So, after getting some awesome feedback with a player problem I had, I am tapping the minds of the PF forums once again, if they will be so kind as to allow me to do so!
A few weeks ago, I started an evil campaign (Pathfinder setting, Level 1, currently level 3) and decided to run it off the cuff, with little to no planning.
The reason for doing so was that I was accused...okay, accused is not the right word. Teased is probably a better word, of railroading the players into my stories. The players never really complained, but the teasing made me think about how I did my campaigns, and I decided that yes, I did railroad a bit at times.
So this new game, I dropped the players into Golarion and told them they could go where they wanted, and do what they wanted. Needless to say, the players responded and thoroughly enjoyed the game.
My question, after all that, is this; do any of you have any advice for GMing off the cuff? I've read the GM guide and I've been GMing for almost 10 years now, but this is a first for me, as I tend to be a planner (two hours planning a single encounter is normal for me). I'm in uncharted waters here and any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Railroading and having a plan are not the same thing. There is nothing wrong with providing motivation to do ______. It is when I as a player must complete ______ by using plan A(whatever the GM thinks that is) that I think I am being railroaded.
I would come up with a few options, and have some premade NPC's on standby for various occasions.
Asking the players what they want to do is also an option so that between sessions you can have something ready.
I'll start off by saying I had the similar comments from some of my players too. I found that if you enjoy planning things, make some outlines of potential routes they might take. Don't focus on the specifics of anything too much. Just make general layouts for different locations or ideas and that way you don't get caught up in making plans only to watch players run the other way.
Alternatively, you could also make various encounters that aren't specific to a campaign and just keep a list of them around and insert them in whenever you need one.
Let me know if this helps!
Good Gaming
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Pre-generate various npcs you can drop into place anywhere with a little on-the-fly tweaking.
Coming up with a "dungeon" layout helps too, with a couple short lists of encounters. Then, style it according to what your players pick. They're going to explore ruins? The dungeon becomes an old, ruined temple.
Going after a corrupt merchant in his stronghold? Now you've got the layout for your fortress of deception.
I've found the only real difference in preparation between planned campaigns and off-the-cuff ones is that while you still come up with all the pieces, you just don't assemble them until you know what you need to assemble.
Does that make sense?
It's the old magicians false choice. You present the mark with two cards, and ask them to pick one. You already know which card you need to keep in hand, so depending on what they do, you either keep the card they picked or toss it away. They have the illusion of choice, but the illusion is all most people need.
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I am looking into designing some adventures as more of a flowchart type of thing with several avenues to get from point A to B. Then I thought about leaving about half the encounters as random encounters (not totally random but more like themed encounters for the area that are "floater" encounters). I also wanted to look into random dungeon generation and all that too but I am worried that my "non-prepped" dungeon would take too much time to prep on the go. Seems like a lot of work to be unprepared. Ironic as that sounds....
A few examples of the flowchart idea...scroll down to see more.
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Here is a posting that I found very informative on the construction of dungeons and how several classics stack up comparatively and the style they are (linear, branching, circular, etc)
You will not regret reading this entire post.