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Campaign Conclusion set at City Creation?

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R00kie:
I'm concerned that during City creation we may have already determined where our campaign has to go. I don't like railroading. I'm pretty sure its going to get there without any, but I think the end has been set.

Anton Chekhov said:

--- Quote ---If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there.
--- End quote ---

And its pretty good advice. If you advertise something in a game you really need to follow through. If you talk about an assassin who's unbeatable - no one has escaped his blade, then its pretty important the players at some point get to cleverly 'escape his blade', the impregnable fortress needs to be scaled, the dark forces gathering in the sewers need to be illuminated.

Unfortunately as part of city generation we've managed to come up with :
[*] A threat with the aspect "Something hungers beyond the Outer Gates"
[*] a city enclosed within city walls which act as a threshold to supernatural creatures (and wizards),
[*] a single gate which is the only way supernatural creatures can enter/leave the area enclosed by the c12th city walls,
[*] an ancient being (who appears to be an old woman but has immense power) who it is said hasn't left York since the C12th because if she did the walls would fall (and may actually be the Roman Godess Cybele !!).
[*] an ancient prophecy who believe that when Yorkshire falls to the thing from Beyond the Outer gates, that within Yorks walls alone will stand and the defenders of Yorkshire will rally there.
[*] and finally a cult lead by a Ectomancer who things she is hearing her dead husbands voice but is actually talking to something from beyond the Outer Gates bent upon bringing about that prophecy

Now we have loads of other plot lines involving the three Vampire courts, politics between the Church and the City Council, the police war on drug pushers and minor plots involving tourists and students - but it seems to me based on the bullet pointed items above the campaign can only go one way. If it doesn't its going to disappoint.

If you're interested the city sheets we come up with are here.

luminos:
Hmmm, the easiest way to fix the problem is to make the threat less specific to the thing beyond the outer gates.  Some things to mitigate the "railroad" factor is to plan ahead to think of various ways the PC's might succeed or fail.  Is there an opportunity (no matter how slim) for the PC's to stop stop the prophecy from being fulfilled?  Are there ways that the PC's can accidentally speed the process up?  If the prophecy gets fulfilled, will the PC's be able to effect the preparations of the cities defenses in a noteworthy way?  And finally, is there a consequence for complete failure to stop the outsider?  Finding answers to those questions is a good start to making a non-linear campaign.  Make sure you know what conditions will trigger the prophecy, and if any of the PC's are clever enough to thwart the, reward that success by keeping the outsider outside.  So if it looks like crazy ectomancer lady is going to let the thing in, then let the PC's stop it by killing her ahead of time.

R00kie:
My concern isn't so much to do with finding a way to provide a non-linear campaign, since I'm open to anything players want to do. Its more about meeting player expectations - in City creation they've pretty much stated where they want it to go. I have the choice of failing to meet those expectations - or providing a plot which is so obvious everyone can see if coming a mile off.

Of course its entirely possible during play the players will push in a completely different direction in which case there isn't an issue.

luminos:
In that situation, I might try keeping about 3 or 4 plots all going at the same time, and be clever about hiding which one leads to the outsider problem.  Worst comes to worst, they still see everything from a mile away, but since they are the ones who put all the forecasting into how the outsider plot moves into the city creation, they should still get a result that they were looking for and enjoy it.

R00kie:
That sounds pretty good. We know where we are going, but the journey is a mystery and we're not sure what we'll meet on the way.

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