[UA] Campaign Reversal

[Liam Routt]

Rich Ranallo wrote:
> Typically, an RPG session comes about when a GM invents a plot.
...
> I say, turn it around.
...
> The GM then takes a 
> little while and makes up a plot that fits the group, not the other way 
> around.
...
> Has anyone out there actually tried this sort of thing, or am I totally off 
> my rocker?

That's pretty much what my game has been like from the start. I did have a 
few themes I wanted to explore, and after I had a rough idea of the 
characters the players had put together I was able to think up a starting 
(and perhaps ending) point for their stories. But since then it has been 
the characters (and players) guiding the stories, rather than any scenario 
I've pre-planned.

That's not to say that I don't have some idea what is going on, or that 
all I do is react to their actions. I think of it sort of like 
Schrodinger's Cat scenario - when they look at stuff it cements itself 
into what makes the best story. There are a lot of times where I end up 
having to decide what is going on in the background, but when I don't I 
try to delay those decisions until they explore related stuff. That seems 
to mean the game moves in the directions they are interested in it going, 
and the situations are the ones that they are indicating through their 
playing they are interested in exploring.

I guess it is also significant that I also think of the game not as one 
story (with me as the nominal author), but rather as five interlocking 
stories, one for each character, where they are at least co-authors. I try 
as much as I can to avoid any sense that I have "ownership" of the stories 
as they develop, but I remain conscious of my responsibility to develop 
all the stories for all the players.

Needless to say I have lots of notes on lots of bits and pieces for a game 
of this sort. It is a lot of work to get back to things after a break (for 
Christmas, for example). But it has been worth it for me!

Take care,

Liam
--
Liam Routt                                               liam at routt.net
Darcsyde Productions                     http://www.routt.net/Caligari/

        -- still waiting for the Absolute Destiny Apocalypse --

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