What to do when your players say "forget the plot, I make my own story" ?

[fishyfishyfishy]

In my last game session my players did something totally unexpected; they accepted a mission and got halfway to the destination before deciding "hey before we commit to this why don't we plane shift and take care of an old plot hook/lose end?" So now they're in Mabar, the negative energy plane of Eberron, and I need to figure out what to do now. I thought they had maybe given up on this, or that they would take care if it later. I've got a list of 30 something different monsters native to the plane I can use for a random encounter chart but I need more than that to make this trip memorable. Just because it's the plane of darkness doesn't mean it has to be a dull grey plain in all directions. I'm fishing for ideas on exotic locations and common hazards to the plane. What type of features would this place have? Yugoloths, being the most populace of the residents, might have a city or something. What type of structures would be in a place like that? Oh and what kind of treasure would be found on defeated enemies in this place?

The closest I've ever come to doing something like this was a short adventure that took my players to the City of Brass in a 4e game a few years ago.

[Karl Aegis]

On a stupid-looking rock in the sky there is a desiccated young man with a pompadour. His companions are a construct that insists it is a top-of-the-line model despite being covered in rust and obviously obsolete and a cat in a diving suit. The cat (presumably) communicates by repeating a low-pitch scream. Nobody understands him. The man's only goal in life is to die. "Please, kill me," he says with no light left in his eyes.

[fishyfishyfishy]

On a stupid-looking rock in the sky there is a desiccated young man with a pompadour. His companions are a construct that insists it is a top-of-the-line model despite being covered in rust and obviously obsolete and a cat in a diving suit. The cat (presumably) communicates by repeating a low-pitch scream. Nobody understands him. The man's only goal in life is to die. "Please, kill me," he says with no light left in his eyes.

Is this a reference I'm not getting?

[malonkey1]

Is this a reference I'm not getting?

Probably. I'm not getting it either.

[Bluydee]

It's Space Dandy.

[avr]

It's the plane of Night, not just negative energy. It can be full of twisted jungles (3 of 4 named manifest zones are in forests) or cramped tunnels underground or black seas or ice-slicked mountains with chasms even darker than the lightless sky. Or dull grey deserts, but they aren't the whole plane.

I'm assuming that if they can plane shift casually then they can fly at least for a few minutes and that basic outdoor enviromental hazards shouldn't be a problem. If either of these isn't true you could have fun with sandstorms or blizzards (if you've placed them on that dull grey plain you mentioned), crossing rivers or crevasses without light, etc.

Interesting encounters depend a bit on the party level, unless you want to have them save some poor souls who accidentally stepped somewhere dark enough to travel to Mabar and/or deal with their ghosts.

[fishyfishyfishy]

It's Space Dandy.

I don't know what that is.

On another note: how does the spell Shroud of Undeath interact with a plane that has a Major Negative Dominance? Specifically, would it block the negative level gained every round? It specifies that you are treated as undead for spells and effects, and the negative level allows a fortitude save.

[fishyfishyfishy]

It's the plane of Night, not just negative energy. It can be full of twisted jungles (3 of 4 named manifest zones are in forests) or cramped tunnels underground or black seas or ice-slicked mountains with chasms even darker than the lightless sky. Or dull grey deserts, but they aren't the whole plane.

I'm assuming that if they can plane shift casually then they can fly at least for a few minutes and that basic outdoor enviromental hazards shouldn't be a problem. If either of these isn't true you could have fun with sandstorms or blizzards (if you've placed them on that dull grey plain you mentioned), crossing rivers or crevasses without light, etc.

Interesting encounters depend a bit on the party level, unless you want to have them save some poor souls who accidentally stepped somewhere dark enough to travel to Mabar and/or deal with their ghosts.

Level 11 gestalt. They're perfectly capable of casually plane shifting wherever they'd like to go.

[avr]

Some possible locations - a mine worked by slaves of the yugoloths (and overseen by yugoloths almost as eager to escape as their slaves), a succubus' villa inhabited by her and her servants (who may not be unwilling!), a village painstakingly recreated by a bodak trying to recall its past life, a battlefield where shadows repeatedly reenact the events unless disturbed.

[goto124]

I was wondering something else more related to the thread title... how do you prepare for your players going off the rails? You do need to have some sort of plot, not to mention stat blocks of monsters and the balancing and everything? How to deal with it without railroading/telling your players you have to spend 3 months to make up new stuff whenever they do unexpected things?

Is there a limit to which players can/should derail?

[avr]

Level 11 gestalt. They're perfectly capable of casually plane shifting wherever they'd like to go.
Right. Unless the succubus has charmed some mighty dwarven heroes or something she's not going to be an issue then. Rather than just one bodak and a few undead servants you'd need several. Shadows aren't really an issue. Yugoloths (& maybe shadow dragons?) are where it's at.

I imagine a yugoloth city to be heavy on black basalt, polished by slaves being worked to death on the pointless task. Plenty of defences against flyers (spikes, wires, roofed areas) because the last thing they'd want is to be conquered by another group of yugoloths, or shadow dragons. Frequently changed to confuse teleporters (which the slaves would see as more makework).

[fishyfishyfishy]

I was wondering something else more related to the thread title... how do you prepare for your players going off the rails? You do need to have some sort of plot, not to mention stat blocks of monsters and the balancing and everything? How to deal with it without railroading/telling your players you have to spend 3 months to make up new stuff whenever they do unexpected things?

Is there a limit to which players can/should derail?

I more or less allow my players to dictate the plot. The story revolves around them and their actions. I just didn't expect them to do what they did when they did. It was a very abrupt change in plans and I usually plan 2 or 3 sessions in advance, and since we only game once every two weeks this is usually enough.

I'm really enjoying all of these ideas by the way. I'm going to have a difficult time choosing what to start with :smallamused:

[VincentTakeda]

I say wheeeeeeee! I love it when players do this. It means they're creating their own buy in.

[unbutu]

I really like making things happen based on the newspapers. I just improvised based on news that catch my attention. I just catch the theme, and go from there. Here's 2 news from recent newspaper and facebook feed:


Pathfinder
News
A Canadian female tennis player got asked to show her outfit at a Australian tennis tournament. Sexism criticism abound.

I imagine---) A king dies, having only a daughter. The princess is very intelligent, well spoken and capable of ruling, but the surrounding lords don't want to be ruled by such a young queen, in wich they see mostly a beautifull thing.

A tournament is held, in wich the best warrior will be crowned. The princess is capable of fighting, but nowhere near the best combatants.

-They could champion for her, but then they will have to make a lot of politics, making the point that a Queen capable of uniting champions is worth more than the best of warriors alone.

-(I find this one most interesting:) They could attempt to equip her with their greatest magic items, and buff the crap out of her, to make her win the battles.

-The party could be approached by the lords while they try to help her, and offered a much greater sum to leave her on her own. ''Let the best warrior win'' '' This is not your battle'' '' You will leave us with a weak Queen''


Shadowrun
News: Near Montreal, the city water treating station(the irony) has mechanical problems, it's fuel reservoir leaks into it's source for water pumping. This leads to one of the biggest diesel leaks in recent history, in the St-Lawrence river, the main water stream in the province. Many cities cannot pump at the source anymore. The city took very long to alert the authorities. Both are accused of being very negligent.

I imagine ---) (Context: It's near the next elections, and they have been mildly involved in politics so far.) Now, they get an offer, a huge sum, to infiltrate a reffinery near the St-Lawrence river, and cause a major diesel leak. It's explained as a vengeance between 2 corporations, and should cause high material losses.

While executing their mission, they get occasions to understand that the facility has been prepped subtly so that the normal retention mesures in case of a leak will be overwhelmed, and that the diesel should overflow into the St-Lawrence.

They now understand the possible ecological consequesences. On the other hand, should they fail the mission, their contact will certainly be reluctant to trust them again.

They could sabotage the sabotage, to make a leak that does not go into the river.

They could abort the mission.

They could let it go, and do it as intended.

Also, hacking within the facilities offices will let them see how the refinery self-sabotage was organised. They will get hints that this is not a corporation on another corporation, but that this might be a political party involved.

(THey will later be involved with a Green Party, political organisation that caused themselves the leak to push their agenda to the front, and make enviromental issues the main point of the political campaign)