I've been a GM for a fair number of years. I typically like to run a game where the characters (both player and non-player) tend to drive the action. Your NPC's motivations cause problems, like what they are planning to do to take control of the region. Players typically want to stop this, or join up; investing their time into finding a way make the most for theirselves.
Some groups do not naturally fall into
line with that plan. Many typical adventure party groups are more
than content with the “Enter dungeon, kill monsters, take loot”
plan. Some people like to run that style of game. Alas, I am not
one of those people, though I am running a game that has that kind of
party. Which leads to something of a problem.
Every week, I plot out an adventure. I
want it to be the kind of engaging thing that I get from the more
character oriented groups so that it doesn't feel that I can replace
what I do with a random number generator and a Monster Manual.
Sometimes, this can be the source of grief, and many of us have seen
it.
Let us just say you have finished
reading a book or watching a movie where a plucky group of
adventurers (heroes, dwarves, pirates, saviors of solar systems,
etc.) goes out to save the day. Not only do they succeed, but you
really liked it. You liked it to the point where you want to share
it with your group by creating a plot that mirrors what you liked.
Some of you may see where this is
going.
You set the stage, describing the
setting. Things are going good. Your guide/babysitter NPC comes up
to the group, “Sit a while, and listen.” Your NPC is about to
tell the players about the epic task that lay before them. One of
the players then says, “I kill the stranger.” If killing the
guide isn't enough to break the plot, then they find something else.
If you're like me, then you find that this tends to diminish the
amount of joy that you take from running a game.
Well, I may have found a solution.
Imagine that your party has a treasure
that they need to get a hold of, something that could do whatever
would motivate them to strike out into action. They have a map, but
there's a cypher device needed to read the map. The last known
location was in a culture that is foreign to them. They have to
infiltrate only to find that the cultural equivalent of the village
idiot has it. An opposing force is also trying to get it. To make
things even more complicated, the culture does not trust outsiders.
They have an elite force designed to go after intruders. And go...
The plot of Transformers when seen from
the perspective of the autobots might actually be interesting, but
it's not the perspective that you see from the movie. In fact, the
actual plot is kind of crap. No one really cared about Shia
LeWitwicky. This way, no one's favorite character/autobot dies, and
everyone gets the story they wanted.
I think that there is something to be
said for using those stories that disappointed us as a starting
point. If they fail, then you can take solace in it being a doomed
premise to begin with. Maybe famous historical/fictitious characters
were not meant to hunt monsters. Perhaps trained groups of
mercenaries sent into an antagonistic country to retrieve a lost
piece of information/prisoner was not going to be entertaining no
matter how you look at it. Having a band of adventurers that are the
only ones that are able to stand against the armies of the god of
good/order to protect the one person that can defeat them might go
better on the table than it did on the screen. (Funny, this
conversation started with me watching Matrix: Revolutions. This last
sentence was meant to be a poke at The Prophecy films and Legion.
Funny how it also describes the latter Matrix films.)
Going forward, I'm not going to be
wasting my time trying to retell what is already good. No, I'm going
to recycle. I'm starting my compost heap of plots that failed to
entertain. Giving them a second chance in a different format might
be the trick.
You can always reroll if it doesn't
work.
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