In , most parties have a goওal that they’re striving towards, whether they're trying to defeat a villain, save the world, or just get as much gold as humanly (or perhaps goblinly) possible. However, most characters also have individual goals and motivations that may align with or diverge from the goals of the party as a whole. As a Dungeon Master, you will often find yourself writing scenarios that give your players chances to achieve their goals, but you might not want to have them directly succeed the way they think they will.
If you consider yourself a kind and benevolent DM, it can be tempting to give players exactly what they want. Players may have a goal in mind as part of their backstory, something they want to achieve. The best types of DMs know that they should be a fan of the characters in their campaign, so they want their characters to be happy. Giving your players everythin🌳g they want is a good instinct, but it's not always good storytelling.
Dungeons & Dragons is a storytelling medium as much as it is a game. More importantly, it is a collaborative storytelling medium. When players imagi𝔍ne their backstories and goals, often they think of it as a personal endeavor. Even when focusing on one player character’s personal goal, you don’t want to run a campaign for one hero and their five sidekicks.
That doesn’t mean that your players can’t have a happy ending, just that the whole party will appreciate a different happy ending than th🌺ey’re picturing. If one of your players wants revenge on an old enemy, taking time to indulge this goal might pale in comparison to a world-ending threat. Maybe the former rival has information on the big bad, and the player has to put revenge aside for the greater good. Or maybe they decide otherwise, and take revenge even at the risk of the world. Either option is a likely a diversion from how the player envisioned it going, but it involves the whole party, forces the player to make a tough choice, and likely has more emotional impact on the character than what they might have planned.
It is important to incorporate the backstories and goals of your players’ characters, but that doesn’t mean you have to incorporate straightforward character scripts intoꦦ the campaig♍n. Sometimes, being a DM means that you have to give players what they need. Sometimes that means not giving them exactly what they want.