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Evening Dancer
e31d52
>something I cannot do in Tinker Quest.
But you are. It's weird that you recognize what you're doing wrong, but not what you're doing right! Tinker is full of likable, enjoyable characters, and it doesn't feel tied down to a 'plot', instead growing one organically that we feel much more influential in.
Again I'm going to point to my own success and try to drive you from there. In Hat Quest, I had no prewritten plot either. If you're looking for it, this becomes evident by the way the plot turns so rapidly (Coyote is the villain! No, Clown is! No, both are!) but it's important to note that plots can emerge from almost nothing. If you watch your suggesters, and take note of how they react to situations, you can more easily craft a story for them.
Quests are powerful in this sense that they give this feeling of power to people who normally, as observers, don't have it. They bring change and resolve issues present in the world, and this satisfies them.
My point here is that You don't need to write a plot ahead of time. Sometimes, it can even hurt you. Instead, it's better to start as vague as possible, perhaps with a small goal, and let it grow from there. Hatquest was originally going to go from Hattori destroying the Hat and taking over the world, instead, the suggesters made him a hero and saved the world. The less defined your story is, the easier it is to tailor it and refine it in a way that your audience enjoys.
You're doing this in Tinker already, perhaps without even realizing.
The point is, when players know there's a story already, they're more likely to simply give up, and follow it blindly, then blame you for terrible writing.
Less restriction in Quests is generally better. There are some examples where it's not, but for you, I think you should stick to the more freeform manner. Bounty feels less like an adventure and more of hitting signposts you've marked for us.
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