I genuinely just don't write ahead anymore, I just setup a world, see where it goes, follow threads and build on what the players say and what they want.
Often I let the smartest-sounding and most creative solution to a puzzle be the solution I was waiting for. I get away with so much as long as the players believe they're on the right track and I'm just too Jokerfied to even try to railroad them anymore.
Same, kinda.
I have a lot of things I know and I put in my world, threads I leave around. I have some "big plot" stuff, like what happened with this country, what happened with this person, what happened with this god, etc. Those might never be really explored or fully explained but I need to know those and facts about the world so I can answer questions, improv and bounce back when players do something unexpected.
Having a pretty clear foundation is very useful, a general theme, vibe, a way the world tends to work, a way the magic/fantastic/divine tends to work, etc.
And that world is constantly built upon and expanded with and by the players, they'll ask questions where I go "Huh... I'm not sure", and we're figuring it out together!
I mostly leave tools/props laying around with some character ideas, maybe have a first episode planned out, then see what shiny object the party chases...
... until I make that shiny object the important thing all along.
They get to feel like they figured things out, I get less work. Everyone's happy.
The world building, location crafting and society / char creation is something GMs do most for themselves in my opinion and then can see what the players pull and enhance it a bit with the tool box you created prior. Of course results may vary.
I once had my players come across a puzzle consisting of a gap too long and wide to jump across, with the express intent of having them stop to investigate some runes etched into the ground and realize the way across was to walk backwards across the gap
Instead, one of them came up with the idea to use a pair of immovable rods to climb up into the air, then tying a rope onto one of the rods and setting up a big swinging rope-type-dealy get across
He rolled good on acrobatics, so I let him do that
When all four other players got across the exact same way, I just had to laugh for a solid minute before asking them why they didn't investigate the etchings on the ground
"Oh, earlier, you had that book with the exploding glyphs in it and now we're all afraid to read things we don't understand"
I had turned all my players into superstitious aliterate acrobats
Basically the exact same thing happened to us in a game of middle Earth roleplay. We just tied a rope to the halfling and threw him across to tie it off at the other end. There was a hidden dwarfish mechanism that we completely missed
Those are the best moments! Embrace them!
I genuinely just don't write ahead anymore, I just setup a world, see where it goes, follow threads and build on what the players say and what they want.
I pretend to plan ahead a lot, mostly.
Often I let the smartest-sounding and most creative solution to a puzzle be the solution I was waiting for. I get away with so much as long as the players believe they're on the right track and I'm just too Jokerfied to even try to railroad them anymore.
Same, kinda. I have a lot of things I know and I put in my world, threads I leave around. I have some "big plot" stuff, like what happened with this country, what happened with this person, what happened with this god, etc. Those might never be really explored or fully explained but I need to know those and facts about the world so I can answer questions, improv and bounce back when players do something unexpected.
Having a pretty clear foundation is very useful, a general theme, vibe, a way the world tends to work, a way the magic/fantastic/divine tends to work, etc. And that world is constantly built upon and expanded with and by the players, they'll ask questions where I go "Huh... I'm not sure", and we're figuring it out together!
We have the same tactic.
I mostly leave tools/props laying around with some character ideas, maybe have a first episode planned out, then see what shiny object the party chases...
... until I make that shiny object the important thing all along.
They get to feel like they figured things out, I get less work. Everyone's happy.
The world building, location crafting and society / char creation is something GMs do most for themselves in my opinion and then can see what the players pull and enhance it a bit with the tool box you created prior. Of course results may vary.
I once had my players come across a puzzle consisting of a gap too long and wide to jump across, with the express intent of having them stop to investigate some runes etched into the ground and realize the way across was to walk backwards across the gap
Instead, one of them came up with the idea to use a pair of immovable rods to climb up into the air, then tying a rope onto one of the rods and setting up a big swinging rope-type-dealy get across
He rolled good on acrobatics, so I let him do that
When all four other players got across the exact same way, I just had to laugh for a solid minute before asking them why they didn't investigate the etchings on the ground
"Oh, earlier, you had that book with the exploding glyphs in it and now we're all afraid to read things we don't understand"
I had turned all my players into superstitious aliterate acrobats
Basically the exact same thing happened to us in a game of middle Earth roleplay. We just tied a rope to the halfling and threw him across to tie it off at the other end. There was a hidden dwarfish mechanism that we completely missed