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Plot Focus

Plot Focus is a powerful setting in PUM that lets you control how much your story relies on your own Plot Nodes versus random events. It’s your way to tune the balance between structure and surprise.

What is Plot Focus?

Plot Focus determines how often Random Prompts (plot beats) will invoke your Plot Nodes compared to unrelated random events. This allows you to customize the feel of your game:

  • Balanced: Equal chance for plot nodes and random events.
  • Prep-centric: Only your plot nodes are used—great for prepared or prewritten adventures.
  • Encounters: Focus on dangers, enemies, and challenges.
  • Social: Brings characters and social events to the forefront.
  • Exploration: Emphasizes locations and the unknown.
  • World: Focuses on world-building and universe elements.
  • Treasure: Highlights discoveries and useful findings.
  • Prepless: Only random events, plot nodes for your own guidance.

Choosing a Plot Focus

  • Use Prep-centric for tightly planned stories.
  • Use Prepless for maximum unpredictability.
  • Balanced is a great starting point for most games.
  • Switch focus as your story evolves!

Example Scenarios

  • Dungeon Crawl: Use Encounters or Exploration focus.
  • Political Drama: Try Social or Prep-centric.
  • Treasure Hunt: Treasure focus brings more discoveries.

Tips

  • You can change Plot Focus at any time.
  • Experiment to find what works best for your play style.

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