Story telling and not rail roading your players

[E.T.A. Hoffman]

Hey all, so this is my first game I'm running for TTB. I'm used to take like DnD where I let dice decide what happens. But as we all know in this game out NPC don't get rolls or flips. So I things happen where I just decide what happens. Like if a player wanted to try and drink an NPC under the table to get some info. I can do a extended courose challenge and see who drinks to much first. But that's really it. So I have to just decide if the guy knows anything where normally it'd be random. So my question is do you guys is howo do u decide when something happens or not but we the respect to not hard blocking ur players?

[dgraz]

I try to create my adventures with as much forethought as possible...but players will ALWAYS do things you didn't expect. At that point all you can really do is fall back on the story you've prepared and decide on the fly if the person they're talking to knows anything about it. Most minion ranked characters, and even enforcers just aren't going to be in the know. If the fated pick some random guard/sarge to pump for info I'll happily indulge them with nonsense and rumor that means absolutely nothing to my story.....it may even cause them to chase their tails for a while, but eventually they'll realize that they aren't getting anywhere and try something else.

 

This type of solution also goes hand in hand with how I start an adventure.....I usually give a good hint very early on of what is going on so they have an obvious purpose....so eventually they'll realize that they're off course. I try to do this right in the Prologue if I can. We have a Facebook group that we use, and what I've been doing is posting a general open Prologue on there....so everyone sees it. Then I send a private message to the person that will face a Destiny step that session in the form of a specific prologue (after they see it, they will then post under the General Prologue any info that they can share and that they have the spotlight).

 

I agree that you don't want to railroad them but there has to be some of that or you waste all of your prep time. I don't mind giving them some leeway, but they'll usually either hit a dead end, or I'll gently guide them back around to the main story. 

 

I really like the idea of having a complete story from the start.....meaning that I'll already have an idea of a main villain or story and what they're trying to accomplish. Then I go back and create smaller adventures that always have an eye toward reaching that main conclusion.....this way when they stray, I always know what they need to eventually come back to. The smaller adventures may end up creating tangents and alternate missions which we can potentially explore at another time, but I always know where we need to end up which makes it easier to guide them back. Knowing who the main characters in the story are makes it easier to decide what other ancillary characters may or may not have info on.

 

I hope that helps.

[zeeblee]

I follow a similar strategy to Dgraz.  I come up with a general story first.  Usually just important people, places, and events that I want to feature.  Then after character creation I think of ways to get insert characters and use their particular stories to fill in gaps in mine.  TTB actually makes this step a bit easier as it has the Destiny mechanic, so you have some cool guidelines for figuring out what to do with/to people.

 

In addition to that I've gotten into the habit of never making players flip/roll to discover key plot elements.  For example, a Notice check will always produce the bare minimum information required to keep the players moving forward; but if they succeed or succeed with additional degrees of success I will provide more information that should make planning ahead easier.

 

The key I've found is to make sure that you play on your player's motivations.  If your player made a character who wants to find the Mantle of MacGuffin, make sure to incorporate that and provide clues to finding it within your plotted story.  That should keep them on your track while also not making them feel railroaded.  In my experience players tend to leave your story when they feel your story isn't about them anymore.

[Mister Shine]

I generally have an idea of where I want my story to go. There's often a timeline of events that are happening with or without the Fated's knowledge. I'll often remind them of the passage of time to emphasize this. But I leave the details to the players. I have an idea of paths they can take to get to the next plot point, but Im more than happy to let them have their own ideas.

 

You should always be working towards "Yes". If the players have an idea of what could work it either should work or work them towards the goal. SO lets say they want to drink an NPC under the table, like in your example. Well, maybe you dont want them to bypass the cool alley encounter you had planned out, so let the guy they drink under the table have a receipt on him with the mark of the thing they're chasing down and letterhead of the Saloon the alley is behind.

 

This lets your players feel accomplished because their idea worked, but doesn't work around the effort you've put in.  I only really turn ideas down if I can't see them working in any way. Mostly I try and let creativity have SOME reward in-game so the players never feel they shouldnt propose something because it seems dumb or may not work