Taking, or Turning Your Nose Up At, the Bait.
- I really don't care whether you grab on to any particular plot hook or decide to drop one in order to chase after something else. You don't need to worry about whether you are going the "right" way or coming up with the "right" solution. I try to present problems, obstacles, twists that grow out of the world and your character's actions in the world -- it is up to you what you do in response to those problems, obstacles and twists.
- On the other hand, if you want some hand-holding ... some bread-crumbs ... a train to pull up to the plot station with a conductor ready to tell you where to go ... then say so. I also have no problem with that. I just need to know which you prefer, because I worry about whether players feel that I am "pushing them" along any particular set of tracks. At times, this may lead to the player waiting for me to prompt them to do something, while I am waiting for the player to decide what they want to do.
- On the other other hand, things go a lot more smoothly if the player/PC errs on the side of being proactive rather than reactive. If you aren't interested in the options on the menu, then you need to tell me what will interest your PC and make him/her want to get involved in a storyline. Give me something to work with -- something your PC is interested in, someone s/he cares about, some issue s/he is passionate about -- and that will become your plot hook. My imagination only goes so far, and I can't keep just lobbing balls at you randomly in the hopes of something catching your attention -- tell me what makes something sparkly enough to awaken your PC's inner plot-magpie, and I'll work with it.
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