In which I don't get a nibble

 

and the session STILL runs itself!

As foretold I rather unceremoniously dropped half a dozen plot hooks at the start of the session.  The hook for the primary and secondary story lines was dropped first along with a cryptic poem (emailed to them at the start of the session as my printer decided it no longer had ink!) and an item in a box (presented via the picture affixed to this post.)  The rest of the hooks were tertiary and to at least some degree class/race/character specific.  But the party latched on to one and clamped down like grim death.  "A heretical sect has produced a new translation of the book of the cleric's faith and must be hunted and captured. Those that do not recant are to be exterminated."

So off they went with our diminutive halfling Twilight Cleric in the fore.  So it took a while to get there.  A clearing in the woods.  The stone outline of the beginnings of as worship site.  A rough altar.  And a dozen followers.  The first hour or so of our session was spent talking to NPC's and weighing their options.  The NEXT hour was spent at the site with our cleric discussing theology with the leader of the sect.  I had done NO research on the topic.  I knew damned little about the deity worshiped by the cleric.  But I knew enough to respond to his questions and to present enough of a difference between what the cleric believed and what the sect was proposing as to make a difference.  The whole thing had a distinct "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" feel to it.  Is the sacrament the ACTUAL blood and body of Christ or is it symbolic?  The other two players and I engaged in some pleasant meta banter while the cleric feverishly read everything he could find on the interwebs, thinking I'd dug up some theological dilemma in the lore of some other setting.

And he found one!

And it was DAMNED close to the bushwa I had been slinging about  to keep the session moving.  After about an hour of THAT I realized I needed to do something to move the session along or else the entire evening would be filled the cleric and I sitting on tree stumps discussing philosophy.  NOT the stuff of legendary fantasy.  So I put it to the cleric - recant or exterminate?  He tried a persuasion check (high CR and with disadvantage) and failed.  At which point all hell broke lose.

Six PC's and a dozen religious zealots.  How long would it take to fight out at YOUR table?  Twenty five minutes.  Considering that half the party had just advanced a level and included four spell casters was not bad IMHO.  Each party member succeeded in plinking off 1-2 opponents quickly.  The cleric then strode the battlefield dealing the death blows to the remaining heretics.

About a hundred coins, a ceremonial dagger, and eight uncut stones.  The stones are "interesting" because it marks the first time I've given uncut stones as treasure.  They'll need to find a lapidary to turn them into gemstones.  I'll see how that goes.  About 1/5 of a level in XP with an additional 1/10 to the cleric.  I'll use the travel back to let the two wizards discuss the item that they were given at the beginning of the session and see if I might rekindle interest.  

One last concept introduced: I'm going to allow each PC to declare their own quest or goal and we'll agree how much XP it's worth.  Our ranger was quick to take the bait - "hit ten targets in a row during combat or competition, for XP worth 1/10 of a level."  Done!  Keep in mind he's 5th level with his father's +1 bow and a quiver which bestows an additional +1 so he's looking at +11 to hit.  We're looking at almost a 60% chance of success.  That'll be fun.  Looking fwd to seeing what the others come up with.

In which they get what they asked for

 Table's been going for over three years now.  Third campaign.  First two ended in TPKs.  After each did

an exit interview and tried to incorporate the responses into the next one.  They were pretty good with everything except the over-arching plots.  They didn't want one.  "We wanna be itinerant monster and treasure hunters."  And they wanted a little more political intrigue.  And one wanted some big military stuff.  Maybe.

So I plopped them onto a corner of the planet ruled by noble houses with a complex web of interrelationships and intrigue.  Lot's of one shots and exploring.  And it seemed well received.  Until last session.  We ALWAYS spend a bit of time discussing the meta-game but after our last session they lamented the lack of a BBG and big plot line!  I was throwing two or three plot hooks at them every session, tailored for their class and backstory.  They knew they could pass on any and do whatever they wanted.  I was usually able to riff off their decisions.  But now five levels in they've decided they want the thing they didn't want!

And.

In each of the prior two campaigns I had an "out" adventure.  Something to run if someone couldn't make it or if things went south early.  First one was a book of fairy tales that pulled PC's in.  They fought the big bad wolf and Rumpelstiltskin and encountered the Bremen town musicians.  They liked it.  Second one was a demi-plane in a tapestry (lifted from Pathfinder.)  They liked it too.  And they wanted another one.  So it's tough when good ideas fall in your lap and then you're called upon to duplicate the result.

Anyway.

Spending this weekend spinning up a BBEG, an overarching storyline and a recurring diversion.  And I have one.  IF YOU'RE AT MY TABLE STOP READING THIS NOW.  Recurring diversion is a compass that opens gates to small demi-planes where I'll drop small strange worlds or 5-room dungeons with ever increasing CR monsters.  AND there's an AI nested inside of it, which siphons off magic and event energy and decides to evolve.  Hence the BBEG.  And lots of factions want control of it.  Which is the adventure arc.  So I'm done.  After reviewing every Pathfinder Adventure Path, D&D published campaign, the twenty steppers designed by Sly Flourish, and a raft of tired ideas on Reddit and other sites.  

But.

The party will be happy (I hope.)  I've advised there will be a raft of plot hooks next week and one of them MIGHT be the Big Arc and one of them MIGHT be the Recurring Diversion.  So we'll see how it goes.