*sigh*
I plotted for tonight's game.
I statted up NPCs and everything.
I wrote it all up, and knew exactly what would happen and when, and how things would happen if PCs strayed from plot.
What I didn't count on was my own ineptitude.
The big bad NPC, Etelka Herzen, has been off on a secret mission for her mysterious masters, up in the Barren Hills. Meanwhile, the PCs have been hunting her down, after the bounty on her head - which Etelka knows nothing about.
She and her companions arrived in Kemperbad, headed up the River Stir, to the village of Unterbaum, and then up into the Barren Hills, where they [DELETED TO AVOID SPOILING PLOT]. Then they returned to Kemperbad by the same route.
Conveniently, Felix, the only member of the party to see her as she rode past their boat in the opposite direction, had no idea what she looked like, so she didn't register as anything more than a well-dressed, attractive, blonde on a horse with a couple of servants and bodyguards.
Five days later, the PCs arrive in Unterbaum. They ask the landlord of the village pub if he's seen Etelka come through here.
"Why, yes, miss. She was a ver' noticeable lady, that one. Headed northwards, up inter t'Barren Hills. About ten days back."
So far, so good. And then I derail my own plot by forgetting that Etelka was meant to completely bypass the village on the way back, as she was in a hurry and didn't want to stop for the night.
"Aye," our helpful landlord continues, "she come back again a few days ago. Headed off back to Kemperbad, she did."
So the party turn around and go back the way they came, without investigating the Barren Hills... because, thanks to my idiotic slip of the tongue, there was no need to.
It's not a devastating deviation from plot, they just miss out on [DELETED IN CASE I DECIDE TO RE-USE THE IDEAS].
Ah, well, now to plot and stat the next encounter along the way, and rewrite stuff a little so that the plot still works.
*headbutts wall*
EDIT: Eureka! I have it! (Hmm, classical redundancy...)
*starts writing next week's plot*
I statted up NPCs and everything.
I wrote it all up, and knew exactly what would happen and when, and how things would happen if PCs strayed from plot.
What I didn't count on was my own ineptitude.
The big bad NPC, Etelka Herzen, has been off on a secret mission for her mysterious masters, up in the Barren Hills. Meanwhile, the PCs have been hunting her down, after the bounty on her head - which Etelka knows nothing about.
She and her companions arrived in Kemperbad, headed up the River Stir, to the village of Unterbaum, and then up into the Barren Hills, where they [DELETED TO AVOID SPOILING PLOT]. Then they returned to Kemperbad by the same route.
Conveniently, Felix, the only member of the party to see her as she rode past their boat in the opposite direction, had no idea what she looked like, so she didn't register as anything more than a well-dressed, attractive, blonde on a horse with a couple of servants and bodyguards.
Five days later, the PCs arrive in Unterbaum. They ask the landlord of the village pub if he's seen Etelka come through here.
"Why, yes, miss. She was a ver' noticeable lady, that one. Headed northwards, up inter t'Barren Hills. About ten days back."
So far, so good. And then I derail my own plot by forgetting that Etelka was meant to completely bypass the village on the way back, as she was in a hurry and didn't want to stop for the night.
"Aye," our helpful landlord continues, "she come back again a few days ago. Headed off back to Kemperbad, she did."
So the party turn around and go back the way they came, without investigating the Barren Hills... because, thanks to my idiotic slip of the tongue, there was no need to.
It's not a devastating deviation from plot, they just miss out on [DELETED IN CASE I DECIDE TO RE-USE THE IDEAS].
Ah, well, now to plot and stat the next encounter along the way, and rewrite stuff a little so that the plot still works.
*headbutts wall*
EDIT: Eureka! I have it! (Hmm, classical redundancy...)
*starts writing next week's plot*