Ok, so I'm presented with an interesting situation with one of my groups. The PC's are good people but unwittingly follow some darker paths. This is a cool concept and it makes for some great roleplaying opportunities as well. After determining what the deal was with the PC's and their concepts, I went home and began to figure out ways to play that into the story. Then I stumbled upon this forum post that discussed using this dark force as a force of light instead (in a sense). Intrigued, I began to read more and that lead me to related-forum posts where I then hit the jackpot. Something so perfect, that it instantly began to write itself. That's usually a good thing. Unless you're like me, and then you get progressive, to the point where you're determining key roles for various PC's so far down the line that, crap, you might as well just write a novel because you've got it all figured out anyway.
Unless you're going to be a dick and string them along to tell this story, railroading (or in my case, lightning-railing) the entire way, you can't get too elaborate. I wasn't very specific above, my players do read this, but I was getting to the point of figuring how specific PC's would literally be used in telling this story, up to and including their epic deaths. It became a story and yes, the players want to be part of a story, but they want it to be a story they create as well, not just the DM.
To keep from doing this, don't get too elaborate. Stick to key themes and then let the players (unknowingly) create their own methods for getting involved in the plot-line. Even better, let the players' actions creat the plot line instead. You might lose out on running that perfect element, but everyone'll be having fun. Keep your notes though. Even though it may look early on that you won't get to play this big thing into your adventure, your players may just create the circumstances that will allow you to throw it in afterall!
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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?
ReplyDeleteYour question deserves a post-sized answer, but the short answer is no. Not without railroading. You can't technically steer your PC's to anything without railroading, but there are varying degrees to railroading.
ReplyDeleteAs for the open world, if you create adventure hooks based off of your PC's motivators, this should not be an issue. They can do whatever they want, but they'll usually be drawn to things that are directly-related to their backrounds and motivators.
If they do get "off-course," you need to stop and look at the situation. Perhaps their little off-shoot could prove to be more interesting than what you originally had in mind. If everyone is having fun, do you really want to move away from that?
I think I'll have to write a post to explain all of this more in-depth, I hope the short answer can give you enough insight for the moment.