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| Ooooh... I wonder what this one does? |
We see this kind of plot over all sorts of different media. James Bond gets captured because he walks face first into obvious traps that any experienced spy should have seen coming. Batman, supposedly the world's greatest detective, goes haring off on a wild goose chase because he didn't do the most basic bit of proper deduction. John Q. Normal nearly destroys his one chance with his dream partner because none of his friends slapped him, and pointed out all the massive, obvious mistakes he was making that are necessary for this romantic comedy to be longer than 5 minutes as they clear up a silly misunderstanding.
If you're a game master, it's all too easy to rely on idiot plots to get your party involved in the game. In the name of making sure no one around the table feels like they're being railroaded or talked down to, do not force your players to pick up the idiot ball.
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Playing Catch With The Idiot Ball
The idiot ball is a term for when a character who is normally rational and competent suddenly and inexplicably throws their knowledge, experience, and good sense out the window so that plot can happen. Thought of another way, you throw the idiot ball at a character, and when it hits them they make inexplicably bad decisions due to the impact rattling their brains.
Too often a GM will build an entire game around expecting the party to suddenly set aside good sense and rationality in order to get on board the plot bus. And when they don't do it, a lot of GMs will exasperatedly try to force the characters to make objectively bad or unwise decisions just to move the story along.
Don't do that.
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| Yeah... why are we doing this, exactly? |
Firstly, Create Proper Motivation
Let's use an example here so we're all on the same page. Let's say your party's path goes through an old, abandoned mining village. They're heard rumors about this town, and the supposed haunts that lurk within it. The fastest way to get to their destination is to just ride right through the town, but giving it a wide berth would be smarter and safer. So your players choose to do that, adding half a day or so onto their travel time.
As the GM, you may have that entire camp drawn out and prepped up, filled with zombie hordes, and haunts, angry ghosts, and maybe a necromancer in the depths of the abandoned mine. But with the scenario given, there is absolutely no reason for the party to put themselves directly in harm's way if all their expertise tells them to just go around and avoid stepping in the bear trap.
Don't cut off their escape routes and force them to go through the town just because it's what you had prepped to go. Respect their decision to take the safer road. And then, if you really want them to go back to that mining town, figure out a logical, sensical way to motivate these particular characters to go kick in the door on their own.
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| I remember that place. Supposed to be treasure in those tunnels, you believe the legends. |
For example, if the party was trying to get to the next town over to deliver a package, let them accomplish that goal. Then, once they've finished, drop a fresh hook to go back to the haunted camp. Somebody in town looking for bodyguards on an expedition? Did a contact they were supposed to meet go to the camp and not return? Was the Blood Brand gang, whom the fighter has a grudge against, supposedly holed up in that place, using its reputation to keep people away? Does the dwarven rogue overhear a myth about veins of silver and gold left untapped, speculating that it could be enough to pay off the massive debts they owe while retiring from this adventuring life?
It doesn't matter what reason you use to get the party to want to go to the location you have prepped... but you need to make it their decision to chase the carrot you're dangling. It's why if you read any of my modules like False Valor, The Curse of Sapphire Lake, or even Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh, the first section after the intro is a note to the GM about ensuring the PCs all have proper motivation to be part of this plot. Because without that motivation, there's nothing to stop them from riding right on past.
Secondly, Respect Player Agency and Decision-Making
Even if you get your players to go to the place you want them to go to (which isn't always easy), there's still a chance that they manage to just avoid everything you had planned out.
Again, examples work best here.
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| Guys... please just step in it? Please? I worked really hard on it... |
Let's say the party goes to the camp to look down the tunnel to find treasure. Now, part of the challenge you have is that there are traps and haunts in the various out buildings, and your plan is for the party to trigger enough of them to wear them down a bit. However, the party glances through windows, or peers in through doors, and when they don't see anyone or anything in there that would pose a threat to them, they shrug and move on. As such, they don't trigger any of your carefully laid threats, and they walk right into the main tunnel completely unscathed after using no spells, potions, or special abilities to overcome your threats.
As the GM, this really screws with your plans because you were expecting those hazards to become an issue. But the players doing things the smart way (or just being lucky that they were focused on the mine and indifferent to other areas that actually contained hazards) should be rewarded. Trying to come up with a contrived or flimsy excuse to get the PCs to go into those outbuildings is basically hurling the idiot ball at their head and demanding they go into a place for no apparent reason when they have a necessary goal somewhere else.
Like I said in The Best Zombie Game I Ever Played (Where Nothing Happened), the best thing you can do as the GM is to respect your players' autonomy and decision-making, even when it messes with your plan or your plot. Don't force your players to go down particular paths, or try to dictate what happens. Instead, make sure you know the goal you want them to reach, and let them figure out how they're going to get there on their own. It makes for a smoother, more enjoyable game at the end of the day.
There's a reason this tip made it into my supplement 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master, after all!
Additional Reading
If this week's post struck a chord with you, I wanted to point out some of my other posts on similar subjects that might be of interest too!
- 10 Unique Prompts For Your Next Campaign: If you're just not sure what you want your next game to be about, but you want something that will really grab your players' attention, then you might want to check out a couple of entries off this list.
- Onion Plots, An Alternative to Linear Storytelling For Game Masters: Something I put out only a few weeks ago, this one made quite a splash. It touched on similar themes, but was more about overall plot and campaign construction.
- 3 Ways To Spice Up Combat in RPGs: Combat can often become a boring, repetitive slog if you aren't careful. These suggestions offer alternatives that can change up a fight, and inject some additional challenge back into things.
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