How I Roll - Derailed Story

So many times those pesky players just have to do things their own way. They take the neatly organized story arc you've made and blow it up because they want to explore the caves over there rather than the dockyard over there.

Yup. It happens. So what do you do?

There's a couple of schools of thought on this.

If you're used to modules they tend to find a way to force the players back onto the original story arc no matter what they try to do on their own. So if that's what you've been running and your players are used to it then you can keep going.

If you're used to a more migraine-inducing improvisational game then you may already have a plot hook and some ideas tucked away in your notebook. Or maybe you don't.

Here's something that GMs - especially new GMs - forget they can do.

When (not if, when) the plot derails from what you planned and prepped the best thing you can do is say:

"I don't have anything prepped for that. Give me 15 minutes to get it set up."

Everyone except you gets a break. You've got 15 minutes to pull something out of your hat that will keep them interested and involved. No player should have a problem with this situation.

Here's what you can do to keep the session going. That's all you need to do - keep it going. What direction it goes in is up for grabs but it needs to keep going.

How to use your precious 15 minutes:

• Look back in your notes (you DO have good notes, right?) for something that might be applicable to what they want to do now;
• Pick a piece of nifty loot they've gotten recently and make an encounter around it (stolen, lost, cursed, etc.);
• Have them encounter someone from earlier in the game;
• Reskin a different encounter for the new setting;
• Let them figure out why the heck they went there.

What you're going to do is get some kind of framework you can hang the rest of the session on and possibly build from there. All you need is one thing - one thing - that you can use to connect their unexpected change in direction into the story you have planned.

Players are as jumpy as rabbits on a trampoline. A lesson to take away from this is to have some very basic encounter notes on hand for when they jump in a way you don't expect. It will help you with those 15 minutes so you can use them to work on the mechanics rather than the creative.

How I Roll

I have a whole bunch of notecards that I carry with me at every game. In the back are things that the players have said, ideas they've come up with, things they think I'm plotting, ways they may have done things, and all kinds of other stuff they'll never remember saying. I also pick up things from various online D&D groups to note for later. I'll write down things that come to mind when I'm doing game prep that don't fit into the current situations. I have it for when I need to come up with things on the fly.

I've asked for the break any number of times. From there I frantically find some NPCs, some rumors, something from past notes, some monsters/opponents, and a way to hang it all together. Hopefully they gave me a reason for why they wanted to go in the different direction which is also a framework for the rest of it. Sometimes I think they do it just to see my expressions.

I don't have full encounters written up and waiting. I have notes. I have item generators. I have some short adventures printed out and tucked away to give inspiration. I have plot hooks. But since I never know what's going to happen I don't bother with writing up something elaborate. I'm able to use an outline and some bookmarked stuff to make it work for me.

But it still gives me migraines.