Plot Threads
Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 2:57 am
After reading the How many levels do your conspiracy theories have? posts I started thinking about how I worked conspiracies and other long term plots into my campaigns. I was never great at long term planning back in HS or college, as I liked to incorporate new books as they came out, so I just dropped plot threads everywhere. Little things that the players see, hear, or find that had nothing to do with the adventure at-hand but I could use later.
Examples
1. A PC used clairvoyance to get clues on the current adventure. During the vision I through in 2 or 3 random things, one of which was a human man and D-bee woman. A few months later the Mechanoids SB came out and I hadD-bee woman be the NPC Mea-la from the evil among us scenario.
2. As soon as the original SB 1 came out I ran the ARCHIE adventure. While the PCs where exploring the Cyberworks facility I allowed them to find a tunnel that ARCHIE had forgotten about or never knew of. Inside where the remains of several US military personal and a portable computer. When they got out they found they couldn't decrypt at the time. I used files from this laptop to start adventures adventures small (like pre-Rifts weapons caches) and large (knowledge of the orbital community and details on ARCHIE and Cyberworks. No joke I used this laptop in solo and group adventures at least a dozen times for 20 years.
3. Random murders. Every now and then I would kill off a beloved NPC. Sometimes this would be solved immediately, crime or random CS patrol, other times no clue until years later I would connect it to an adventure.
Does anyone else do this and if yes what have you used and how has it worked out.
Examples
1. A PC used clairvoyance to get clues on the current adventure. During the vision I through in 2 or 3 random things, one of which was a human man and D-bee woman. A few months later the Mechanoids SB came out and I hadD-bee woman be the NPC Mea-la from the evil among us scenario.
2. As soon as the original SB 1 came out I ran the ARCHIE adventure. While the PCs where exploring the Cyberworks facility I allowed them to find a tunnel that ARCHIE had forgotten about or never knew of. Inside where the remains of several US military personal and a portable computer. When they got out they found they couldn't decrypt at the time. I used files from this laptop to start adventures adventures small (like pre-Rifts weapons caches) and large (knowledge of the orbital community and details on ARCHIE and Cyberworks. No joke I used this laptop in solo and group adventures at least a dozen times for 20 years.
3. Random murders. Every now and then I would kill off a beloved NPC. Sometimes this would be solved immediately, crime or random CS patrol, other times no clue until years later I would connect it to an adventure.
Does anyone else do this and if yes what have you used and how has it worked out.