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So one of my players brought this to my attention (in a rather dickish manner but still) that apparently the missions I as a DM have been offering have not tied together into any sort of cohesive "main plot". That is not to say that the missions are not tied together, just that the players haven't really picked up on the links just yet. Currently the PCs are taking jobs from basically a handler (or Fixer for those Shadowrun players out there) and I'm giving them the option to pick and choose what missions they go on. I've also hinted that they can strike out on their own and do some freelance work but nobody's bitten at that bait yet. Apparently one of the players is dissatisfied with not being able to fight actual humanoid characters and getting stuck with plant monsters, rust monsters, disenchanters, hordes of shadows, and other such creatures. I mean they COULD ask about bandits that need killing, or rogue cults stirring up trouble...
Anyway I was wondering if any other more experienced DMs know how to deal with this, or if it needs addressing at all. I mean I could just throw one of the main plots up in big neon letters like "HEY HERE'S THE BIG STORY THING GO OVER HERE" but it would feel to me that I'd be sort of forcing the player's hands.
my advice is to make a list of all the missions. then deside how and IF they are connected. it will be too much if every mission they take is connected to the main villan mad plot. but there could be severl sub plot runing at the same time. what you want to do is for now and then decide how things are going with the 'job list'.
for exmaple there might be a bandit activity job. it started last week but the group had been doing something else and dragging that for a month. you can decide that meanwhile:
1: that bandit activity got into a larger scale and now they are invading the town (outer houses first). or
2: a difrent group of adventurers took them out and they just got to town to get their reward\brag about it, they also found evidance that lead into a job opening B (where in someone need to find the guy who paid the bandits to start with. and find out he has a plan to do nuferius stuff while the king's gaurd are runing after bandits in the forest). or
3: nothing changed. they are still in the forest getting better at what they do (so the chalange rateing would be right for the now levled up group) and they got better loot over the time(again to match the chalange).
keep track of these jobs, and make sure the rumors about them change acording to how they are handled.
eventuly the party would do a job (or would be forced to do one if they drag to long in the gutter runnig after kobolds staling candies) that would lead them to the main plot. and remmber not diractly the main objective. but to fight some underlings or side effects of what the main plot is. after al lyou can't rush this. levle 1 character need their xp before slying the dragon.
the player may have complain of not seeing a main plot, but remind him that mad evil genius plotters rarly publish their plans to the public.
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So one of my players brought this to my attention (in a rather dickish manner but still) that apparently the missions I as a DM have been offering have not tied together into any sort of cohesive "main plot". That is not to say that the missions are not tied together, just that the players haven't really picked up on the links just yet.
It's possible the links aren't nearly as obvious to the players as they are to you. Try putting in more obvious clues.
Currently the PCs are taking jobs from basically a handler (or Fixer for those Shadowrun players out there) and I'm giving them the option to pick and choose what missions they go on. I've also hinted that they can strike out on their own and do some freelance work but nobody's bitten at that bait yet.
Some player groups are more pro-active than others. This is a whole topic of its own.
Apparently one of the players is dissatisfied with not being able to fight actual humanoid characters and getting stuck with plant monsters, rust monsters, disenchanters, hordes of shadows, and other such creatures.
Careful there. Run into one of those, it's a change of pace. Run into them constantly, it looks like a GM purposefully picking the least fun enemies to play against.
I mean they COULD ask about bandits that need killing, or rogue cults stirring up trouble...
Anyway I was wondering if any other more experienced DMs know how to deal with this, or if it needs addressing at all. I mean I could just throw one of the main plots up in big neon letters like "HEY HERE'S THE BIG STORY THING GO OVER HERE" but it would feel to me that I'd be sort of forcing the player's hands.
It sounds like you have players who are "happy to ride along the railroad as long as they get to go to interesting places". That's not a bad thing, it makes it much easier for you as a GM to anticipate what you need to prepare for next session. But it does mean you have to take them by the hand more.
And yeah, don't be afraid to be much more obvious about the big story.
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Usually easier to check out each mission and see the consequences of their actions.
Kind of like how in some long running TV shows, they revisit events of previous seasons and add more explanation and behind the scenes actions/adventures.
One of the easy ones:
Enemies have friends, family, lovers as well, it's a classic and easy to have revenge stories like that. A villain career can literally start with a group of adventurers killing their loved ones.
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It's possible the links aren't nearly as obvious to the players as they are to you. Try putting in more obvious clues.
I was thinking just that actually but I fear I've sort of written myself into a corner with some of the missions.
I think for the one they're currently one (the one with the disenchanters, rust monsters, and shadows) I can throw in a link to one or two of the other big quests and get them on the rails to one of those.
Some player groups are more pro-active than others. This is a whole topic of its own.
While I as a new DM enjoy that they are cool with riding the rails and not giving me endless headaches (makes planning sessions easier), it would be wonderful if they showed a little initiative in choosing adventures as opposed to just "well what's on the'ol job board today?".
Careful there. Run into one of those, it's a change of pace. Run into them constantly, it looks like a GM purposefully picking the least fun enemies to play against.
Well to elaborate, the Disenchanters and Rust Monsters are going to be a random encounter and they'll only fight one or the other. The Shadows are using the Underling template, basically making them really weak 4hp creatures that you field lots of, and the party has a battle Cleric and a Magus (rough fight but I'm not expecting them to die, and they all have magic weapons at this point). The plant monsters was a previous mission (corrupted dryad controlling plant monsters).
Draw attention to details the lead to obvious questions. Leave some of the questions unanswered then tie them together with a clue in a later mission, preferably with the clue also being a plothook
Main plotline is that a cult of Urgathao has infiltrated the elven kingdom of the Thalmoor. From there they are attempting to start a war with the kingdom of WhereEverThePCsLive
Scattered through the quests are
Clue 1: Coins are found scattered next to the enchanting area of a workshop that appears to have been left in a hurry
Clue 2: One of the bad guys has a large skull carved into his chest
Clue 3: A pile of anti elf propeganda fliers found stacked neatly in the corner
Clue 4: A rare Thalmoor sword, given only to decorated officers, decorated with several onyx gems
Finally hook it all together with an enemy that when dropped has belongings indicating hes a Thalmoor spy, somehow connected to at least 2 of the clues, and working for Thalmoor Spymaster Lord Ramsey
That's how I typically do things as I go for Mastermind esqu. villains. Different styles for different villains. For a warlord bent on conquest I might seed rumors, then send a warparty, then have a wave of refugees, etc. In that case the military might purchase exclusive use of the PC party and send them on daring missions against evil warlord #42. Basically its a buildup followed by a plothook that sends them in the right direction
Another thing you can do is only use narrative arcs in place of a massive ongoing plotline. Instead of using a single BBEG the campaign is focused around, have a series of independent(or not) villains that each that 3-5 sessions to deal with. This allows you to satisfy much of the need for longer storylines and keep your most of your creative freedoms. If the players still want a big plotline throw in a piece of evidence that makes them loosely connected
Easiest answer: Dragons of the Great Game, xorvintaal. From 3.5 Monster Manual 5. Simply enough you don't need connections because they are there only to complicated for humans to understand
Fighting humanoids is a separate issue from plot as you can justify humanoids in pretty much anything anywhere
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Draw attention to details the lead to obvious questions. Leave some of the questions unanswered then tie them together with a clue in a later mission, preferably with the clue also being a plothook
** spoiler omitted **
That's how I typically do things as I go for Mastermind esqu. villains. Different styles for different villains. For a warlord bent on conquest I might seed rumors, then send a warparty, then have a wave of refugees, etc. In that case the military might purchase exclusive use of the PC party and send them on daring missions against evil warlord #42. Basically its a buildup followed by a plothook that sends them in the right direction
Another thing you can do is only use narrative arcs in place of a massive ongoing plotline. Instead of using a single BBEG the campaign is focused around, have a series of independent(or not) villains that each that 3-5 sessions to deal with. This allows you to satisfy much of the need for longer storylines and keep your most of your creative freedoms. If the players still want a big plotline throw in a piece of evidence that makes them loosely connected
Easiest answer: Dragons of the Great Game, xorvintaal. From 3.5 Monster Manual 5. Simply enough you don't need connections...
I may actually need to make a separate thread on connecting some of the missions into a tidy little web...