I am a fan of divergent plots. I always like the idea of the party determining where the campaign is going, since it gives the party an element of control in their own fate.This allows for the world to feel much more involving, and gives the DM free reign to do whatever they want in the background. For instance, I post every now and then about characters that might come up should the party decide to go down a particular path. One of those paths that I posted about today was involving the fey. So far, the party has only encountered one fey, and he didn't even have a name. They didn't seem to care too much for the whole idea.
When the party encountered the fey, they entered his lair. They noticed that they were actually traversing through planes when they entered. To them this was a minor detail, and nobody even paid it a second thought. If they'd decided to question more about that information, there are a lot more plot developments they would have uncovered. For instance, in the world of Fomor there is a perpetual cold war between the different groups of fey. Denizens of the Underdark are preparing for an oncoming invasion of the Material Plane. Elements of nature are becoming perverted and warped by all the dimensional travel that's suddenly happening.
So what happens now? The players didn't bite the bait. Maybe there's a small inkling in the back of their minds that it's at least possible for this type of plot to happen, but it is by no means the focus. Each of them are right now centered only on their own personal plots, and they each view NPCs as nothing but a means to an end. And this is perfectly fine. I've dangled some other plot hooks in front of them but all of the players are pretty single-minded in wanting to fulfill their own plots before anything else. This is what drove me to feed them a giant platter of plot hooks all drawn from their own backstories.
Now all this plane-traveling plot is not just gone to waste. All of these events are still occurring in the background. The party will see evidence of it, whether they recognize it or not. A side quest every now and then might relate to these events, but it won't necessarily be the focus. As the PCs progress through their story arcs, they will become more and more involved in various events. In the future, they may never even encounter another fey - it all depends on what they decide to do in future sessions. But there are about a dozen of these different plots that may or may not ever be resolved.
This structure helps for making plots on the fly. When the PCs do something unexpected, or go somewhere that I hadn't considered. All I have to do is have a rough idea of what might be happening around the world while the PCs have been off doing their own thing. The objective is to make the entire world seem alive and dynamic.
Right now, the party is heading off to investigate Salma's vision to the south. They are very likely to encounter dwarves and other creatures related to Salma's backstory. I won't go into too much detail about that second part, but they will be very much exposed to other elements of the world that they have never seen before. I'm not sure yet how the party will react to loose threads. Will they chase after different tangents? Will they commit to completing the tasks already set before them? I really don't know yet. But whatever they do, there is a lot that will continue to happen with or without their intervention. And that to me makes the whole game that much more interesting.
When the party encountered the fey, they entered his lair. They noticed that they were actually traversing through planes when they entered. To them this was a minor detail, and nobody even paid it a second thought. If they'd decided to question more about that information, there are a lot more plot developments they would have uncovered. For instance, in the world of Fomor there is a perpetual cold war between the different groups of fey. Denizens of the Underdark are preparing for an oncoming invasion of the Material Plane. Elements of nature are becoming perverted and warped by all the dimensional travel that's suddenly happening.
So what happens now? The players didn't bite the bait. Maybe there's a small inkling in the back of their minds that it's at least possible for this type of plot to happen, but it is by no means the focus. Each of them are right now centered only on their own personal plots, and they each view NPCs as nothing but a means to an end. And this is perfectly fine. I've dangled some other plot hooks in front of them but all of the players are pretty single-minded in wanting to fulfill their own plots before anything else. This is what drove me to feed them a giant platter of plot hooks all drawn from their own backstories.
Now all this plane-traveling plot is not just gone to waste. All of these events are still occurring in the background. The party will see evidence of it, whether they recognize it or not. A side quest every now and then might relate to these events, but it won't necessarily be the focus. As the PCs progress through their story arcs, they will become more and more involved in various events. In the future, they may never even encounter another fey - it all depends on what they decide to do in future sessions. But there are about a dozen of these different plots that may or may not ever be resolved.
This structure helps for making plots on the fly. When the PCs do something unexpected, or go somewhere that I hadn't considered. All I have to do is have a rough idea of what might be happening around the world while the PCs have been off doing their own thing. The objective is to make the entire world seem alive and dynamic.
Right now, the party is heading off to investigate Salma's vision to the south. They are very likely to encounter dwarves and other creatures related to Salma's backstory. I won't go into too much detail about that second part, but they will be very much exposed to other elements of the world that they have never seen before. I'm not sure yet how the party will react to loose threads. Will they chase after different tangents? Will they commit to completing the tasks already set before them? I really don't know yet. But whatever they do, there is a lot that will continue to happen with or without their intervention. And that to me makes the whole game that much more interesting.
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