Simultaneous plots?

[pennywit]

Maybe this is more of a general GM thing than a Kingmaker-specific thing, but how advisable is it to run concurrent plots? I'm in RRR right now, and I'm looking at three subplots. The first, dubbed "Spring Feast," incorporates faerie attacks. The second is Hargulka's Monster Kingdom. The third is the ongoing political game involving factions both inside and outside the kingdom. And, of course, there's also kingdom-building. Is it advisable to advance all three of these simultaneously? Or should I do them sequentially?

I'd love to do them simultaneously, because each one has elements that feed off the other. Thoughts?

[Thrund]

I think advancing them simultaneously will make for a much richer game but it will take a lot of work. You are bound to forget about something and have to wing it when your players should be finding out details that you haven't yet worked out.

Also, if your players are anything like mine then as soon as they figure out they have multiple adversaries, they will start trying to point them at each other and avoid getting directly involved. This is not necessarily a bad thing but you have to be prepared for the possibility that you may never get to use huge chunks of what you prepared.

[pennywit]

Yeah, I'm worried about having to wing it. I've developed the threads a little bit individually, but they're only just now starting to come together in my head. I've got a couple weeks to formulate them.

As far as my players trying to play them off each other ... I'm kind of counting on it. As a side effect, I think Kundal and/or the Gyronna cultists might get left on the cutting-room floor.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Consider using the structure:

A Plot: This takes up 80% of a session.
B Plot: This takes up 15% of a session.
C Plot: This takes up 5% of a session (Not even a single encounter, just a mention or a RP moment).

Next session you do this:

B Plot: This takes up 80% of the session.
C Plot: This takes up 15% of the session.
A Plot: This takes up 5% of the session.

If you aim for roughly this mix (ignoring the formula when it "feels" wrong) you should be okay. I've been juggling lots of plots using this method for years.

[Orthos]

In my own game, there are a whole bunch of independent plot threads flying loose that get addressed either as the PCs chase them or as they force themselves into the forefront.

For example, there's the main plotline of Kingmaker itself, then each character has a sub-plot devoted to them personally. My Ruler's father is about to show up and try to take over the colony, my Spymistress's vampire sire is looking to have her (an ex-dhampir) rejoin his "family", the Magister's backstory involved him bartering off his memories to the fey and he's been trying to get them back ever since, and so forth.

The PCs have pursued one of these (the Magister's) of their own volition from time to time, but the Ruler's is just about to force itself to the forefront due to the opportunity presented by the party being sent away to investigate the Varnhold Vanishing.

[pennywit]

Sounds like a great game. In my game, I tried to encourage my players to come up with detailed backstories, but most of them didn't seem interested in it ... so I'm trying to give them heavy in-game plotlines.

[Orthos]

Yeah I was lucky enough to get good backstories for three of my five players and a fourth with enough of a skeleton for me to work with. (I need to pull him aside and get the full details, he hasn't told me much but it's a while until his plot unfolds.) And they've expanded on them dramatically since the game's begun, filling in holes in their stories and coming up with things that I can easily use to fit their tales into Kingmaker's overall plot web.

[pennywit]

In my case, one of them came up with a pretty good backstory for himself and we've learned that his Numerian barbarian speaks with a Scottish/Irisn accent. Sooo ... I rewarded him with his whole bagpipe-playing family moving to a farm hex.