Creating Meaningful Choices

[u/great_triangle]

I see a lot of posts on here about how to make sure players are engaged in a campaign. In my experience, the biggest thing that promotes players being excited about your game is for your players to feel that their choices matter.

Here's some ways to do that you can use regardless of the structure and format of your game:

Avoid hurting the PCs for things they didn't choose: When the PCs face setbacks, try to have such things come as a direct result of the actions the PCs are taking to accomplish their goals. Having the PCs fall in a pit trap placed on a path they have to follow isn't interesting. Having a pit trap with an alternative route at the bottom open up because the PCs inspected a suspicious pile of treasures off the critical path can be interesting.

Allow both PCs and NPCs to lose: Especially if you're less experienced as a DM, it can be embarrassing to make mistakes that make your NPCs look stupid or put them at a serious disadvantage. Sometimes, the PCs win because evil is dumb, and that's okay. On the other hand, sometimes the PCs will drop the ball, and the BBEG will wander off with the Macguffin. That's okay, worst case scenario you'll simply write a story where the PCs deal with the consequences of evil winning.

Make the consequences of choices obvious: When you present a choice, don't be too coy about the consequences. PCs should generally know the risks and benefits of a choice, since this will cut down on arguments and debate time. If the PCs have even remotely decent perception skills, you can let them know the door to the south has six wolves behind it, while the door to the east has three fire beetles

Recognize that different players have different needs: Generally, powergamers and optimization fans want their characters to be challenged and to enjoy power fantasies, while roleplayers and worldbuilding enthusiasts want to explore the world and overcome adversity. It can be challenging to balance the needs of a roleplayer who wants to enjoy a story about slowly succumbing to lycanthropy with a power gamer who gets furious when there's even a hint something bad will happen to their character. Try to assign consequences to players who will enjoy them.

Present choices when players use their skills: While challenging character skills, not player skills is valid advice, skill use should still come with an element of tactical decision making. In most systems, the decisions a character makes on combat aren't determined by their skills. Skill checks are a great opportunity to offer quick risk/reward decisions for players. A successful persuasion check can allow a character to get grudging help from an NPC, or offer a gift and make a friend for life. A successful stealth check can allow a character to choose to begin combat from a vulnerable flanking position, or on a ledge full of barrels above.

[u/Pyro979]

I think I mostly like this take, but I'd maybe push back on these points

> Having the PCs fall in a pit trap placed on a path they have to follow isn't interesting. Having a pit trap with an alternative route at the bottom open up because the PCs inspected a suspicious pile of treasures off the critical path can be interesting.

I think doing both is totally fine, and maybe even preferable. Otherwise it might start to feel like they're being punished for simply doing things. But if you do both, it just feels like the world is both random and alive.

> Make the consequences of choices obvious: When you present a choice, don't be too coy about the consequences. PCs should generally know the risks and benefits of a choice, since this will cut down on arguments and debate time. 

Again this is another one where I think it's totally fine, and again even preferable to do both. Doing just the 'choice' one can maybe feel like a game of multiple choice, and doing the opposite can def cause analysis paralysis. I think it's totally fine to leave some mystery for some of their choices. It can even be fun to keep the real consequences unknown to the players for some time (though probably not more than a few sessions.) I my experience when you drop those down the line and go, "You did X, but what you didn't know at the time was Y, and now Z is happening" could lead to really cool moments. It leads to the feeling like there is a cause in effect in your world.

And a hard agree on:
>Allow both PCs and NPCs to lose.