How many threads?

[Captain Pants]

Just out of curiosity, how many threads do you experienced GMs have in play at a time? Do you have one main plot thread for all your adventures, do you just do one-shots, or a combination of the two?

 

- Cap

[MitchellS]

Re: How many threads?

 

When I GM I generally have 1 main plot that the PCs are working on, and I'm introducing 2-3 sub-plots for other things that will come up in the future. And then I'll generally have 1 sub-plot for each PC somehow relating to their secret identity/personal life.

[chariot]

Re: How many threads?

 

When I GM I generally have 1 main plot that the PCs are working on' date=' and I'm introducing 2-3 sub-plots for other things that will come up in the future. And then I'll generally have 1 sub-plot for each PC somehow relating to their secret identity/personal life.[/quote']

 

Now this is what I want to go for... I've never been as good at getting the subplots for each character, or the foreshadowing type subplots going. How do you keep it all together? How many adventures do you have planned ahead?

 

 

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to MitchellS again

[MitchellS]

Re: How many threads?

 

Now this is what I want to go for... I've never been as good at getting the subplots for each character, or the foreshadowing type subplots going. How do you keep it all together? How many adventures do you have planned ahead?

 

 

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to MitchellS again

As far as adventures I generally always have 3 planned ahead. My new campaign, which I'm writing now, is going to be based in Miami. My primary plots will involve Cuba [a criminal sanctuary with a super-human dictator named El Lobo Negro], Atlantis [i will have atlantis as a hostile country in the Bermude Triangle], the establishment of the team in Miami and the rivalry with the Legion in New York [the Legion was the premiere superhero group which has fallen on hard times, and some of the members left to form the team in Miami], the Omega invasion and saving the trapped Legion members in the Star-Gate [Dr. Questor, the leader of Legion, trapped himself and some other members of the team inside of force field he establisehd around the Star-Gate Omega was planning on using to invade earth], and then, of course, just the general day-to-day superheroing and fighting of villains.

 

One of the things which helps me foreshadow is writing small newpaper clips which I give to the players before each session. They're generally just a paragraph or two long and give the players and idea of what's going on in the city. The players might read that Mr. Harmon, Sr. [Defender's father] is coming to town next week to discuss some business with Omni-Tech. This might turn a kidnapping or assassination thing, which in-turn brings Defender [and maybe all or some of the Champions] to the campaign city. The more techie PCs might express interested in this, which then means it gets turned into a usable subplot. Five or six news tidbits go a long way toward creating potential stories.

[Herolover]

Re: How many threads?

 

When I start a camapign I try to decide right away who are the major nemesis of the campaign and what are the major plots. I then weave adventures that matter to these major plotlines in with adventures that really don't have to do anything with them.

 

An example from a campaign that just ended.

Plot #1. The PCs are clones of major villians. VIPER created the clones, PRIMUS found them and is using them for good.

Plot #2. One of the PCs "sister" is used by Black Paladin to bring his lover back to life. (See the adventure Shades of Black.)

 

With this in mind I might do something like this.

Adventure #1 Clonning Adv.

Adventure #2 Random

Adventure #3 Random

Adventure #4 Black Paladin

Adventure #5 Black Paladin

Adventure #6 Random

Adventure #7 Random

Adventure #8 Cloning

Adventure #9 Random

etc, etc, etc.

 

Seldom do I actually have two plots going on in the same adventure however. I might give some forshadowing in an adventure, but I have found, at least for me and my group, to many plot lines within the same adventure can get my goup off the beaten path and then both will go down.

 

Hope this helped.

[Kirby]

Re: How many threads?

 

Just out of curiosity, how many threads do you experienced GMs have in play at a time? Do you have one main plot thread for all your adventures, do you just do one-shots, or a combination of the two?

With my current group -which has three players- I have the main plot going along with some subplots. My subplots are:

• Cult of the Red Banner introduction; involves PC #1's background
  
• VOICE of Doom scenario; just finished introducing one villain member (though the PCs don't realize it); two PCs are a part of Freedom Squad
  
• Icicle - can she be saved before she gets in too deep (the PCs have captured her, the authorities have her now)
  
• Chinatown is more than it appears (this was by accident, but two PCs went venturing in there during the last plot, so they bumped this up a tad bit)
  

 

Crud, I actually thought I had some more going on than this, but I can't recall any more. It may be due to the fact that we're playing a D&D game now and when this adventure is over we'll start up Champions again.

 

Just remember that the way not to feel overwhelmed with subplots is to not do much with them. Just give the PCs a taste of it, either by introducing someone that will be involved later or just giving an aside or elsewhere, like they do in the comics.

 

Now, for the group I previously ran with, I would do umpteen subplots, simply because I like to introduce all my villains relatively quickly, even if it isn't a combat/encounter scene. Every time the PCs would listen to the radio or watch tv for news, I'd have at least one report that referenced a subplot, along with other things going on. My current group isn't mature enough or familiar enough with the gaming to grasp many subplots. (Heck, they thought one subplot -which it was mentioned the "group" involved wouldn't arrive for a month- was about to happen, so they started preparing for it and had to be reminded about the actual current plot they were on.)

[Agent X]

Re: How many threads?

 

Use headlines in the city "newspaper" to set up possible future adventures. If some of the headlines demand attention and the players choose other paths, decide what NPCs do about the headline. It's a pretty organic way to go and you don't have to have as much planned "ahead".

[zornwil]

Re: How many threads?

 

Depends a lot on what the players seem to be up for. I try to have at least 2 subplots per character, some may intersect though seems not to happen so much, and I have 2-4 major plots going at any given time, with 1-2 predominant, I guess, but it's really a tangled web as actions have consequences and things spin out as much as players take them plus as I extrapolate. Though I am hoping to go through one major climactic story arc over the next few months/year that ties some together, possibly, if it continues to make sense, and possibly a break but more likely just setting the clock ahead and forwarding to "...and it's 5 years later" or such, catching up to the real-world calendar again.

[Blue]

Re: How many threads?

 

One per character, as a rule.

 

The fun part about leaving dangling plot threads is that occasionally you spot where one will tie into the someone else's plot thread. Makes it fun when the players realize there's a connection.

[MisterVimes]

Re: How many threads?

 

Just out of curiosity, how many threads do you experienced GMs have in play at a time? Do you have one main plot thread for all your adventures, do you just do one-shots, or a combination of the two?

 

- Cap

 

I keep two major threads going because you never know when the players are going to decide that "Thread Two" is calling.

 

Subplots? usually one per player.

[Ghost Archer]

Re: How many threads?

 

Just out of curiosity, how many threads do you experienced GMs have in play at a time? Do you have one main plot thread for all your adventures, do you just do one-shots, or a combination of the two?

 

- Cap

 

You're kidding, right? I have never bothered to count the number of sub-plots per character. At a guess, I'd say I have at least three sub-plots per player character, some at many as six or seven. For years my games have been a very intricately woven tapestry of plots and sub-plots. Everything leads to something and everything stems from something. I have an aversion 'one-shot' games.

[csyphrett]

Re: How many threads?

 

sometimes one for player, sometimes only one.

CES

[zornwil]

Re: How many threads?

 

You're kidding' date=' right? I have never bothered to count the number of sub-plots per character. At a guess, I'd say I have at least three sub-plots per player character, some at many as six or seven. For years my games have been a very intricately woven tapestry of plots and sub-plots. Everything leads to something and everything stems from something. I have an aversion 'one-shot' games.[/quote']

Yeah, we're pretty similar, until recently, though, I"ve gotten more into trying out one-shots and such. The reason is that we don't play very often, and the only way to try out new campaigns and systems effectively is to constrain them.

 

PS - I meant trying out one-shots as in other campaigns, not my main super one