The quest for a quest

[Rudar Dimble]

Read on the WotC-site:

"Plot is what happens when the players do nothing"

I think this is one of the most true statements that I have ever heard about role-playing and I think that most DM's forgot this rule, when creating a story.

How do you make up your plot? And how do you work from plot (general idea) to a complete quest or campaign?

[Rob-hin]

It varies.

Right now my concept is simple.
There are the good guys. (PCs)
There are the bad guys. (NPCs)

The bad guys want to achieve something and take actions to reach their goel. The same goes for the players. Best action wins.

In other words, the players write the story instead of my guiding them through a series of scripted events.

[Rudar Dimble]

But do you have something like a script ready for what happens if the good guys do nothing?

I usually do this:
1. make up beginning
2. make up possible endings
3. create NPC's
4. connect various NPC's to eachother and decide what goals they have and how they want to achieve them
5. create a few cool encounters for the PC's
6. add some side-quests

So basically I only have the beginning, a few possibe endings, NPC's (in detail), some (important or cool) encounters related to the main quest, and some side-quest.

All other (minor) encounters and events are improvised.

[Rob-hin]

If the good guys do nothing, then the badguys automatically succeed in the activities.

There are some things that I plan, but sometimes they just don't happen as the players take another direction. Mostly I get them through though, but I don't steer the players towards them. The players steer themselves, compleet freedom.

I came up with the current situation for my quest.
Why is NPC 1 there and what is his connection and relation to/with NPC 2? Who wants what and why?
Ultimately, what do the bad guys want to accomplish?

There are some events that are inevatable. Like actions from NPCs that have a conceqeunces. Not everything should depend on the players, otherwise it would be as if NPCs would do nothing all day.

If you have every NPC in detail and you know what they want and how they act, then you can improvise a lot! Just act as if your NPCs are all your characters.

So I work out important things such as situations and statistics. The rest is improvised.

[The Great Hairy]

Originally Posted by Rob-hin

If the good guys do nothing, then the badguys automatically succeed in the activities.

This is the pure core of plot writing. A good plot should ignore any and all actions of the PCs - the NPCs originally don't know that they are faced by determined foes (supposedly). As the PCs foil plans and sub-plots, the NPCs develop further plans and plots to handle the interference, and check their other plans to make sure interference opportunities are minimised.

I really dislike that quote from the WotC site. I shudder to think what type of "roleplaying" those guys are doing.

I the games I run, I have a core plot and major NPCs predetermined. Several side plots exist, but they are usually minor and/or irrelevant (just a bit of fun for the players). I leave things flexible enough to handle player involvements, or NPC "brilliant ideas" but otherwise, everything is written down and ready.

Note that having deep and relevant NPCs helps a great deal.

Cheers,
TGHO

[jopperm2]

You should know your major NPCs as well or better than your PCs as a GM, after all, those are your characters. It helps too when things change in game. You don't need a back up plan for everything, you can just say "what would so-and-so do?" and go with it.

[Rob-hin]

Amen to that!

My players cought a supposed friend actually being their enemy.
They exposed his cover as he was a Flaming Fist member.

None of that was planned, so I had to improvise.
The guy was rather impulsive so I made him flee Baldur's Gate asap.

Again, they caught him and his former buddies disposed of him neatly.

All of this was improvised.

[Rudar Dimble]

Originally Posted by Rob-hin

Amen to that!

My players cought a supposed friend actually being their enemy.
They exposed his cover as he was a Flaming Fist member.

None of that was planned, so I had to improvise.
The guy was rather impulsive so I made him flee Baldur's Gate asap.

Again, they caught him and his former buddies disposed of him neatly.

All of this was improvised.

And that poor harbor master. It wasn't even his fault

[Noghri]

Sure it was, he shouldn't be that sleepy and invite a drow and a tiefling into his house ;-)

[Rudar Dimble]

Welcome to the boards Noghri...or should I say 'Oropher'?

[Noghri]

Thank you Rudar, or should I say May-Var?

[jopperm2]

Let's cool it with the spam, guys. Either contribute to the original purpose of the thread or take it to another thread. Thank you, come again.

[Rudar Dimble]

Originally Posted by jopperm2

Let's cool it with the spam, guys. Either contribute to the original purpose of the thread or take it to another thread. Thank you, come again.

Yeah, yeah, you right ...spamming my own thread .
I just didn't expect Noghri here

Back to the thread:

how do you handle Uber-NPC's? It really fun to have some Elminster-guy who seems to know everything that's going on. But at a certain point it can be really frustrating for the players to have some other guy knowing everything...
just something that crossed my mind, when I read this thread

[jopperm2]

Make sure Elminster of whoever always has bigger problems. Trapped on another plane with no spellbooks, fighting a balrog underground until the next film , etc.. Or make them INCREDIBLY hard to reach, or an enemy.