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View Full Version : Campaign idea - Need advice



HasegawaTakumi
2009-07-10, 07:17 AM
A friend of mine (also a player in some campaigns I DM) asked me to DM a solo campaign for him, and he wants to be free to do anything he wants (possibly being evil included)... something very open-ended, as though he was really living his character's life, not playing an adventure module...

The problem is, I want to 'manipulate/railroad' him a bit (but not too much): he should go where I want him to go, but at the same time he must believe he is acting according only to his own will... I have some vague ideas about the story, and will keep it more as a guideline, thus still leaving the campaign open enough...

How do i do that?

I'm not too sure if what I want to do w/ him is clear enough, but don't really know how to explain, sorry... consider english is not my first language, too... :smallwink:

valadil
2009-07-10, 09:11 AM
Find out what your PC wants. Take what he wants and put it where you want him to go. Problem solved.

Halaster
2009-07-10, 09:14 AM
The secret is to engage him in what you want him to do. Railroading essentially means that you override his will. So whenever he clearly states that he wants to do something, or not do another thing, you must accommodate him. But you will find that at least part of the time, probably most of the time, he will be drifting along, looking for opportunities. Those are the moments for your plot hooks. An innocent-seeming encounter here, an NPC with a quest there and I bet he will follow along.
Also, make sure you listen to what he says and then subtly alter it to fit your needs. He's looking for certain kinds of stories and encounters. What you need to do is incorporate such stories and encounters into your campaign. He wants to raid the world's most dangerous dungeon? Well, isn't that just the dungeon that holds your campaigns central uber-artifact? Of course it is.

Finally, I think you should not try to hide your plans. It's your game, too, and you should be able to make your mark on it just like he does. Otherwise he'd be better off writing a story, not playing a game. So, just explain that you have some ideas, and that you won't push or railroad him, and get him to agree to at least listen, when you bring something up. A one-on-one game offers unique possibilities for the player to bring input, but it can't be just about him.

loopy
2009-07-10, 09:16 AM
Yeah, I'm trying to figure out something similar at the moment. I want to have the players character live through key moments of his childhood before the adventure starts, then run his rogue/assassin type character through a satisfying campaign that allows him to be all sneaky and stabbity without turning into a "kill this guy for money. Okay, done that? Now kill this guy for money. He has better guards."

Seeing as its a related thread, I thought I may as well duck in, so as not to clutter the boards.

rogueboy
2009-07-10, 09:18 AM
A friend of mine (also a player in some campaigns I DM) asked me to DM a solo campaign for him, and he wants to be free to do anything he wants (possibly being evil included)... something very open-ended, as though he was really living his character's life, not playing an adventure module...

The problem is, I want to 'manipulate/railroad' him a bit (but not too much): he should go where I want him to go, but at the same time he must believe he is acting according only to his own will... I have some vague ideas about the story, and will keep it more as a guideline, thus still leaving the campaign open enough...

How do i do that?

I'm not too sure if what I want to do w/ him is clear enough, but don't really know how to explain, sorry... consider english is not my first language, too... :smallwink:

I get the impression that you have a basic plot-line in mind that you'd like to run. My recommendation would be to have 2-3 possible adventures for him to go through. You can either guide him into those (if they're specific locations) by making them interesting (bounties, rumors, or outright requests can do this without seeming overly contrived), or you can make them not be location-specific and just insert the adventure into wherever he goes.

In either case, you may be able to get away with using prewritten adventures, especially if you tweak them a bit to make them fit in better.

Hope that helps somewhat.

HasegawaTakumi
2009-07-10, 01:16 PM
I get the impression that you have a basic plot-line in mind that you'd like to run.

Yes, I have a plot-line in mind (still kinda vague)... What inspired me was the Epic Paladin Build thread, for the Master of Masks diplomatic maneuvering/multiple identities thing... I liked that idea and searching for the class I found the Complete Scoundrel Excerpts: I loved the Blind Tower, and I think he should become a member (he'll like it for sure). Some adventures would be missions for the Tower, but at other times he would adventure for personal gain/motives.

I'd make the leader of the Tower a powerful spellcaster/master of masks who uses a combination of masks/shapechanging spells to assume various identities (no one knows his true one) and do serious diplomatic maneuvering (he manipulates lots of kings/leaders/etc and is, in fact, the ruler of lots of countries and organisations)

I'll use epic destinies for him and his possible allies/followers who make it that far... his final confrontation should be, at level 30, w/ the Tower leader; either as Good, freeing the world from his Evil influence, or as Evil, taking his place as the leader

Thank you all for the help

HamsterOfTheGod
2009-07-10, 01:28 PM
Don't think of plot but of "floating" plot points.

For, take an old school module with a map of the terrain the adventurers have to get through. If they go through path I, they meet encounters A, B and C. If they choose path II, they go through encounters D, E and F. This is silly and a waste of DM time. What it should be is a map with physical terrain features. At time points 1, 2 and 3 they will meet encounters 1, 2 and 3.

Now this can change of course. If the adventurers are going slow and one of the encounters is say a villian trying to escape in encounter, then they may not catch up to the villian and thus may not have encounter 2. If the adventurers find some clever way to avoid encounter 3 then they don't have encounter 3. But this is different then the adventurers simply saying that they go west then north (rather than north than west) and by total accident avoiding the encounter. Nothing says the map is fixed. You can put an encounter in the adventurer's path when it is the right time for them to encounter it.

OK so now think of your story. But do not think of it in linear terms but rather a two dimensional map. And don't think of the plot points as fixed in space in time but rather able to float and be placed as you see fit.

So for ex, suppose your overall arc is that the adventurer's have to defeat a lich who is trying to take over the world. And to begin, your adventurer's meet at a tavern where you throw them a plot hook, say that someone wants to hire the adventurer's to investigate a missing person and said missing person was kidnapped by a thieve's guild associated in some way with the lich. But your players derail you and say that they want their characters to rob the treasury of a local temple.

Now, it is possible to make up the adventure of raiding the local temple on the spot. Or maybe you have some other similar adventure ready on hand. But there is also another way to handle this. You will have to make some stuff up as you go along but you don't have to make everything up.

You already have some plot points so you can use them. Your "pre-written" adventure you had a dungeon of some kind, traps, guards, encounters and the final scenario of rescuing the missing person. Why throw it all away?

Make up a relatively simple first floor for the temple and make it empty...of loot that is. Explanation? Simple. The loot is stored safely behind a door that leads down to...a dungeon that looks a lot like your pre-written one. Except. The traps, guards and encounters are no part of the temple's defenses. The rogue's defending the thieve's guild are now just temple guards, just dress them differently. The treasure the adventurer's would have found is now temple treasure, just describe it as such. For instead of a sack of coins, they find an altar piece with the same value.

Finally, the rescuing of the prisoner...what says that the prisoner was not kidnapped by the temple? So by "accident" the adventurer's "solve" the mistery you set out for them. Now what they do after finding the prisoner is up to them and that might take some more improvisation on your part.

Now I'm not saying you want to pull something like this every time. But as you go along, you will find that you can build your stories more as a series of plot points that you can move around the session as you see fit.

As for the over-arching plot, that you have modify as you go along. You would probably do that anyway even if the adventurer's followed the main line. But say in the example that the adventurer's don't want to play the world saving heroes. You can still keep the lich as an overall background element of your world. So in the case of the players that follow the main story line, the lich becomes an ever more present danger. In the case of the players that decide to join the lich's side, then the lich's enemies and final goals become ever more present. In the case of player's that decide to ignore the lich plot altogether, the lich can still provide plot points as they pursue their own goals.

Consider another example, at a certain point in the campaign, undead forces might attempt to take over a town. In the case of player's opposing the lich, the player oppose the lich's undead forces and this fight is central to the campaign. In the case of player's helping the lich, the players may be fighting undead forces from an opponent of the lich and this fight is central to the campaign. In the case of player's ignoring the lich, the player may just find themselves in a town taken over by undead forces and now they have to survive and fight their way out but this fight is not central to the campaign. That is, don't make the idea of fighting in a town against an invading horde of undead a fixed point in a story. Rather, make it a plot point which you can hook into the story in any number of ways.