I like meta plots and a world to tie things together. I love grand epic story lines. But sometimes, the players just want to rob the merchant guild that stiffed them on the last reward. So I tend to build encounters, like ten or so. Not big set pieces, but general stuff that I can reskin as needed. Because city guards in a warehouse, hobgoblins in a cave, bandits in a barn are really all the same. So 3 urban, 4 dungeon and 3 wilderness ones handy, and backfill as needed. Reuse them with tougher stuff...just not in a row.
Other stuff I have done/crimes I have committed to have a semblance of a game because those meddling kids went off the path I expected..
Pulled a 1st edition module from the shelf, use the map and the interior encounters from a different module.
Had a volcano erupt...but watch out, that's no ordinary volcano!
Try to remember a movie that resembles something they are about to do and wing off of that. examples have included, the Italian Job, Mission Impossible, Kelly's Heroes, The Great Escape, Predator, and Alien. (When the players get the homage, it can really become fun...but I do sometimes change the movie to a better ending, or put them in another movie. Its a mood thing)
Based it off a Choose your own adventure book I had read as a kid.
Random noble person demands you marry their daughter because you besmirched their honor after a night carousing...two months ago, and they just found you.
Disassemble the planned plot line into component parts. Redo the order, reskin the bad guys, add new relevant dialog. Didn't even resemble the expected outcome.
Had a ghost of a wronged soul, haunt them. Publically. The first two things they try were wrong. Always.
Being quick and letting the players hang themselves on their own plot lines is challenging, but sometimes worth it. It is after all, a shared experience.
I like meta plots and a world to tie things together. I love grand epic story lines. But sometimes, the players just want to rob the merchant guild that stiffed them on the last reward. So I tend to build encounters, like ten or so. Not big set pieces, but general stuff that I can reskin as needed. Because city guards in a warehouse, hobgoblins in a cave, bandits in a barn are really all the same. So 3 urban, 4 dungeon and 3 wilderness ones handy, and backfill as needed. Reuse them with tougher stuff...just not in a row.
Other stuff I have done/crimes I have committed to have a semblance of a game because those meddling kids went off the path I expected..
Being quick and letting the players hang themselves on their own plot lines is challenging, but sometimes worth it. It is after all, a shared experience.