Keeping it Simple

[DontEatRawHagis]

I got really into preparing my adventures for my players a few campaigns back. This time I have been running more light on the background information that they won't see and have been focusing mostly on the improv.

Example from my new game:

All I had prepared for my introduction was that a Goblin Tribe was in disarray after death of their leader and have been raiding a village that they used to trade with. Amount of info I had written down on this was about one paragraph if that and had only info on the three would-be goblin leaders and how the original leader died.

What resulted? A scenario that involved the players flagging down an Orc hunting party, summoning a flock of ducks to defecate on top of the goblins, take a dead mercenary's sword to return it to his family, and the setup for a mission involving a harvest festival.

I created several characters on the spot, I only have a small understanding of who and what they want. Created a new type of deer called the Ridgeback, instead of having antlers on its head they grow down their back as if a stegosaurus. As well as created a Lady and the Tiger mission on the fly.

Know I can't keep this up indefinitely, but just wanted to see if anyone else likes to DM with the story evolving from player actions on the fly?

Also if anyone has any suggestions on how to run a Harvest Festival that might be the next session, and would be helpful.

[Grim Portent]

I only DM on the fly. I do about half an hour prep before each session outlining some basic stuff I'd like to do and then wind up describing places and NPCs I hadn't thought of before the players asked about them and I decided I needed to make something up. Wound up with a kingdoms magical academy system that way, and the interactions between the nobility and several very fun taverns that I plan to revisit some day in other games.

Tried running with a session plan properly laid out and found it dull until the players started to break away from what I had planned.

[Rhynn]

Know I can't keep this up indefinitely, but just wanted to see if anyone else likes to DM with the story evolving from player actions on the fly?

That's how I roll.

I started my Artesia: Adventures in the Known World campaign with the small scenario included in the book (it's mostly a location and background, with a few ideas for scenes/encounters), but the players really made it their own. Anything they did, I made sure to bring up in a session or two in some way: for instance, the immoral social PC seduced a lady in passing, and a couple of sessions later she comes looking for his protection when her knight husband has beat her bloody, and a sesson later the husband comes looking for a duel.

The entire campaign has essentially been run this way, with additions from me based on what the rest of the world is doing.

I think planning "plots" is a bit silly and ultimately futile, and misses the point of RPGs (for me). I can create locations, characters, and situations, but unless I want to railroad the players, I can't plan ahead of time what is going to happen. PCs go "off-script" so often (because they didn't get handed a copy) that it seems pointless to bother creating a script.