Exchange of Realities

You might need a plan if you’re about to go into an occupied area and the foe’s numbers are overwhelming. You might need a plan if you’re supposed to conduct a three-pronged infiltration and require complete subtlety. You might need a plan if you need to matchmake one PC with an NPC while keeping both parties’ parents from interfering. You might need a plan if you’re in a sandbox situation with eight possible directions and the GM hasn’t finished detailing all of them out yet.

In my opinion, plans are useful. In some cases, they might allow you to react properly to a semi-foreseen circumstance. Sometimes it’s needed to make sure you know who’s where when location matters. Other times, it’s just something that would really, really help the GM figure out what to prioritize detailing out. As an added bonus, they can allow a group to ensure that even the quieter players, or the characters whose skills aren’t immediately obvious, can get a chance to play an important roll.

Other people find them a bit more of an impediment; they take up session-time, cause arguments before it’s necessary, and never seem to last more than half a minute when push comes to shove anyway. And invariably, some sort of surprise will occur that will prevent even the most detailed set of contingencies from going off quickly. Or they might see them as a crutch or a limiting factor, with people too busy trying to fulfill the plan to realize that it’s no longer applicable.

You don’t need a really complicated plan to see a positive difference, though. It might be as simple as a division of labor when going into a fight: “You hit the archer, you keep the spellcaster at bay, and I’ll go take out the guy with the four-loaf cleaver.” Or a something a bit more flow-chart-like: “If X, then Y. If Z, then Q. If not fitting an existing category, get the heck out of there, tell everyone else to scram, and prioritize living to report what the thing that threw a wrench in the gears was!”

Moreover, it keeps the group from tripping over each other or getting in each other’s way. Haven’t you ever had those situations where lack of coordination nearly destroyed the group? “I climb on the chandelier in order to attack the people below from surprise.” “I cut down the chandelier to drop it on the people below.” “Eeeeeep!” What about situations where everyone’s doing something, but the important thing doesn’t get done? “I thought you were going to scuttle the boats so they couldn’t chase us!”

And, believe it or not, little things like having some vague idea what you’re doing next session and what those around you might actually be prepared for is going to be useful to your GM. Not just for the sake of messing with your head—okay, maybe a little—but so they can at least know which way you’re going to take when the road forks so there’s a better chance to have a focused plan of their own and not do everything off the cuff.

In all, I would definitely say that plans are Definitely a Good Thing, and encourage attempts to create and utilize them.