I would like to reinforce that scripting can be beneficial if player agency isn't squelched too badly, or ideally, at all. Like that couple fighting at the market - there's a story there, but are you going to get involved? What could the PC's interaction with that plot mean? The plot continues despite the PCs - it was happening before they witnessed it and it'll happen after.

If I have 2-3 of these per session and run them in the background (yay, GM story time!) and keep track of them, then I have the appearance of a living world.

YEAH! Now somebody is talking my language. I often make up locations, NPCs and storylines that lend a sense of realism and presence to the area we are gaming in even if there is little or no chance the PCs will go there. If I do spend the time to work out an encounter, its certainly not going to be uprooted and moved to some other world. Typically it has tangibles that belong to that specific environment and not likely to fit without considerable modification elsewhere anyway.

Our game is currently on Cona and I have pages on a number of interesting locations on the planet and specifically the region around the city the players are currently in. There is no real reason for them to go to any of them but if they do, well there are there. And if they don't, well for me it gives the planet substance, the environment depth.. I can imagine there is a leaving breathing world out there behind the confines of the PC's storyline.

The bleak volcanic region the Arcona travel to perform the Karam’t shu meditation in order to commune with the spirits of their passed relatives. (and which is also incidently quite strong in the Force, the center of the old Arcona Jedi and possible location for their secret and now lost temple)

The mining facility dug into the cliff face above an ancient Arcona nest. The two cultures co exist peacefully as long as the mining is controlled and not allowed to interfere. A recent discovery of rare ore however threatens to expand the mining operation and destroy the decades old balance between the two peoples.

The pair of massive Orbital Catapults that provide delivery of local payloads to waiting barges in orbit. The cost is far less than arranging for on site pick up and utilizes a planetary carrier serving the entire region. Recently however the carrier has escalated his fee in the face of established contracts and threatened strike if his demands aren't met. Attempts to attract another carrier have resulted in threats of Union action against strike breakers and even violence. The planetary governor has sent in an arbitrator to try and settle the dispute but so far there has been no progress. In the mean time, shipments to more than one refinery, subsidized by the Empire, have complained their imports are delayed and production behind schedule. The empire could become involved at any moment.

These are the kinds of details I populated the area around the Players when they arrived on Cona. They may have an impact on play, and they may not, but they are there along with several others, and serve to make Cona a real location and not a backdrop for the player's actions only.

A sufficiently strong group of pursuers can effect the capture. Just make certain the players hear that it's stun damage.

If you really want to leave the capture out of their hands, simply declare it, and set the destiny pool to all white... and say, "As you wake up from that stun you didn't see..."

LOL... oh a couple of my regular gaming buddies would throw a fit on that. They resent the GM taking obvious God Like powers and just proclaiming they missed, lost, forgot, were noticed, broke down, etc. If it happens by die roll, its accepted but otherwise ...

The scales for player agency can certainly tip too far, especially amongst us that have been at it a while. I hate to lose the element of surprise by sitting around having a drum circle to talk about our character's feelings, but maybe it only has to happen once. "Look, gang, I'm your biggest fan. I'm not going to run a story that sucks. sometimes that means throwing an unpleasant surprise at you but I'm asking you to roll with it. It'll all be okay."

If I do spend the time to work out an encounter, its certainly not going to be uprooted and moved to some other world. Typically it has tangibles that belong to that specific environment and not likely to fit without considerable modification elsewhere anyway.

I should have mentioned that I was meaning in a general way. I haven't GM'ed for EotE or A oR yet, and with any luck I won't because I'll be playing. I only vaguely sorta remember what it's like to play, rather than GM.

I avoid scripting, even so far as not assuming that the PCs will succeed. I would never have them automatically captured, but I wouldn't have them automatically avoid capture either.

This, for me.

There's a loose script, but they can deviate from it at any time. One of my players says I give them 'the freedom to fail'!

LOL... oh a couple of my regular gaming buddies would throw a fit on that. They resent the GM taking obvious God Like powers and just proclaiming they missed, lost, forgot, were noticed, broke down, etc. If it happens by die roll, its accepted but otherwise ...

I would never do anything like that.

Trust is important in the group. They see I don't abuse GM fiat for the sake of 'plot' and they trust what I get them into. If they wanted to watch a film they could do so. A game is supposed to be about their choices, and their success or failure should matter.

LOL... oh a couple of my regular gaming buddies would throw a fit on that. They resent the GM taking obvious God Like powers and just proclaiming they missed, lost, forgot, were noticed, broke down, etc. If it happens by die roll, its accepted but otherwise ...

I would never do anything like that.

Trust is important in the group. They see I don't abuse GM fiat for the sake of 'plot' and they trust what I get them into. If they wanted to watch a film they could do so. A game is supposed to be about their choices, and their success or failure should matter.

That is an excellent point! Where is the line drawn between GM fiat and player agency? I suppose it's different for every group, but does everyone at the same table agree? That's an excellent topic to add to a Session Zero discussion.

Totally agree.

Some players - new players especially - don't mind a certain degree of railroading. And that's fine.

My players are all my age and are very experienced and have very definite ideas about how they want to play. They come into the game expecting to be the Big **** Heroes, to rescue princesses and blow up death stars. They know they can change things for good or ill, and that their failures can have as much impact as their victories.

Today's Gnome Stew has some interesting tidbits for those reading this thread: http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/troys-crock-pot-four-ways-to-keep-the-mission-in-mind/

A lot of it depends on your players and the GM play style. Personally I prefer a blend of both. But my players will fall into endless debate about strategy if I present them with an open-ended scenario. We have had many 2 hour long sessions of them just discussing their plan of attack/rescue/etc. Even if I try to pin them down to a single strategy they came up with they will change it again. To avoid that there is plenty of guidance/railroading on my part, more so than I would prefer, but my players are simply not decisive.

I always run as freeform of a sandbox as possible. There have been a couple times where I've needed to push the plot a little, but again that seldomnly happens and even in those situations, if the PCs can figure a way out (I always leave a backdoor for any situation), then they figure it out. I also seem to run my games rather tough, where a character player dying in a session is not a rare thing if they've put it upon themself.

I generally have plot lines for each player character, their companion NPCs, the sector, the s7stem, the planetoid, and each city and what not. I run three groups within the same universe so if any stories or quests go undone, I can usually tease those quests to another group via another quest like a shipment run or an adversary spotting, etc. Someone earlier said in a sandbox, you need to put toys in said sandbox, and I agree very much. It may cause for a ton of work at first, but even exoskeletons to a ton of different quest lines will allow you to perform some on the fly Storytelling if need be. Just had a group find the one area on the map with one of the biggest end goals on the planet's story line, in the first session they arrived on the planet by mere luck. I was expecting them to search for this thing after being on the planet for a long, long time. However, now I have to reformat a lot of the quest line but it's all good because through freedom, they affected the story and I couldnt be happier. If they, let's say, decide that this is enough and they'd like to leave for example, that's fine. They'll have a ton of unanswered questions and unusable resources. I have the liberty of having another group finishing the story line and then even a potential cross group session where one group has the final piece to this puzzle that the other group worked so hard for.

My point is that even with free-form and ideas becoming distant or quests taking forever to conjure up just for them not to be used, it can still work out. May be a little more annoying without extra groups to run around, but still possible. Get exoskeletons drawn up and drawn out, let them make their choices, if they become stagnant, throw in a dynamic event that may get them scared or feeling great, like a couple of thugs trying to mug them. Maybe the group beats them out and sends me on the run. Maybe the thugs work for a powerful crime lord, and now you've got a crime lord watching them. Many quests and situations to be had.

A lot of it depends on your players and the GM play style. Personally I prefer a blend of both. But my players will fall into endless debate about strategy if I present them with an open-ended scenario. We have had many 2 hour long sessions of them just discussing their plan of attack/rescue/etc. Even if I try to pin them down to a single strategy they came up with they will change it again. To avoid that there is plenty of guidance/railroading on my part, more so than I would prefer, but my players are simply not decisive.

Oh man, I know that. My favorite tactic is to interrupt them and force their hand. It's a gentle nudge if done right, and doesn't feel as much like railroading. Time limits, even if just in my head, are a great tool to fight option paralysis.

If I create a sandbox to account for the players going off script, they wander around aimlessly in search of a plan or goal.

if I create an adventure to give them a goal or plan, they immediately want to run off chasing the most minor of details that I haven't fleshed out.