usually plan out an extra encounter or two so that I can improvise something on the fly. I usually don't plan out the physical environment in detail unless the PCs goal is to infiltrate a specific location. Usually I just make up the battlefield on the fly and fit it to whatever scene is appropriate. So no random monsters, it will be monsters that make sense for the depth of Gloom Swamp. Perhaps they will encounter bullywugs defending their territory, which may lead to a fight. Perhaps they'll convince the bullywugs they can help by taking out that young black dragon that's threatening the bullywugs. Maybe they'll bypass the bullywugs somehow but still fight the dragon when it come across them while hunting or I'll go to encounter "C" because it makes the session more fun. Heck, maybe the bullywugs get their fluff changed and turn out to be malformed humans under a curse because I had a moment of inspiration to set up a higher level nemesis that could be an ongoing threat. So I almost never have a set story in mind. I have threats, opportunities, my best attempt at a living breathing world that will respond to the PCs actions or lack of action. Small arcs may be fairly story driven because if you have to escape the prison of the giant lords, there's only going to be so many options. But once the group escapes? Up to them if they want revenge against their captors by following up on a possible alliance they learned about from a fellow prisoner or continue to pursue the golden McGuffin they were originally after before they ever knew there were giants in them there hills. The PCs give the direction, I just set the stage. [/QUOTE]
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