Hello Ladies and Gents!

In the last 6 months I have started 2 campaigns with two separate groups. I came up with an area of the galaxy for them to move around in, and some NPCs for them to interact with. The players were so keen that I whipped up a story or two to get them started, but now I am having troubles coming up with a cohesive plot or over arching meta plot.

This is what I sent to my players, and they said it was excellent. As a result, I thought I might post it here for your comments and suggestions since in this game, it no longer the GM taking the reins all the time, but the players also having an active role in the story telling.

Let me know your thoughts:

Good afternoon players. In order to help me develop the overall plot and sub-plots within the campaign, I'd like to try something with you, and gauge your response. I'd like you, for a moment, to imagine that the campaign is a TV Series. You are an executive producer on the show and your character is your favourite. The writers have approached you seeking your feedback on the series thus far, mainly to ensure they get a second season. Name three things you would like to see happen to your character. Speak in general terms and include how you see these thing happening.

Thoughts?

Sounds good. Wish I was in on it! Let me know if you're ever down a player.

I've based my current plot around my players backstories and obligations. I have a Klatooinion mercenary soldier looking to remove the Hutts from his homeworld, a human Gunslinger with Core World family difficulties and a Sluissi Clone War veteran on the run after helping a Jedi padawan survive Order 66. I won't delve into my plot too much (I know couple of them browse these forums) but using these resources from the players provides a wealth of potential for me to work with.

The television idea I think really works best, because only your players really have the best idea about where they'd like their characters to end up.

Including the players' characters goals and backgrounds into the plot is an excellent idea. It's best for the players to have some kind of a connection to the game and this is a good way to go about incorporating it.

I've always been a proponent of a character "wish list". A list of story elements you or your character always wanted to experience.

Yeah, my group started with some new characters recently. At the character creation, I looked at their duties and what connections their characters had, and started with a very generic evacuation scenario I put together in my head while they were all chatting about their ideas. I've got a good idea where they want to go as a result, and I put together the world around them and just kind of let the overarching theme click into place that will let the PCs be way more heroic than in our last campaign. I think the best thing to do is figure out what will introduce tension between the party and riff on that to introduce something they're going to have to overcome together. I found it much easier with the AoR setting, but you could look at the party obligation in EotE and think of interesting ways to let the players reduce that

Yeah, my group started with some new characters recently. At the character creation, I looked at their duties and what connections their characters had, and started with a very generic evacuation scenario I put together in my head while they were all chatting about their ideas. I've got a good idea where they want to go as a result, and I put together the world around them and just kind of let the overarching theme click into place that will let the PCs be way more heroic than in our last campaign. I think the best thing to do is figure out what will introduce tension between the party and riff on that to introduce something they're going to have to overcome together. I found it much easier with the AoR setting, but you could look at the party obligation in EotE and think of interesting ways to let the players reduce that

This is why it's important to have a session 0/character creation session with the entire group. It gives the players an opportunity to ensure they've got all their bases covered, hash out ideas and roles. A side benefit is the GM gets to listen in on the character concepts and ideas to help supplement their own ideas in campaign planning. The best campaigns in which I've been involved have always had a session 0.

For each of the campaigns I have started, I have had a session 0. I guess this is just the second step to ensure players are being involved, and are thinking about the overall campaign and its longevity.

Looking at the game as a tv series is precisely what my group does. It helps that the content can be re-worked after the fact into screenplays for flogging to nobody since nobody wants to pay for space operas anymore lol sad face.

I check in with my players all the time about what they'd like to see for their characters. We feel this is less of a game and more of an interactive story. They rolled their obligations and then fleshed out the reason why - I took that and use it heavily. Like I don't roll it, I make it a huge part of their story. Essentially it is part of their background. After each session my players write slice of life roleplay scenes, accessible via the link in my signature, where they deal with the aftermath of the sessions. That helps develop more content. The rest I just make up and insert in, my own ideas about story.

This is a pretty good reference for EotE plots, just re-skin as needed:

http://www.meeplemart.com/store/p/30085-Firefly-Role-Playing-Game-Things-Don-t-Go-Smooth.aspx