So, today I want to talk about Player Driven Play. Something that I use in my campaign games. This is applicable to games that don’t revolve around Dungeon Crawls, but might spice up those games as well. #ttrpg #playerdriven #v5 #vtm

My take is for V5 (Vampire the Masquerade) in particular, so drama and scheming are actually wanted. But you can use that kind of vibe in other games too.

The first step is deciding as a group which themes interest you, and build a group concept from there. You want to tie in Player Characters as early as possible, so you don’t get “I don’t care about that plot”.

In our game, we decided on making a group around the concept of Masquerade Keeping. The group follows the supernatural around and covers up crimes committed by vampires.

That’s a clear enough concept that players can create characters particularly well suited to that type of play. One player is specialized in photo manipulation, another is a private investigator.

The Plot, in my games, emerges from the players. It is something they naturally create. But it requires communal buy in. That’s why you need to involve them in the creation of the game.

Relationship Maps try to visualize our characters’ interactions. You seed these relationships by involving SPCs (Storyteller Player Characters, aka NPCs) at intersections between PCs.

So one character has an enemy flaw, you let the Player give you some input on that character, drop them on the Relationship Map and add a positive connection to another PC.

Drama naturally emerges from conflicting interests. V5 goes so far to make players each come up with a reason they dislike one PC over another, but that’s not necessarily required.

V5 also uses Convictions (1-3) to characterize player morals. That’s also a good place to create plots from. Having Villains that directly work against PCs’ Convictions gets them entangled.

The key is feeling which players don’t connect with the game at hand, figuring out if it’s them wanting a slower pace or them being bored, and if it’s the latter, using their character’s hooks to tag them back into the game.

Many players will tag along on plots of other players and that’s great and you absolutely lean back and go slow. You don’t need to intervene at every point of the session. Your job is to facilitate and moderate, to direct attention. Please don’t stress yourself!

If the setup is done well, players will create their narratives on their own, play back and forth. The story emerges from play, and you only come forward with stuff, when they seem lost.

OK!

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