Sometimes Your Players Surprise You. A Recent Encounter and What I Took Away From It.
No story survives first contact with the players.
Okay. So that may be a rather dramatic re-imagining of the classic quote “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” But it does remind us as Game Masters that we can only prepare so much content and anticipate so much of what our players might do. We can never be fully prepared for the choices our players may make and we must be able and willing to roll with the punches and adjust the story to suit our players. This recently happened in my Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus campaign and it really inspired me to write this blog about the need for all Game Masters to maintain a degree of fluidity in their games---because no amount of prep can prepare anyone for the choices your players will make and if you give them the freedom, your players will often surprise you as mine did in this campaign.
Minor Spoilers for Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus.
Let’s set the scene. My players have finally made their way to the plane of Avernus, the first layer of the nine hells, a desolate wasteland filled with demons, devils, and corruption. It is a horrible place, to be sure, but the players have been drawn to it to save their city which is currently trapped in hell. One of the player’s backstories is tied to a major NPC (non-player-character) as said NPC once saved the life of the player character. [Side note: if you can, I always recommend trying to help tie your character’s backstories and motivations to important NPCs, locations, and events in your campaign whether homebrew or a module as it will provide strong motivations and goals and very strong opportunities for good roleplay.]
The player in question was very driven to find out the fate that awaited this NPC, who had set out in search of a powerful relic to help save the city, and ventured out with the party to find him. Upon finding him, they discovered he had indeed discovered the relic he searched for but upon using it had become trapped in his own mind. There was no apparent way to free him without killing him.
The party brought this NPC with them and as they searched for a way to free him, they encountered a villain who was a sycophant for the main villain of the campaign, Zariel, the Archduke of Avernus. I played this hype-man as a religious zealot for Zariel who began praising the virtues and the power of his patron, stating that she could free the NPC from his current state for the low price of the player character’s eternal soul. My goal here was to establish Zariel as a powerful enemy of great power and to begin foreshadowing later parts of the campaign. However, the aforementioned player responded in a way that surprised me. “Alright, let’s do it,” he said. I. Was. Shocked.
I quickly looked up the rules on how demonic contracts work and how to draft them up. I offered the player a deal that I thought he would surely refuse. Saving his friend in return for fealty to Zariel, body, mind, and soul. Forever. His response, “Draft up the contract and I will sign it. My character owes this person his life. Now we are even.” The devilish sycophant snapped his fingers and a contract written in blood and a raven feather quill appeared in his hand and I asked him the scariest question a Game Master can ask a player: “Are you really sure?” To my astonishment, he still signed the contract! This action bypassed an entire encounter, his character now has a level in warlock, and his fate is now even more tied to the story of the campaign. All of this is a net positive and was completely off script! What a truly wonderful moment!
My takeaway from this experience is two-fold. First, we as Game Masters can only prepare so much and we need to ensure that we leave room for our players to make meaningful decisions and impact the story. The second takeaway is that while we may have an idea of where the story is going, we must always be willing to rewrite parts (or even the whole plot) due to the actions of our players. We do this because our duty as Game Masters and storytellers to our players is a selfless one. We do this because the story does not belong to the Game Master or the players alone but because whenever we roleplay, we engage in cooperative storytelling and everyone can share in the fun. Because at the end of the day we as Game Masters are just the guides, weaving our stories with our fellow players for their enjoyment as well as ours.To not allow your players to dictate just as much of the story as you do as the Game Master is to cheat yourself and your players out of the experience of a truly immersive roleplaying experience!
So until next time, stay fluid, have fun, and keep telling stories!
Take Heart!
Karington Hess
Game Master and Founder of Open Heart Games
