Plot Issue Questions

         The following is a list of questions for both GM and players, probing some common issues about how you prefer to deal with issues of plotting in an RPG campaign. It was compiled from discussion on rec.games.frp.advocacy, notably from posts by David A. Bonar and Mary Kuhner:

1. Do I have a specific story I want to tell, a set of possible stories, or do I want to just explore a setting and genre?
2. How strongly will dramatic elements enter into my planning of events? Will everything be exactly tailored to the specific characters or will things be more like they are in the real world?
3. Will drama be used during action resolutions?
4. Will the PCs receive any special bonus just for being PCs? Will I modify timing, mechanics, or outcomes to ensure their success? What about ensuring their continued existence?
5. To what extent am I willing to adjust my setting on the fly?

Alternatively, these could be formulates as:

1. When you are setting up a campaign or scenario, do you attempt to provide a plot for the PCs to follow?
   • Will you design elements of the background to fit with this plot?
     i.e. I need an organization on about the same power level as the PCs to act as a recurring antagonist, so let's design one and place it in the setting.
   • Will you change the world background in play to keep the plot on track?
     i.e. The PCs unwittingly destroyed the clue in location A, so I will provide a similar clue in location B.
   • Will you adjucate the results of PC actions in such a way as to further the plot?
     i.e. If a PC doesn't notice this clue the group will go off in a totally nonproductive direction, so I will insure that he does notice it, rather than leaving it up to chance.

2. Do you deliberately attempt to engage the motivations and inner conflicts of the PCs?
   • Will you design elements of the world background to do so?
     i.e. This PC is designed to be loyal, so I will make his superior wicked in order to force a conflict between loyalty and morality.
   • Will you change the world background in play to do so?
     i.e. This character would react much more strongly to the situation if the attackers were of his own religion, not (as I originally thought) a different one.
   • Will you adjucate the results of player actions in such a way as to further engagement of PC motivations?
     i.e. If the PC doesn't manage to save this NPC's life she won't be as emotionally engaged with the situation, so I will arrange for her to succeed.

3. Do the PCs have special advantages, or disadvantages, relative to NPCs of the same ability?
   • Do you design the world background to specifically advantage (disadvantage) the PCs?
     i.e. I'd better set up some challenges which these PCs are specifically able to tackle, such as ones slanted at their particular powers.
   • Will you change the world background in play to do so?
     i.e. With the kinds of abilities these PCs have they'll have trouble escaping from captivity, so I'd better add a traitor among the enemy to make it possible.
   • Will you adjucate the results of PC actions to do so?
     i.e. An NPC who took that damage would be killed, but for a PC we'll allow medical intervention to save her life.

4. What kinds of preparation do you do?
   • Do you think about upcoming sequences of PC actions?
   • Do you design setting elements independent of the PCs?

Questions for Players

1. Which of the following are important to your enjoyment of playing? How important? [This is the Fourfold Way, plus two.]
   • socializing with friends (`socializing')
   • solving problems and making plans (`wargaming')
   • exploring places and meeting people (`sightseeing')
   • developing a character's personality and background (`roleplaying')
   • amassing and using power (`powergaming')
   • crafting a story (`storytelling')

2. Do you prefer to know a great deal about a character before you begin to play him/her? Or would you rather develop the character in play?

3. Are you willing to modify your character's actions:
   • to keep the party together and functional?
   • to save the character's life, if his/her natural course of action would be fatal?
   • to make a better story?
   • to advance the (GM's or group's) intended plotline?

4. Do you want the GM to protect you from:
   • disaster due to chance?
   • disaster due to sensible but wrong actions?
   • disaster due to stupid actions?
   • disaster due to deliberate malice on the part of another (player) character?
   • disaster due to the GM's intended plot?

5. Is it acceptable to you if the GM modifies the outcome of events:
   • to keep the plot progressing as desired?
   • to make the game more exciting and dramatic?

6. How important are the following to you:
   • realism--things working as they do in the real world?
   • stability--things working the same way every time?
   • consistency--things fitting together and making logical sense?

Additional Questions

         These are some further questions about the game contract in general, formulated by Mary Kuhner <mkkuhner@genetics.washington.edu>):

Questions for campaign set-up time:

• How much advancement is expected in this game? How much game-time is it likely to cover?
• How vulnerable are the characters expected to be? Should they be tough, resilient hero-types or should they be susceptible to fear, panic, and loss of morale?
• (for a group of PCs) What is each character's niche? Is there enough room in it to keep the player happy? What other characters potentially encroach on this character's niche, and how can that be controlled?
• On a more general level: what are feasible character niches for this game? (For example, a no-combat game cannot support any combat specialists; a low-combat game can support one, but may have trouble with more; a high-combat game can often have a whole party of diversified combat specialists.)
• How powerful are the PCs going to be, compared to the run of their world?
• How strictly are consequences of actions going to be enforced? What is the law level? How much slack do the protagonists get?