I’ve run a lot of pre-written adventures at my table. They’re great for presenting stories piece by piece and building campaigns with proper narrative threads. I knew which NPC would betray the party, when the dragon would attack, what clues would lead them forward. I could plan ahead with all the details laid out before me. I saw myself as a director guiding players through the story—and pre-written adventures were my insurance policy.
Despite this, I felt the best sessions were those that went off the rails—where players took charge of the narrative instead of following the pre-written story. These became the “Remember when we…” stories that lingered after a campaign ended. I wanted more of those sessions, which led me to explore open, reactive gameplay where the story emerges collaboratively: players drive the narrative while I, as GM, run the world.
Last year I read The Gamemaster’s Guide to Proactive Gaming and tried to implement some of its tips in my Daggerheart game. Still, I felt something was missing. I struggled to come up with fresh ideas because I was still trying to engineer epic moments instead of letting them emerge naturally. So how could I run more open games while still creating good stories? First, I needed to let go of responsibility for the story—after GMing for 10+ years, probably the hardest lesson to learn. Second, I didn’t necessarily need a story—just content that gives players something to act on. The story will emerge from there.
With this in mind, my next game will probably be Land of Eem, Dolmenwood, or Shadowdark—open sandboxes filled to the brim with random tables, hex crawls, and emergent encounters. These games focus less on linear A-to-B storytelling and more on exploring rich settings, each with its own style and tone. They provide the content; the players provide the story. That seems like the perfect mix.
I’m running a Dolmenwood one-shot next week to test the waters. Who knows—maybe it’ll become a long-running campaign?