Sorry this is so late everybody but I've been really busy and really tired of late. Trying to use this weekend to catch up a bit.
Today's question is a fascinating one that I confess to having difficulty answering. Because of the way I devise and execute adventures, the question is almost, though not completely, not applicable. That is what makes it so intriguing to me.
Without further ado, Question #6 from Croaker goes like this:
What is/are the coolest thing(s) you've ever designed for a game you were running that your players ignored or just totally missed? I know that on good days, my players tend to hit most of the "cool" stuff I've planned out, but in my current group, my people are missing things left and right, and I have to resist the urge to semi-railroad them around just to please myself.
While many of my RPG settings have mysteries that remain unsolved or even undiscovered by any PC, I don't think that's what you're referring to. I'm assuming [and please correct me if I'm wrong] you mean something I've placed in a particular room in a 'dungeon' and the players/PCs simply skipped going to that room for whatever reason.
That is highly unlikely to happen in my games. Nigh-impossible actually.
In a traditional adventure you might be exploring a dungeon like this one for example:
Map created with Dungeon Scrawl and Photostudio
PCs would enter by going down the staircase in the Northwest/Upper Left-hand corner. You, the GM, have a note that says the staircase is trapped. If the Player Characters use that staircase and don't check for and/or find the trap, it goes off.
The various rooms and other locations you see would be numbered and as the Gamemaster you'd have corresponding notes as to what is in each room. One such area contains your Cool Original CreationTM. If the PCs enter that room they will encounter it. If they walk right past it, oh well.
This concept has always baffled me. This and there being so many rooms with essentially nothing in them really turned me off to using pre-made adventures after a while. Sure you can provide setting color and atmosphere by filling chambers with old bones and decrepit furniture made of rotten wood but it gets old fast.
So how does it work in a 'Barking Alien' game? Well, assuming there even is a map...
The PCs enter by going down the staircase in the Northwest/Upper Left-hand corner. Sound familiar? Here's where things change...If the PCs had been discussing this dungeon at the local tavern and expect it to be well defended, ladden with traps, etc., then I will absolutely place a trap on that staircase. If the group included a Rogue/Thief or hired one even more so.
If on the other hand the PCs spoke to a reliable contact who told them the dungeon's reputation has been exaggerated. "It has been ages since the traps of that ancient place fully functioned. It would not be the home to so many monsters were they tripping over traps every few feet", says the wise old Dwarf. Of course, this is a hint that there will be a lot of encounters with beings and beasts.
So which is it? I don't know. I'll figure it out based on the vibe at the table and decide on the fly. And that's how I run everything in an adventure. I will move encounters around, add more, take some away, place an extra trap somewhere, remove one, and do it all ad lib.
So the Cool Original ThingTM I created is located...where PCs will meet up with it. Where will that be? I don't know. It doesn't have a set location. Nothing does*. Stuff is placed where it needs to be. It's where it will be the most dramatic, the most cinematic, the most fun based on everything else that's been and is being seen and said.
'That's just railroading!', you say.
'The players only have the illusion of choice!' you scream.
'This approach removes Player Agency!', you exclaim.
No. Pay attention.
What appears and where it appears is based on what the Players and their PCs say and do. Everything is adjusted based on the Players/PCs' reactions to 1) what has happened before, 2) what elements they have been interested in and what avenues they have pursued, and 3) what feels right based on the energy at the table (real or virtual).
If the PCs are not in the mood for a knock-down-drag-out encounter and the Cool Original ThingTM is a big, bad opponent, I am totally going to pivot 360° and take out the creation completely or modify it into someone they can have a philosophical discussion with. This is why, IMHO, it isn't railroading. Railroading implies the GM has a particular, specific course of events the PCs must follow and an end goal/outcome the GM is aiming for. I do not have that. I have no idea where the adventure is headed or how it will end up and I wouldn't want it any other way.
Think of it this way...
If The Cool Original ThingTM included in the adventure by you or the game company that wrote the adventure is located in Room 5 but no one goes into Room 5, how would anyone know that? How would they know it was supposed to be in there, let alone that it even exists? So when that thing appears in Room 7 in my version, not Room 5, because the PCs went to Room 7 and not Room 5, all they know is that the thing exists in the adventure. The adventure itself is likely not about this neat monster, puzzle, trap, or artifact anyway. It's about the characters, their ideas, their choices, and their stories.
AD
Barking Alien
*I usually have a set of ideas for each adventures and a bunch for other potential adventures. I will place any, all, or none of these into a given session. Picture the Map above is a diorama on the table but the contents of said Map, all the things that could go in it, are in a box sitting on the floor next me. I take out what I want when it is warranted and place it where I think it fits best.
Also, to say nothing has a set location is inaccurate based on genre and setting. If I am using a map of a Starfleet Vessel interior [for a Star Trek Adventures game] you can be rest assured that the bridge is on top of the saucer and the engine room is where it is likely to be, etc. What is in those rooms relating to the mission is flexible though.
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