Planning a session when I've inadvertently put a fork in the road

[NOhara24]

Hello Playground,

As the title says, without realizing what I was doing I put a very large fork in my campaign. Ultimately the two paths will lead to the same place, but I'm finding it hard to start planning this week's session when my players have two very distinct options as to how they want to proceed.

Option 1) They can pursue a target that a PC has a personal vendetta with. She is central to the resolution of the campaign, and the hate for her is strong enough that I can see any plot hooks I put in my character's faces being potentially ignored.

Option 2) They can pursue a new, and while easily as important a target, there is no vendetta there.

I'm torn because I want my players to legitimately have a choice in the matter, but it's awfully difficult to plan 2 sessions (which more and more it sounds like I might have to do...)

Has anyone else dealt with a situation similar? And if so, how did you DM your way out of it?

[FreddyNoNose]

Players can go 100 directions and you can't plan them all out. Let them go where they want to and ATTEMPT to do the things they will do. The other line they don't choose, will continue doing things as usual. There can be consequences for that. What would you do if the person decides to drop the vendetta?

When you have a must get to this point plot in your game no matter what choices they make, then it doesn't matter which choice they make. So don't worry about it.

[Drakevarg]

I always assume the players will go in any number of directions and plan accordingly, usually by determining plots regionally rather than linearly.

For example: the players come to a fork in the road, which will eventually lead to two different major cities. Since I don't want to design two entire cities in advance, travel is going to take a while and there's inevitably at least one village along the way either way. I plan two basic adventure hooks: one if they go down one road, another if they take the other route. Alternatively, I use the same plot regardless of which road they take, provided it can apply to both (doesn't work if, say, one road passes through a marsh and the other goes into the mountains, and the environment is any way relevant to the story). So the party winds up in the village, does some roleplaying, and gets a plot hook for a brief side adventure. Or alternatively, they turn down the hook or just skip the village entirely. Even if they do, the plot in some way is made to be their problem, at least briefly.

It's blatant padding, but at least until the players start teleporting wherever the hell they want it's a good way to keep things nonlinear while still buying yourself prep time. Once travel time becomes a non-issue, you can really only hope that the party is focused enough on the main plot that their movements will remain predictable.

[NOhara24]

It's blatant padding, but at least until the players start teleporting wherever the hell they want it's a good way to keep things nonlinear while still buying yourself prep time. Once travel time becomes a non-issue, you can really only hope that the party is focused enough on the main plot that their movements will remain predictable.

They have an airship. A slow airship, but an airship.

EDIT: How much of a deterrent is it from a player's perspective to not know where 1 target is vs the other? It's been awhile since I've been on the other side of the DM's screen.

[Beneath]

The strategy I aim for when doing things is to end a session right after they've decided which way to go, but before starting to deal with it. This all depends on your pacing though; if you don't have enough material between now and the decision to fill a session, don't pad with filler.

You may be able to get some mileage out of things they'll have to do either way.

Basically, three cases:

Case 1: You have enough material to last at least one session before the decision. Arrange things so making their decision is the last thing they do in a session.

Case 2: They have to make the decision right now or nearly so. In that case, since you can't have asked at the end of last session, that window's passed, it may be to your advantage to poll the group now. Failing that, though, maybe you need session time to explain the choices, this is the hardest, but in that case fall through to case 3.

Case 3: You have enough ground to cover to fill maybe half a session before coming to the fork. The trick for the remaining half is that, one, they'll probably want to discuss their plans, especially if you make giving up the vendetta sufficiently tempting. Any time they're arguing about what to do next is engaging session time without using up any of your material. Two, they probably won't set out immediately. Maybe they'll need to charter a ship either way (EDIT: You said they have an airship. You could give them some managerial task; maybe some of their crew's contracts are up and need to be replaced, maybe they need to work out refueling, maybe someone has heard of where they're going and they get multiple bids to haul cargo in that direction all with different pros/cons*, something). Maybe they'll want to provision, especially if they need special supplies for hazards they know are coming (silver for lycanthropes, holy water for undead, cold iron for demons and fey).

Lastly, and I'd say to use this sparingly, but you can always drop in a side-quest or an interruption, but you'd want to make it relevant to the campaign's arc no matter which way they take, fit with the pacing of the story, and, basically, not feel like it was created to pad out a session to give you time to plan the next one. Assassins leap from the shadows (connected to the main plot, probably carrying memorable evidence that they'll contextualize somewhere down the line), or a minor villain they humiliated five sessions ago steals something or kidnaps someone to bait them into a trap, they get into a competition with a recurring rival, or something of that sort. Give them a loose end to tie up before they leave.

*bunch of options for different cargos and of course they can only take one: one doesn't pay very well but it's just a bunch of crates of something mundane that need to go to a place less than a day's diversion from the direct course. Fine linen to a city or food to an outpost, perhaps. One is a living creature which must be cared for and is possibly dangerous if it escapes, maybe a dinosaur. One client is very adamant about no questions being asked and says if the boxes are tampered with you lose half your pay. One shipment is gold bars or some other large amount of wealth that is easily made untraceable and might cause discipline problems among the crew. One wants you to pay a really hefty deposit and the information in conflicted as to whether the destination even wants the stuff. You could easily prepare a few cargos going to each destination and some stock personalities for their owners and then fill the session with discussions around that

This is setting aside that you can totally fill time with interviews of eccentric passengers who want passage to a place on the way to wherever the PCs are going. If they're taking on passengers, maybe throw in rumors of a recent jewel heist whose thief might be trying to skip town (works better if they're going to a city than wilderness) or a werewolf on the run. Whether the jewel thief or werewolf seeks passage on their ship is up to you. Other possible dangerous passengers: an assassin, targeting either a PC or another passenger or possibly making an escape. A spy, carrying some kind of dangerous secret to their superiors. A doppelganger, trying to kill and replace someone to get in position for the next task their illithid masters put them up. Someone hypnotic (a bard or vampire, maybe) who aims to steal the ship (bribing or hypnotizing the crew into mutiny) to impress a pirate queen. Obviously not every potential passenger should be caught up in some form of intrigue which makes them dangerous to have aboard, but there's always the possibility; something to make taking passengers tempting (the money's good & the ship's expensive to run, or maybe some of them are paying in magic and favors the PCs can use) but also a risk and make it so that devoting session time to screening passengers doesn't feel like a waste of time.

[RFLS]

Something I've done in the past is just flat-out asking the players "which option are your characters likely to pursue?". It might break immersion a little, but it will save you a lot of headache.

[Drakevarg]

They have an airship. A slow airship, but an airship.

It's still travel time. Dragons, storm elementals, sky pirates... could even have the ship crash for some reason, making trekking back to civilization for a new mode of transport/repairs for the airship the focus mission for a while.


EDIT: How much of a deterrent is it from a player's perspective to not know where 1 target is vs the other? It's been awhile since I've been on the other side of the DM's screen.

Not a lot in my experience. Just means that one plotline is going to be a chase, the other an investigation.

[icefractal]

EDIT: How much of a deterrent is it from a player's perspective to not know where 1 target is vs the other? It's been awhile since I've been on the other side of the DM's screen.Depends on how far away that target is. If the known target is only a couple days away and it doesn't seem like the unknown target will become much harder to find in that time, people will often go for the low hanging fruit (but not always, especially if a vendetta is involved).

If they're farther, then what I'd personally do is spend a couple days looking for the unknown target's location (divinations, asking people, contacting allies who might know, etc) before setting out for either. Unless the known target is the one I care more about anyway - then I'd just go for it.

[Herobizkit]

Any reason why the vendetta from Option 1 can't seek the rando in Option 2 (or 2 seeking 1) as a potential ally/employee?

It's all smoke and mirrors behind the DM screen until the players commit. Keep the pieces fairly free-flowing and present what's most interesting in the moment. If the players don't bite, slide another piece over and "advance" the piece they didn't take.

Fr'ex, if they choose to pursue the Option 1 vendetta, Option 2's given some breathing room to bolster their situation in case the players DO come at them... or can arrange it so that the players are inconvenienced on their way to Option 1. If they choose to chase the easier target, the vendetta person does something equally terrible to someone/something important to one of the PC's and makes them even angrier. :)

[icefractal]

The strategy I aim for when doing things is to end a session right after they've decided which way to go, but before starting to deal with it. This all depends on your pacing though; if you don't have enough material between now and the decision to fill a session, don't pad with filler.

... lots of good stuff ...
Just wanted to say this is a great post. And +1 to putting decision points at the end of a session. I've had a much easier time running sandbox style once I started factoring in the RL timing of things.

[Nifft]

Even if you knew their decision on this fork, the players could still choose to go in directions that you didn't anticipate.

As the PC level increases, the player's freedom of choice increases.

The only ways I've learned to handle this is to stop prepping session activities, and instead start prepping NPC motivations.

What does this mean?

1/ I don't have a dungeon laid out. I have several crypts & towers & lairs which look cool, each of which could be used at a moment's notice. One big trap or gimmick each, with a chance of one more big trap or gimmick.

2/ I don't depend on knowing what the PCs will do. Instead, I know what the NPCs would have done if the PCs didn't disrupt anything, and I have a rough idea of each NPCs' own priorities -- so when the PCs do disrupt something (and they will), I know who will prioritize what, and that allows me to have the NPCs react in plausible ways.

3/ Knowing each NPC's motivations helps me with conversations, too. They've all got an angle -- they're people, and generally they're powerful people. They have goals & ambitions which have nothing to do with the PCs.

[RazorChain]

Even if you knew their decision on this fork, the players could still choose to go in directions that you didn't anticipate.

As the PC level increases, the player's freedom of choice increases.

The only ways I've learned to handle this is to stop prepping session activities, and instead start prepping NPC motivations.

What does this mean?

1/ I don't have a dungeon laid out. I have several crypts & towers & lairs which look cool, each of which could be used at a moment's notice. One big trap or gimmick each, with a chance of one more big trap or gimmick.

2/ I don't depend on knowing what the PCs will do. Instead, I know what the NPCs would have done if the PCs didn't disrupt anything, and I have a rough idea of each NPCs' own priorities -- so when the PCs do disrupt something (and they will), I know who will prioritize what, and that allows me to have the NPCs react in plausible ways.

3/ Knowing each NPC's motivations helps me with conversations, too. They've all got an angle -- they're people, and generally they're powerful people. They have goals & ambitions which have nothing to do with the PCs.


These are all good points. I just came home after GMing a session for my group. There they had a choice to help out an NPC who has been manipulating them a lot in the past, they tolerate him because he's useful. They knew about an assassination attempt and decided to warn him because they hinge on him gathering info for the group so they can find out more about the secret organization they are opposing.

If they had not decided to help him out they had to resort to other ways to get their info and a major NPC would have been taken out of the picture. Sometimes you just have to wing it if you want your players to have freedom or plan your game differently.

As one of my player said after the group had almost failed protecting said NPC, an assassin had almost pushed him off french balconies and I rolled before my players if he would be fall off or not (probably to his death) "WTF!!! Doesn't he have plot armor or something"

No, the PC's success is entirely upon them