Plot This!

Plot This!
By Bloodsong - [Reproduced with kind permission.]

When you Free Form Roleplay, should you follow a plotline, or should you just dive right in and see what comes along? As a traditionalist, I advocate the more "free" form of the free form playing. But I can see where this will lead to a group of characters, sitting around at their inn, sipping drinks -- and not having anything more exciting to do than that!

On the other hand, too much plotting can be just as boring. I once knew a group who played an experimental form of FFRP, in which everything followed a loose "script" given to them by the main plotters. "Today Carmelita, you're going to surprise George with the news that you're pregnant. You're afraid he'll be angry. George, you're going to be shocked at first, but then sympathetic. Okay, hit it!" Uh, personally, I never saw the point to this.

Most of the time, a few players will get together and plan something -- "Hey, how about we have your character kidnap my character and...." There's nothing wrong with this, except many times, once people work on their really cool plot line, they lock themselves into it. (After all, they worked hard on it! And it's really cool!) But suppose Conan is at the Inn when this kidnapping is supposed to take place, and he kicks the wannabe kidnapper's butt? He saves your character and totally nips potential months of fun plotlines right in the bud! Don't you hate when that happens?

So instead of letting a wrench get thrown into the works, you desperately try to come up with reasons why Conan *can't* save you. Maybe your character faints and falls out of Conan's arms... and right onto the back of the villain's waiting dragon, who takes off before anyone can stop him. Whew -- close one! Or maybe you kidnapper brought his dinosaur, that eats force field Conans! (I really hate when that happens.)

Not only that, but if new characters come in on things, or somebody else offers a different solution that wasn't in the original plot, they are often dismissed out of hand, or even ignored altogether! All because they weren't pencilled in from the beginning.

So what I will advocate is open-ended plotting.

All right, Character A is going to kidnap Character B. Now, what if, on the scheduled night, Conan shows up and is going to foil your little plans? (Number one, anybody who isn't in on the plot shouldn't know dipsquat about it, so don't go and tell Conan's player!) Character A better bloody well notice Conan is there, and he'd better THINK OF SOMETHING to ensure Conan can't interfere. Put off the kidnapping 'til a more opportune time. Have an alternate plan. USE YOUR BRAIN! Adapt to the ever-changing situations around you.

And do you know how, when, and by whom Character B is going to be rescued? Wrong Wrong Wrong!!! Just set up the problem -- and let those poor, simple fools figure out how to solve it! This is called "fun." You just gave a room full of characters a goal, something to do. How they do it is entirely up to them. Like Spock said, each will react according to his or her own capabilities.

[Note: When plotting your brilliant problem, it is best to have a solution in mind, so you know the other characters can/will "win" when they figure it out. But also remain open to other unforseen solutions.

On the other hand, don't make it too easy. Your kidnapper (being the brilliant evil badguy he is) may actually foresee certain plans of action and take steps to prevent them. For example, if a mage can scry the victim's location and then teleport directly there and back, you're gonna have a real short villainous career. If you thought of this, maybe you put an anti-scrying spell up. (Or, if you're really twisted like me, you put up a teleportation baffle that will redirect the smarty-robes to someplace unpleasant... now HE needs to be rescued!)

In the sense of fairness, DO have things like this in place before you start. Plot them!]

[CAUTION: If you are significantly smarter than the people you play with, they may be unable to elude all your traps or figure out a way to foil you. I hate when that happens! Maybe they're too used to pre-plotted FFRPGing and their brains have seized up. Start with easy stuff. And you "other people" -- USE YOUR BRAINS TOO! And don't always take everything at face value. Investigate! Get corroborating stories!]

You don't need partners to do an open-ended plot. You can set a goal for yourself and then wander the FFRP universe with it. Is your sword cursed? Can you find a character out there who can un-curse it? (What'll it cost ya?) Need a magic doohickey? Who knows a good mage who can make one? Lost your dog? Need a pair of purple hose? Need an anniversary present for your wife? Wanna get a demonic servant (email me, I have some)? Buy a bridge? Get a job? Get married!? Have you been turned into a frog??

Here's even more fun -- gives somebody else an unidentified doohickey and let them try to find out what it is/does. Curse their sword, teleport their dog to Dalnet, marry them and then demand extravagant anniversary presents! Turn them into a frog, a dog, a rat, a bat, or an Elvis impersonator!

Here's a good one! Teleport a medieval person to the local IRC's #TenForward. Give the Trekkies something to do! Can they discover the character's unique universal harmonic frequency and tune their transporters to it? Mr Schlock recommends you wait for further plot complications before undertaking corrective measures!

And what if some smart alec comes up with a brilliant idea and totally blows your plotting outta the water? I was playing a semi-GMed FFRP on Delphi -- Shadow of the Phoenix -- and that happened to Saalon, the GM guy. Do what he did: bite the bullet and flush your notebook full of fun plot complications.

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