I've seen it happen again and again, but as an ST and a player. The STs will introduce a plot, perhaps with interesting NPCs, perhaps specifically targeted toward new players.
And older players with powerful PCs, (powerful meaning either politically in terms of position or physically in terms of experience points) will jump on it, demand that nobody go after it but them, for everyone's safety.
I've explored this problem before, in my Plots for New Players post. But recently something occurred in a game I ST for, Shadow's Crossing, that has changed my perspective. I've suggested targeting plots for new players, but on reflection, there may be another way to go then in trying to segregate players.
I was running a plotline for a player, and after I was done, he thanked me for giving him a plot he could do investigate. But the thing was, I hadn't targeted the plot toward him. In fact I hadn't known he would even have been played, or glanced at his sheet before the game started. The fact was other PCs were pursing other plots, both PC and ST created, and he just happened to be the one going after this plot.
Instead of trying to keep players involved with specific plots from the get, and other players out, the thought occurs to me. Why don't I simply introduce more and more plots, until everyone is involved with something if they want to be.
Now I know what your thinking, at least if your an ST. If your running 5 or 10 or 20 plots, aren't you going to be too busy to run everything?
Well yes and no. I've found that the more PCs going after a plot, the longer it takes to run, exponentially. The inverse also seems to be true. That means if I run 20 plots for 20 players, I may actually save time over running one or two plots for 20 players.
Why this may be isn't totally clear to me, but it seems that the more info I put out, the more things going on, the more it leads to PCs roleplaying with each other, sharing the information, trading things they have for things they need, etc. Making the game world richer with more to do means that PCs have more to do not just through interacting with STs, but with each other.
There is a time loss however. It's in prep time and downtime responses. However if face time with STs at game is at a premium for players, this is often better then the alternative.
So I'm going to be exploring this in upcoming games, and seeing how well it works.
