Tying Decisions Made to future gaming

[SpykedNightmare]

So after playing a little bit of Mass effect 3 some things have really stuck out to me and I think this would be a good place to discuss it (with all the veteran gamers out there). How important is it to your players, and to your game to tie in decisions made throughout the game and have them make a huge impact? Many characters and players have a sort of 'devil may care' lifestyle. This is especially evident throughout games that emulate MMO games, Where the decisions you make, and the things you do have little impact on the world. I feel as if it is monumentally important to have things you do have an externally large impact on the world. Unlike Modern everyday life (where something you do will most likely have little to no affect, except maybe pissing somebody off) I feel that you should hold your Player's accountable for the things they do. In the group I am currently involved in this has a very large place, what you do DOES have an effect on the scenario. But to the original topic? How much should the things that Player characters do hold consequences? If you add law and order (DUHN DUHN!) to typical Dungeons and Dragons the world would be filled with Prisons from characters who go out and kill things just because they have a shiny sword. Or should it be closer to more of the way things are today. Where you may make it to the Evening News if you are lucky, but for the most part the things that are done have a little effect on the world as a whole?

[blackmesareject]

I always like the idea of shaping the world by actions, no matter how small.  It could be that the waif that you gave some bread to, helps you out smart a town guard or someone stealing a wish from a quest item and then turning into a random dragon that destroys multiple towns.(like in my last campaign, Oakmont got turned into Glassmont(even thought it was more of a glass crater once the dragon dived bombed the crap out of the town) also can't forget when a town got completely burnt down and all of the metal melted into a big blob when the same character turned into a red dragon). 

For me consequences are the fun part(next to character generation) and should always be prevalent.  Especially if you have a group of players that roam a country side slaughtering beasties left and right, while never bathing.  Can you say warm welcoming by any one you ever meet?

[Thom]

This is an important idea, one that gives the players a sense that they are truly part of the game world. Obviously, not every action will have an important reaction, but certain ones will. I think this would work best in an open, sandbox style of play, but I wouldn't rule it out of other types of campaigns.

Ideally, we'd be talking about a large group of characters (or corporations/guilds) for the players to interact with. Think a space station, castle, arcology, etc. I've toyed with faction systems before, and I think it can help keep track of how different  NPCs react to the players. If you assign different faction hits or bumps to possible player choices (ex: Player intercepts black market shipment, -5 faction from Black Marketeers, +5 faction to City Watch) and just make a campaign tracking sheet, you can remember that the City Watch likes Bob's fighter, tolerates Jill's Mage, and is distrustful of Tim's thief. This would make playing NPCs more interesting, and even help give them a bit more personality.

Another thing to do with your campaign tracking sheet would be to have pivotal moments which will steer the campaign along one or more possible tracks. Depending on which path the players take, and how they accomplish their deeds, the campaign changes, and how the player characters are perceived is affected as well. For example, you could have two main paths: (1)Support the current king or (2)Support the claims of a rival house. Each one of those paths could have events (holiday feast, masquerade ball, tournament, Captain of the Watch letting assassins in through a hidden passage, the King's bodyguard is poisoned) which branch off like a flow chart, and when the players choose one route, it closes off other options and affects the campaign.

At its best, the competing factions are good(ish) people, with valid points on both sides. This makes a little internal party discussion (in character, of course) a fun thing, and choosing a side isn't as clear cut. Our Marvel Civil War episode drops tomorrow, and we hit on that a bit.

Good topic!