Planning Every Detail vs. Winging It

Jedi Skyler · Moff Joined: 07 Sep 2005 Posts: 8440

That's what makes for that fierce competition to get more CPs out of you at the end of the adventure... Wink

Orgaloth · Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 9:08 pm Post subject:

It does, but it also makes for some very strange plans. In fact I don't think I've seen a plan that they have formulated as a team ever come to pass.
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Volar the Healer · Jedi Joined: 04 Aug 2003 Posts: 664 Location: Arizona, USA

Definately a detail freak. My goal is for every session to contain three adventure hooks for the PCs to follow.
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Vanion · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 3:03 pm Post subject:

Usually, I treat my campaigns like novels. I usually sit down and write a very brief summary... a beginning... the meat of the story... and a potential ending (usually a good one and a bad one). Of course the adventure gets molded as we go and sometimes ends up in places I hadn't expected. Other than that, I try to keep the campaign moving along at a brisk pace, which usually means less detail overall.
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gbjazzman · Cadet Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 8 Location: Michigan!

I write outlines and NPC stats and such and what I want to happen, but my players are so paranoid about every little thing, that things rarely happen as they are planned.

I mean, jeez, you launch one bantha at 'em from a low earth orbit and then they think that everyone is out to get them Confused

Jedi Skyler · Moff Joined: 07 Sep 2005 Posts: 8440

I'm saying!

Friggin' whiners... Razz

Tenaris the Dashade · Cadet Joined: 26 Mar 2006 Posts: 3

Well, I usually tend to whing it and come up with information on the fly. I realized a while ago that sometimes there were slight inconsistencies and sometimes a lack of detail. To combat this, I now invite the players to take notes during the sessions (I also take notes). After the session, I write up a few pages (usually between 3 and 10, depending on the length of the session) that sometimes reads like a novel detailing the adventure. Not only is this fun for the players to read (they really enjoy it, actually, and sometimes we collaborate on it), but it gives me a chance to solidify details about things I might have glazed over during the session. It also serves to get the players excited for the next adventure. They were all itching to play after that ten pager, which left them spaced without vac suits (they managed to survive).

Every once in a while, I'll also provide the hook for the next adventure in the "novelization" too, such as the emergency "red" light in their ship going off and them ending up drifting in space.

Neo-Paladin · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:09 pm Post subject:

I've always had this dream... I'd sit down, with my laptop and fist-full-o-dice before my eager players, and on my screen was a complete network of an adventure. Plot hooks, choices, challenges, consequences, all of it a network that had all the different options laid out before me.

In reality... not so much. I do find the more I have planed, the better off the game is. I've usually got a handful of characters statted up and a 'skeleton' of the game. When I'm really on the ball I have pictures for illustration and a block of speech that I want just right so I script up.
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Pel · Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 4:35 am Post subject:

Wing it. Every time, except for those rare published adventure sessions. I find it's more fun and free flowing that way. Keeps me on my toes.
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Rasputiza · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 107

Never tried in SW, but when i used to play MERP, i preferred to prepare every detail i needed (i used to run very intricate adventures...)
Ras

darthomer09 · Posted: Thu May 11, 2006 9:24 pm Post subject:

I guess it depends what kind of group you play with. I had one group that would basically follow everything exactly as one would plan it. Doing everything that was most obvious. I've also had other groups that would do the exact opposite of what is most obvious.
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Firehawk0220 · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 6:10 pm Post subject:

I have a mixture of the two styles. Basically, I plan the plot line. I figure out how to get players together, and I figure on a basic ending for the story.

In the middle I try and plan a few stops or steps along the way to keep them where the story basically needs to be. But I react to their actions to fill in the details. This has always been my style and it has worked for 10 years.

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