InsanerPowder

When I used to run D&D games, I came up with a cool mechanic that led to some really cool plot lines. I would tell the players about a bunch of stuff going on. They could choose what they wanted to participate in, which was often nothing I had planned! However, for every story, things would progress at a certain time, whether or not they were involved. For example, a village on the outskirts asking for help may be overrun if the players take their time getting involved. I would draw every step in the story out on 3x5 cards, and put story arcs in one row (y=n), then arrange them by time along the x-axis. Finally, I would try to find ways where the stories could interact. I was fortunate that only one path could ever be traversed by my players, and that I ran most of my games ad hoc, but I wanted to share my mechanic with you, in case you found it useful. Cheers! Happy coding!