World Ending Plots vs...

[logan9a]

"Have you considered doing more complex plots that don't have exploding worlds hanging in the balance?"

Found this question in my 'to do' sheet.

Let's discuss it.

I have.

Usually they are small serial plots. The Ice Tower, the snake people, the weird 'shark bit the ceiling' stuff are all examples.

Sometimes the PC's do them, sometimes they wander off.

That's one of the tricky things about a campaign like this. We could have (for example) some murder mystery plot (like the shark bit the ceiling) developed and mid-way through the PC's can say "Outta here!" (which they did). Nothing prevents that. They have mobility. They are allowed.

But, that does make me work on stuff that 'If you don't care about this, it will get recycled into something much worse'; otherwise it is a waste of time.

That being said, I'm experimenting with a new sort of plot write up for season 5 which may - or may not - work.

I write a very general outline of what I think will happen. If the PC's don't mess with it, then it will continue to unfold and may or may not get solved by other people.

Like the 'lich has gotten loose plot' that the PC's said 'meh' to.

NPC's solved that shit themselves. They sometimes do that simply because I don't have to make rolls for them. If I did, the world would have erupted in lava and everything would be on fire because they'd fumble ten in a row or something horrible.

So anyway, I'm trying to write looser plots than what I'm use to just to see what will happen.

[PotatoJedi]

I think one of the reasons players don't immediately gravitate towards a plot that you may present them is that they don't immediately see anything apparently rewarding. If John is having a problem milking his cows, how does helping him reward the PCs? When there's so much going on in such a massive world and so many options on what to do, players will naturally go towards the most rewarding and/or interesting plots. I like a good mystery as much as the next guy, but what incentive do players have to go out and solve it other than "I'm curious"? Don't get me wrong – curiosity is a great motivator as well; one which I think is at the core of this campaign. Some of my favourite things that we've done came about as a result of curiosity, but I think when introducing a brand-new plot it may help to "sweeten the pie" by letting players know of a potential reward/positive outcome for doing whatever it is they are supposed to do.

Just as an example: the shark plot thing was interesting, but after a while we just started asking ourselves "why do we care about this?" and I think that's why none of the groups picked it up again. It also didn't help that the plot transitioned from one group to another, but that's besides the point.

I'll write more about this if anything else comes to mind. Just thought I would give my initial two cents.

[logan9a]

"I think one of the reasons players don't immediately gravitate towards a plot that you may present them is that they don't immediately see anything apparently rewarding."

Depends on how you are thinking of it. If helping John gives you a new contact, that in itself might be the reward. John could turn out to be very useful later. If people are saying "Where is my paycheck?" then they're not going to have a lot of allies when needed.

"I like a good mystery as much as the next guy, but what incentive do players have to go out and solve it other than "I'm curious"? Don't get me wrong – curiosity is a great motivator as well; one which I think is at the core of this campaign."

Um yes - that is one of the big things of the campaign. Also, some things start small and get big. I think the trick is finding out enough to say whether it is good to get more involved with or not.

"the shark plot thing was interesting, but after a while we just started asking ourselves "why do we care about this?" and I think that's why none of the groups picked it up again. It also didn't help that the plot transitioned from one group to another,"

That's an organizational thing that hopefully the players will work on in the future. Some people are good at going out and finding their own plots - others want 'plot givers'. The PC's are the best plot givers. If someone had said "Hey - here's the shark thing info we've got could (specific PC) please go deal with it?" (Asking 'could someone anyone go deal with it' is a horrible idea and nobody does it.)

[Fantômas]

For me reward has nothing to do with it. In call of Cthulhu the PCs aren’t generally doing it for a reward. Joshua didn’t continue looking into the shark one as there were other things he wanted to do such as the DNA testing etc and things slotted into place the next session for that.

Didn’t post anything about it as the adventure felt like a “Logan will want to run this for another group” type deal.

[logan9a]

I try to let people know if I'm going to be running it again or if it will be a continuation. Sometimes I forget to say - please ask.

[PotatoJedi]

Perhaps reward was the wrong word. Incentive is what I meant. Sometimes it's not as clear/it may be different for different people.

[logan9a]

May 1, 2019 3:21:53 GMT PotatoJedi said:

Perhaps reward was the wrong word. Incentive is what I meant. Sometimes it's not as clear/it may be different for different people.

With 'world ending plots', one could argue that the incentive is clear.

[PotatoJedi]

I thought the meaning behind that was "incentives other than world-ending plots".

[logan9a]

That is up to the players to figure out. I just make the plots - why they want to do - or avoid them - is something that I can't (won't) regulate. I do try to make some plots that will be of interest to the players but there is also a lot of 'hey, this shit is going on in the world whether you feel like getting involved or not'.

[Scott]

Never even heard about the shark thing. I would totally do murder mysteries.

[logan9a]

May 1, 2019 22:33:49 GMT Scott said:

Never even heard about the shark thing. I would totally do murder mysteries.

A good example of PC's needing to work with each other and communicate.

[Jana]

I like plots that seem either important (big impact on the world/impact on my character/her worldview) or weird (that's the curiosity thing mixed with having fun).

Everyone is motivated by something slightly different, so different people will always choose different things to do, but when overwhelmed by plots, saving the world usually takes priority just because the other plots wouldn't even exist anymore if we didn't do it.

[thad]

I just hope you guys encounter a 20 storey building with weird things on each floor...

[logan9a]

May 5, 2019 9:26:51 GMT thad said:

I just hope you guys encounter a 20 storey building with weird things on each floor...

If you think about it Jamas, the KBC building was "All some stuff out of Logan's head". The rest of the stuff was modules, TV shows converted into modules, etc.

This current campaign - ALL stuff out of Logan's head.