Plan? What plan?

My campaign is set to resume this coming Sunday. There were a couple of PC’s that were supposed to meet up before the party (as it is now) would have fully joined together, so I ran what was supposed to be a short session last night with just those two players. I had a plan, a road-map if you will, of how they were going to get from point A. Meeting each other, to point B. Meeting the other PC’s.

In true DnD fashion, the players did something totally unexpected that I was NOT prepared for, and instead of stopping the session so I could prepare (like I usually do), I kept trudging along and pulling things out of my bum, still trying to get back to my original road-map plan. To make a long story short, let’s just say that it didn’t work.

The players said the session wasn’t a total loss, and they still had fun, so it was worth it, but as a result I have to scrap EVERYTHING I had planned for the next two sessions. I have to re-plan all of this by Sunday, so I won’t have to put off starting the campaign. This is especially important, because the way I scheduled things was to have two sessions before I go on vacation in two weeks, expecting to miss 2 weeks of gaming while I was gone, and resume once I returned.

*headdesk*

To clarify, I am not upset at any of the players because I understand that this happens, but it still is really frustrating, and this place is, after all, somewhere for me to vent and talk about the game. Other DM’s will understand what I mean, though, right?

Anyway, here’s the new plan/idea that I will be working out in the notes:

~ The players have chosen to keep their quest a secret from the local good-aligned government, as well as the draconic heritage of some of the PC/NPC’s. They will be traveling the continent on their own, seeking out old temples and other places that might point them in the direction of where the dragons went.

~ The new players, who were supposed to be assigned to go with them by the government, will now be sent to follow and spy on them in order to find out what’s really going on – the characters proved that they were no threat and not aligned with the bad guys, but they are still clearly acting weird, so the Governor of the area wants to find out what’s really going on, and since there’s a truce in place, she can afford to send “troops” to do that.

~ Hopefully the new players have their characters meet up with and join the party instead of just following them all creepily. But I am making NO assumptions, since that always tends to bite me in the freakin’ ass.

So that’s the plan. Looks like I’ll have to just plan one session out for now, so Sunday will be covered, then see what happens, and take the week after to plan for the following Sunday.

I also think I’ll still try to have them meet up with the small army group they were going to be sent to, since they do seem kinda suspicious and the army CAN help them if they play their cards right. Which means that whatever temple they end up trying to find first will have to be in the direction of that base, and they should pass the base on the way there. Which also also means that they’ll have to roll spot checks to notice that they’re being watched from the base, and hopefully attack first, thinking they are about to be ambushed…..this will also draw in the ex-military status of one of the new PC’s, which can work to their advantage. Then, as per the notes, they will have to prove to the military dudes that they are trustworthy by ambushing the Orc spies for them – the military peoples will probably also send one of their own soldiers with them, to ensure nothing goes to crap (since the PC’s will have seen the inside of the base at that point, theoretically) and still hold one of the NPC’s as collateral. They should see the base at evening first, I think, when they’re all getting tired and need to rest. That might make them more likely to stop and try and get shelter from the base. Success in that area will earn them trust from some of the good guys, even if they don’t reveal their heritage and quest. Failure will mean fleeing again, which is still doable. If they leave Gazit behind, Neeta can use the charm thing to summon her, and they can overcome the one soldier that was sent with them to keep them in check. But hopefully things won’t come to that.

Apologies for the stream-of-thought-ness, I just haven’t worked this out yet, and this does help me. As usual, I’ll post more when I know more/when more happens.