Does anybody hear an Echo???

echo said: You have way more experience then me on this front, and therefor I'm willing to bet the know how and skill to pull it off... But is there ever a way to guarantee that the PC's(designated or no) will make it to the epic stages you've set for them? I know that's what got me to throw in the towel when DMing, was that I had no idea how to steer the PC's back on course without railroading. So how open is too open? Where to draw the line and draw them in?



An excellent question, or rather, questions. If you want the simple, short answer, check out the comments for the Over-imagination post I put up a few days ago. The long answer is as follows:



The best way to guarantee your PC's make it to the epic stages you have set for them, without railroading, is to first make sure that your epic stages jive with the PC's. Meaning, base your epic stages directly off of the PC's and their backrounds. Of course, this still doesn't guarantee anything, though it makes things a lot easier to keep on course (assuming your players are properly roleplaying their PC's). If you create a story arc that your PC's have a personal interest in, reaching your planned stages shouldn't be a problem. However, no matter how perfect you have things set up, you would be a fool to think it'll work out just how you have planned. The plan I have in store should hold up pretty good, though there are lots of ways that the players will probably force me to alter things as time goes on. I doubt they'll get too far away from what I have in store, but if they do, it won't really matter.



Of course, the above only works if the PC's are already created (and ideally, all created together at the same time at the same place so that there is some sort of dynamic in the party). If you come up with a great story arc before PC's are made, it would be best to tell your players what kind of a game you want to run (without giving out too many chunky details). Then you can only hope that they'll make PC's to work with the game you want to run, but then they may spark a creative idea in you that'll make you want to drop whatever it is you had originally come up with, and do something else that compliments the PC's backrounds, mannerisms, whatever.



How open is too open? That is purely a matter of your comfort level as a DM/GM. For example, I know how the first adventure is supposed to begin this Friday. But, I'm giving my players a BIG opportunity to change what I have in store. They do read this, so I can't say too much right now, but I'm going to ask them some questions and basically, their answers will become law. They will also add an element to the game that I do not yet have prepared, but that's sort of the idea. I can talk more about this Friday night/Saturday morning.



Really, at low levels you don't want to give your PC's an entire world, continent, or even country (depending on how big it is) to start. If they have a small area to work with, as long as they can still do whatever they want, they'll be alright with that. I'm running an Eberron campaign and right now, my PC's are in Sharn. That's it. But there is so much to do there that even if they ignore my big hook, I can still keep them entertained and will be able to...



Draw them back in using hooks that you make off of the PC backrounds! If the PC's are satisfied doing odd-jobs for Herman, the strange old man with a lisp, you need to give them something that will generate interest in what you've got planned out. If the PC's are all unreligious fighter types, they're not going to have much interest in finding out about Namon's plot to overthrow the temple. However, if the high priest is one of the PC's cousins... Proper use of PC backrounds, personalities, their families even, can all be strong motivators if the PC's get off course. But don't bring in Uncle Jev everytime the PC's get off course, that'll get old real quick.



Also, like I mentioned in the short answer, if they get off track but everyone's having fun (and if you have enough random stuff prepared) why not just roll with it? It may take your campaign in a direction you never even thought of that may be 10 times more entertaining than your original plot.



So yes, I'm just going to say it. When done properly, the "open world" really is little more than an illusion. But its how you present the world that determines if you're recycling material to use elsewhere differently, or stringing the PC's along on the DM railroad.



Next time on 1d4+5...
Perhaps you've noticed that I did not discuss the Seeker today. Got it on the Character Builder, but the article wasn't up on the WotC site yet. I can tell you that the seeker is a primal controller, so I am interested in why I wouldn't just make a druid if I wanted to fill that role. Hopefully, I'll have an answer tomorrow. Until then, keep rolling those 20's!