Plot Twist Question

[Kevin_MacTaggert]

How much plot Twist is too much ? It gets tangled and you don't want to lose your group in the web. I've taken it easy on my two Forum groups, for the most part, largely because PbP is so slow. I hide the BBG ( BigBadGuy ) behind layers of story, deceiving the PCs, rather than the the Players. I think (?) that's good gaming, GM-wise. For the GMs out there, how deep do you go to present a good storyline ? Do you keep your games relatively straight-forward, or, play with Players' perceptions of where you're going ?

[saint_matthew]

How much plot Twist is too much ?

I'm going to tell you the same thing i'd tell Grant Morrison if given the chance: Stop trying to be clever and just be good. In other words, don't try to outsmart your players, create a good story, if it ends up in a twist, then by all means twist: But never design an adventure for the twist... Players will likely see it coming a mile away & you no longer have an adventure.

Just my 2 cents

[Damren]

I wouldn't make it any more complex than a good movie, book or TV series. A healthy piece of RP is performance, which to me means keeping momentum and making sure the resolution is within the purview of your audience. Make it something they will enjoy, have fun with and be impressed by.

Quirky example: Bad lady who created one of my campaigns heroes shoots his invulnerable-self in the head with a bullet that actually kills him. But, he doesn't die as he spent lots of point on the whole immortal-thing. However, the bullet (which wasn't even slowed down by his TK defenses) is sitting in his head, killing him over and over again.

She did it to get him away from her partners, as she realized what he'd become. Her major villain quest is for immortality, and he just became experiment number one. She actually drugs him, removes the bullet (leaving it as a souvenir ... and a message ... "I can still kill you."), and proceeds to make plans to make his life hell; all part of an experiment to test his immortality. By the way, this may be her clone, or the clone may be the one locked in a Sciencell on Oa.

Overall, he was blown away by the fact he A. met his creator, B. isn't as invulnerable as he thought (he's sort of somewhere between SuperBoy & SuperMan), C. has no clue as to which one is the real her (the one that shot him got away with a misdirection ruse that he fell for).

[Kevin_MacTaggert]

How much plot Twist is too much ?

I'm going to tell you the same thing i'd tell Grant Morrison if given the chance: Stop trying to be clever and just be good. In other words, don't try to outsmart your players, create a good story, if it ends up in a twist, then by all means twist: But never design an adventure for the twist... Players will likely see it coming a mile away & you no longer have an adventure.

Just my 2 cents

Thanks, St. Matthew

[Kevin_MacTaggert]

I wouldn't make it any more complex than a good movie, book or TV series. A healthy piece of RP is performance, which to me means keeping momentum and making sure the resolution is within the purview of your audience. Make it something they will enjoy, have fun with and be impressed by.

Quirky example: Bad lady who created one of my campaigns heroes shoots his invulnerable-self in the head with a bullet that actually kills him. But, he doesn't die as he spent lots of point on the whole immortal-thing. However, the bullet (which wasn't even slowed down by his TK defenses) is sitting in his head, killing him over and over again.

She did it to get him away from her partners, as she realized what he'd become. Her major villain quest is for immortality, and he just became experiment number one. She actually drugs him, removes the bullet (leaving it as a souvenir ... and a message ... "I can still kill you."), and proceeds to make plans to make his life hell; all part of an experiment to test his immortality. By the way, this may be her clone, or the clone may be the one locked in a Sciencell on Oa.

Overall, he was blown away by the fact he A. met his creator, B. isn't as invulnerable as he thought (he's sort of somewhere between SuperBoy & SuperMan), C. has no clue as to which one is the real her (the one that shot him got away with a misdirection ruse that he fell for).

Very nice - gamers like Twists, largely - my goal is not to bury them with hyper-complexity and from what I'm getting here, the twists should be relatively light, with a focus on a " straight-forward " story

Your twist there is very interesting, though. That player will never forget the kind of impact your story had on his PC - I'll use that kind of depth - Thanks, Damren