Rob 2

Thanks Dave, whoops, should've added a 'spoilers' line. I'll edit the post to add that.

One reason why I don't like to deliver the backstory into the main story is precisely because it's so distracting and makes PCs feel storylined. Whereas the game could've gone off to be more about Mysterious X, aka Charles Xavier, and what made him so Mysterious. Or focused more on the whole Contrarian/Champion of Grisbane thing, which was never resolved. The free-the-valkyrie thread could've become the main story, or been a nice subquest, or have been nothing at all. I try to pack a lot of stuff in early so that the PCs feel like they do have options.

I agree with you absolutely, that regardless of what the DM says or even does, the PCs have tons of options at all times. Get on a boat and sail to France for all I care. Find the priests of Grisbane and have them get rid of the geas. It might not work or be easy, I dunno. Depends.

On being storylined by other players. Yeah, this is always tough, even in tabletop, but here on the blog, those who post more frequently tend to be more in control of the game direction. One reason I threw the BoBD out there- a sidequest that could be done by anyone, at any time, regardless of what else was going on, with immediate, tangible, and good rewards.

One of the idiosyncratic aspects of DiD, in game, is all the technology. Might make this more figure, less ground in the next game, to make it easier for the PCs to all adventure together, but still be able to do separate things if they wish on the side. I'm talking about transportation and communication. That was the main reason I planned for the next campaign to be on a different continent, but with instant teleportation back to Greyhelm if you wanted to do any Greyhelm/Grito stuff, or at the very least scry someone or check the library info.