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Alright, I gotta put this in another thread before I pollute the True Res discussions. I'm going to discuss DM events vs Player Impacts/Stories from my own point of view. I've been meaning to post on this so I might as well do it now. Silas prompted this with his "I prefer novels" comments 
So without further delay, let me crit you all with a wall of text.
I want people to understand something about my plots that some of you have picked up on and others seem to struggle with. That being the power is in your hands.
When I make plots, they have a background of how things got to the state they are in and that's it. I never have a truly expected outcome that a plot can't deviate from, even with NPCs. I present conflicts to people and only their choices determine where the conflicts go. However, lately (Or maybe a great deal longer than lately) people have been either afraid of the conflicts or expecting a linear path that I had written previously in my own head.
I can't say this is the case for every DM, but anything I create, story, lore, NPCs, is completely mutable for players. While people focus on mechanics and say "Yo, this stinks as a mechanic" I think people lose sight of the idea that all mechanics are just tools to progress the story itself, even True Resurrection.
I'm going to use a couple stories occurring right now as examples so players understand.
Katria. This is a big example of the struggle I have as a DM. I'm going to metagame this plot by speaking about it publically since I think enough people know the background to have the metagame not matter much.
This plot had a simple backstory of "Katria left the manor for an internal conflict and came into contact with players." That was the background and the current status put in front of players. The position this NPC is in now has been exactly where players have led it, however, some people get the idea that it was my plan. That's pretty impossible since I don't have a plan.
Katria got nabbed based on a few player's actions. One player writes a letter to Sundren Soldiers about their plan, another shoves garlic down her throat, and that turned into a locked up Katria. Even the release was based on player actions. Every step she is in is because of player actions. I have no preplanned future for these things. It's a hook for people to tell their own tales with.
What is the future of this NPC? That's up to you guys. And for all the OOC talk that goes around with this, and all the plans to "Attack" I don't think one person has even lifted a finger to do anything negative to this character beyond words against them. Maybe that's where some players want to go, but OOC talk seems to point otherwise. Some problems for your character may just be solved with a simple Undeath to Death
Another example, Mathell's recent escape, which was pushed by me (Not Mathell, so he's guilt free). Two people ran after him, they're about to catch him and I have an NPC lie and say he's long gone, and they just believe the NPC, talk awhile, and then leave. I was shocked to say the least, but I can see from messages OOC and forum posts they thought there was nothing they can do even though it was their choice not to do anything.
I believe players tend to think anything that comes out of an NPC's mouth is infallible when that is faaaaaaar from the case. They all have their own personalities, views, agendas, imperfections, etc. If an NPC says "Yo, you gotta do this like this." This is not ME telling you, this is an NPC. It might as well be another PC telling you the same thing. They could be on your side, against you, have no feeling, make mistakes, etc etc.
With all the talk of impacts and character stories lately, I thought it was important to tell people, I am NOT my NPCs. They are entities that exist for the sole purpose of story. They exist for a story that is completely unwritten. I don't plan where any PCs are going to be or where any NPCs are going to be.
If you drop a meteor on Hadavi's head and she winds up a puddle on the ground, guess what? There will be a puddle on the ground in which people stand around and go "Wow, that wasn't as hard as I thought." If Thumper wakes up in a Cyricist's clutches, then gets dragged to an altar to be sacrificed, I guess that may very well be the end of that NPC. The opposite is true too. If you convince an NPC to be your best buddy and to watch your back, you might have a buddy watching your back, or you might have someone waiting to backstab your back.
The problems I've been seeing is that people want me to direct them half the time on their own stories they're trying to write. If I start telling you what to do, I might as well be playing with myself. Just like when the NPC lied about Mathell, should I send a tell "Hey, this NPC is lying, you might want to try to roll sense motive" or should the player consider that?
Conflicts do pick on people. Yes, I am picking on you when I start them. Some people get mad about that, but it wouldn't be a conflict if it didn't have an air of ... well... conflict.
Some of you who have been around for the last few months may remember a day I sent a shout about logging because I was disappointed. The situation was that I gave a character a conflict. They were hiding their faction from people and they suddenly got unknowingly urged to hunt down another member of their faction. Instead of coming up with choices and actions for themselves on how to deal with this, they immediately went into tells to the other faction member going "Go hide somewhere. I'm being told to hunt you down and this could end up bad for you. Where are you now? Okay, I'll try to avoid that place." Etc etc. My jaw dropped and my eyes went O_O. I didn't even punish the player, I just logged.
I'm not picking on you to beat you down and leave you there, I'm picking on you to start a hook that you can get involved in and make your own mark from that hook. It's something you can overcome. Think of it like like a road with many paths and you can pick one for yourself. This player had the opportunity to help their own goals in that situation, but decided to waste the opportunity.
It kind of saddens me to see so much emphasis on certain mechanics and fears of permadeath when so much of that relies on your hands. I can't remember a single character where I went "I've had enough of this character, and I think their life expectancy should be 0." Obviously certain choices are harder to manage the outcome with when you're worried about survival than others, but it's still in your hand and every mechanic, spell, rule, etc, is there for you to use. It shouldn't be seen as a limiter but an enhancer. Being bad off one day might make you the hero of tomorrow or even the villain.
It happens far too often that people even come to me with "I need rep, what can I do?" when I got so many hooks in the water for them to bite on. I wonder at times if people even ask other members of their factions "Hey, what's going on right now?" I mean, that's the whole point of a faction, working together. And people havn't bothered to go to the guy next to him and say "What are you trying to do right now? Maybe I can help."
Some things I'll obviously have to consult with other DMs over in order to come up with a ruling on results of actions, but most things can be handled right then and there by you.
This world isn't WoW. You can change all kinds of things if you just do it.
So yeah, novels are awesome because they pull story tools out of midair, but guess what, that's what all these mechanics on Sundren are. Tools for you to tell your story and work with, not limiters, but enhancers and choices. Even the laws can be used to bend to your will.
So without further delay, let me crit you all with a wall of text.I want people to understand something about my plots that some of you have picked up on and others seem to struggle with. That being the power is in your hands.
When I make plots, they have a background of how things got to the state they are in and that's it. I never have a truly expected outcome that a plot can't deviate from, even with NPCs. I present conflicts to people and only their choices determine where the conflicts go. However, lately (Or maybe a great deal longer than lately) people have been either afraid of the conflicts or expecting a linear path that I had written previously in my own head.
I can't say this is the case for every DM, but anything I create, story, lore, NPCs, is completely mutable for players. While people focus on mechanics and say "Yo, this stinks as a mechanic" I think people lose sight of the idea that all mechanics are just tools to progress the story itself, even True Resurrection.
I'm going to use a couple stories occurring right now as examples so players understand.
Katria. This is a big example of the struggle I have as a DM. I'm going to metagame this plot by speaking about it publically since I think enough people know the background to have the metagame not matter much.
This plot had a simple backstory of "Katria left the manor for an internal conflict and came into contact with players." That was the background and the current status put in front of players. The position this NPC is in now has been exactly where players have led it, however, some people get the idea that it was my plan. That's pretty impossible since I don't have a plan.
Katria got nabbed based on a few player's actions. One player writes a letter to Sundren Soldiers about their plan, another shoves garlic down her throat, and that turned into a locked up Katria. Even the release was based on player actions. Every step she is in is because of player actions. I have no preplanned future for these things. It's a hook for people to tell their own tales with.
What is the future of this NPC? That's up to you guys. And for all the OOC talk that goes around with this, and all the plans to "Attack" I don't think one person has even lifted a finger to do anything negative to this character beyond words against them. Maybe that's where some players want to go, but OOC talk seems to point otherwise. Some problems for your character may just be solved with a simple Undeath to Death
Another example, Mathell's recent escape, which was pushed by me (Not Mathell, so he's guilt free
). Two people ran after him, they're about to catch him and I have an NPC lie and say he's long gone, and they just believe the NPC, talk awhile, and then leave. I was shocked to say the least, but I can see from messages OOC and forum posts they thought there was nothing they can do even though it was their choice not to do anything.I believe players tend to think anything that comes out of an NPC's mouth is infallible when that is faaaaaaar from the case. They all have their own personalities, views, agendas, imperfections, etc. If an NPC says "Yo, you gotta do this like this." This is not ME telling you, this is an NPC. It might as well be another PC telling you the same thing. They could be on your side, against you, have no feeling, make mistakes, etc etc.
With all the talk of impacts and character stories lately, I thought it was important to tell people, I am NOT my NPCs. They are entities that exist for the sole purpose of story. They exist for a story that is completely unwritten. I don't plan where any PCs are going to be or where any NPCs are going to be.
If you drop a meteor on Hadavi's head and she winds up a puddle on the ground, guess what? There will be a puddle on the ground in which people stand around and go "Wow, that wasn't as hard as I thought." If Thumper wakes up in a Cyricist's clutches, then gets dragged to an altar to be sacrificed, I guess that may very well be the end of that NPC. The opposite is true too. If you convince an NPC to be your best buddy and to watch your back, you might have a buddy watching your back, or you might have someone waiting to backstab your back.
The problems I've been seeing is that people want me to direct them half the time on their own stories they're trying to write. If I start telling you what to do, I might as well be playing with myself. Just like when the NPC lied about Mathell, should I send a tell "Hey, this NPC is lying, you might want to try to roll sense motive" or should the player consider that?
Conflicts do pick on people. Yes, I am picking on you when I start them. Some people get mad about that, but it wouldn't be a conflict if it didn't have an air of ... well... conflict.
Some of you who have been around for the last few months may remember a day I sent a shout about logging because I was disappointed. The situation was that I gave a character a conflict. They were hiding their faction from people and they suddenly got unknowingly urged to hunt down another member of their faction. Instead of coming up with choices and actions for themselves on how to deal with this, they immediately went into tells to the other faction member going "Go hide somewhere. I'm being told to hunt you down and this could end up bad for you. Where are you now? Okay, I'll try to avoid that place." Etc etc. My jaw dropped and my eyes went O_O. I didn't even punish the player, I just logged.
I'm not picking on you to beat you down and leave you there, I'm picking on you to start a hook that you can get involved in and make your own mark from that hook. It's something you can overcome. Think of it like like a road with many paths and you can pick one for yourself. This player had the opportunity to help their own goals in that situation, but decided to waste the opportunity.
It kind of saddens me to see so much emphasis on certain mechanics and fears of permadeath when so much of that relies on your hands. I can't remember a single character where I went "I've had enough of this character, and I think their life expectancy should be 0." Obviously certain choices are harder to manage the outcome with when you're worried about survival than others, but it's still in your hand and every mechanic, spell, rule, etc, is there for you to use. It shouldn't be seen as a limiter but an enhancer. Being bad off one day might make you the hero of tomorrow or even the villain.
It happens far too often that people even come to me with "I need rep, what can I do?" when I got so many hooks in the water for them to bite on. I wonder at times if people even ask other members of their factions "Hey, what's going on right now?" I mean, that's the whole point of a faction, working together. And people havn't bothered to go to the guy next to him and say "What are you trying to do right now? Maybe I can help."
Some things I'll obviously have to consult with other DMs over in order to come up with a ruling on results of actions, but most things can be handled right then and there by you.
This world isn't WoW. You can change all kinds of things if you just do it.
So yeah, novels are awesome because they pull story tools out of midair, but guess what, that's what all these mechanics on Sundren are. Tools for you to tell your story and work with, not limiters, but enhancers and choices. Even the laws can be used to bend to your will.
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