Writing living stories
< 1 min read
ARC stories shine best when the world “lives” regardless of player intervention. When an NPC betrays another, she will do so not because the players needed something to stumble upon, but because her inner motivations and external situation compelled her to.
That said, that doesn’t mean like each character or situation must happen at this exact time, in this exact manner, and since the heroes never reached it in time now they won’t ever get to see it. You are free to fudge things; an important character goes to the market instead of their grandparents’ and has an encounter with the heroes; the rebellion sparks in the church square and not the friar’s dining room.
What matters is not the exact when and where of these events happening, but that the “why” and motivations is consistent to your vision of the world, its people, and its secrets. And sometimes this is not static. While the world goes on its own, the heroes still act and affect it; and the world responds in kind.
What you want, essentially, is a story that responds to hero action but progresses towards doom in their inaction.