Plotting Games

There is always a temptation in games to over-plot things, I think. Or, at least in my case, throwing out plots like a kid tossing a meal at a wall and seeing what sticks. For a change, I'm not doing that with Carolis. Barring anything really weird, the first part of the game should, in some form or another, go as planned. I.e. PCs meet, get introduced, solve some problems, get to the attention of Important People (which can, of course, be either good or bad). From there it's all open-ended, since PCs tend to create plots just by thinking about things, and I tend to make stuff up without knowing why and sort of hope the reason surfaces or, in the case of Ios, a player suggestion like a vampire-werewolf is too much fun to not use.

In most D&D games, though, the biggest problem tends to be getting the PCs together. The way I hope to do it is run the first few sessions (and any pre-games for players who make pcs ahead of time (or on time, Chaos and Caltak :p)) is to do it all as one-on-one and the PCs all end up together as mercenaries of sorts. Mind you, this is helped by the players knowing this naturally. (:

How it'll all happen depends entirely on PCs and players, as does where the plot goes. Most games develop a kind of inertia at some point that keeps them going on, and on, and on, without much real "plotting". This is, on the whole, a good thing. OTOH, there is going to be a specific progression for the game. I do have one or two endings in mind, and some twisted surprises to throw at PCs, but in the end it all depends on what the PCs do, and why they do it, and what they want to do. For good or ill, they're the stars of the story, and if we tell it well it's going to be fun and good and a source of lots of quotes.

The plot is nothing more than the beginning. The PCs choose the middle, and the end. With luck, it'll be one they like and survive. If not, Sparkie always has the final laugh, over every plot and every plan.