Comments on: Ask The GMs: The Momentum Of The Inevitable http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/ Expert tips and how-to's on every aspect of creating and running exceptional campaigns. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:45:22 +0000 hourly 1 By: Mike http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/comment-page-1/#comment-2599 Mike Sat, 24 Apr 2010 02:32:30 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=1652#comment-2599 A key point in your reply that deserves to be brought to greater prominance, Loz, are expectations. If the PCs are used to winning all or most of the time, they will not react so well to losing; if you have maintained a more balanced campaign where the PCs can and sometimes do lose in smaller plotlines (and then have to, as you say, correct or palliate the consequences) then they will be more ready to accept that when the big plots roll around. Heck, I've even run time-travel based scenarios in which the scenario opens with the bad guys having won already - and one or more PCs somehow being immune to, or protected from, the event - sometimes just temporarily - and having to go back in time to restore history to its correct course. The post-apocalyptic campaigns you describe are exactly the sort of thing I was talking about when I mentioned sequel campaigns. If situations are sufficiently dire, it can even be hard to tell the difference between winning and losing. As you say, so long as the outcome is not inevitable, players will generally accept the challenge posed by the seemingly too-big-to-be-stopped. A key point in your reply that deserves to be brought to greater prominance, Loz, are expectations. If the PCs are used to winning all or most of the time, they will not react so well to losing; if you have maintained a more balanced campaign where the PCs can and sometimes do lose in smaller plotlines (and then have to, as you say, correct or palliate the consequences) then they will be more ready to accept that when the big plots roll around.

Heck, I’ve even run time-travel based scenarios in which the scenario opens with the bad guys having won already – and one or more PCs somehow being immune to, or protected from, the event – sometimes just temporarily – and having to go back in time to restore history to its correct course.

The post-apocalyptic campaigns you describe are exactly the sort of thing I was talking about when I mentioned sequel campaigns. If situations are sufficiently dire, it can even be hard to tell the difference between winning and losing. As you say, so long as the outcome is not inevitable, players will generally accept the challenge posed by the seemingly too-big-to-be-stopped.

]]> By: Loz NEWMAN http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/comment-page-1/#comment-2598 Loz NEWMAN Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:06:18 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=1652#comment-2598 I've run this happenstance in super-hero campaigns (twice) where the players *failed to stop* the end-of-the-world. Since the players tried and failed the "plot train resentment" never reared its ugly head. This is mainly due to players having the foreknowledge that I wouldn't hand them an unearned win/survival just to be nice. The players then took up a new challenge : correcting and/or palliating their mistakes. They changed characters and I ran a post-apocalyptic campaign for them, where the goal was to find a time-travel method ..... So "Too big to be stopped" wasn't so bad. "Definitive" would have been bad.... Give players *hope* that they can do something positive and they'll see "Too big to be stopped" as a challenge, an evolution to be faced. I’ve run this happenstance in super-hero campaigns (twice) where the players *failed to stop* the end-of-the-world.

Since the players tried and failed the “plot train resentment” never reared its ugly head. This is mainly due to players having the foreknowledge that I wouldn’t hand them an unearned win/survival just to be nice.

The players then took up a new challenge : correcting and/or palliating their mistakes. They changed characters and I ran a post-apocalyptic campaign for them, where the goal was to find a time-travel method ….. So “Too big to be stopped” wasn’t so bad. “Definitive” would have been bad…. Give players *hope* that they can do something positive and they’ll see “Too big to be stopped” as a challenge, an evolution to be faced.

]]> By: Mike http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/comment-page-1/#comment-2583 Mike Tue, 20 Apr 2010 18:25:43 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=1652#comment-2583 Sounds like fun. And with chronomancy involved, all simplistic models of cause and effect can go out the window anyway, depending on the nature of time itself within the campaign. "The world is like a tadpole, swimming in a vast ocean of time, its inhabitants able to see only in one direction, straight ahead, no matter how they twist and turn, when there are infinite other directions all around to those who will look for them". Or whatever. Thanks for contributing, J_King. Sounds like fun. And with chronomancy involved, all simplistic models of cause and effect can go out the window anyway, depending on the nature of time itself within the campaign. “The world is like a tadpole, swimming in a vast ocean of time, its inhabitants able to see only in one direction, straight ahead, no matter how they twist and turn, when there are infinite other directions all around to those who will look for them”. Or whatever. Thanks for contributing, J_King.

]]> By: j_king http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/comment-page-1/#comment-2582 j_king Tue, 20 Apr 2010 15:52:01 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=1652#comment-2582 With a little creative time-travelling I've found that an unstoppable maelstrom of events can actually be useful in co-operative world building. How? Well in the main campaign, they're playing in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Nobody knows what engendered the apocalypse... but they've been finding remnants buried in tombs and whispered from the lips of the dead. Oh and then they're kidnapped by chronomancers who drag them into the past before the apocalypse. Now we know what's going to happen -- the end of the world. My players role up new characters and we go at it. I set a few events in motion and how the players deal with it results in legends and lore we'll use when they're returned back to their timeline. At least for part of the story, there's nothing they can do about it. The apocalypse will happen one way or another. They just get to help tell the story of how it all went down. And nobody feels railroaded because it only adds back to the main game and helps flesh out the story for their characters. With a little creative time-travelling I’ve found that an unstoppable maelstrom of events can actually be useful in co-operative world building.

How?

Well in the main campaign, they’re playing in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world. Nobody knows what engendered the apocalypse… but they’ve been finding remnants buried in tombs and whispered from the lips of the dead.

Oh and then they’re kidnapped by chronomancers who drag them into the past before the apocalypse.

Now we know what’s going to happen — the end of the world. My players role up new characters and we go at it. I set a few events in motion and how the players deal with it results in legends and lore we’ll use when they’re returned back to their timeline.

At least for part of the story, there’s nothing they can do about it. The apocalypse will happen one way or another. They just get to help tell the story of how it all went down. And nobody feels railroaded because it only adds back to the main game and helps flesh out the story for their characters.

]]> By: Tweets that mention Unstoppable Plots | Campaign Mastery -- Topsy.com http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/atgms15-the-momentum-inevitable/comment-page-1/#comment-2576 Tweets that mention Unstoppable Plots | Campaign Mastery -- Topsy.com Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:46:37 +0000 http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/?p=1652#comment-2576 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JohnnFour, RPG Bloggers Network. RPG Bloggers Network said: Ask The GMs: The Momentum Of The Inevitable from Campaign Mastery http://goo.gl/fb/ZWXUh #RPG [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by JohnnFour, RPG Bloggers Network. RPG Bloggers Network said: Ask The GMs: The Momentum Of The Inevitable from Campaign Mastery http://goo.gl/fb/ZWXUh #RPG [...]

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