In every role playing game there is a "hook" that leads the player's characters into a story. This can be a scream from down a dark alley, a clue to the location of a hidden treasure, or a job the characters are hired to perform. Basically, it's the tool a GM uses to capture the players attention and entice them to go along for the ride.
However, not every hook is successful. I have seen several instances in games where a hook can be so vague, or so shadowed, that the players get lost and eventually loose sight of where the GM had intended to lead them, much to the GM's chagrin. I have also seen game sessions where the players are so disinterested in taking the bait that they do everything in their power to sabotage the GM's session (usually by starting a senseless bar brawl or just by going shopping).
Most times a GM needs to take into account the players, their characters, and their role playing experience when deciding on a hook that will work to pull them into the story. However, when a GM is working with a new group of players (regardless of their previous history of role playing) all bets are off and there is no telling how they will react (hazing a new GM is quite common).
Sometimes, subtle hooks (rumors and legends) may work, while other times a GM needs to take a more direct approach. These direct approaches can be expressed by having an employer approach the characters--typical in a tavern or bar--with a job proposition, or by placing the characters in harms way (in medias res) from the very beginning of the story giving them little choice but to play along or see the work they put into their characters go to waste. Some strong arm examples may include: finding the town they are currently in fall under attack, being accused of a crime they didn't commit, adrift at sea or in space after their ship has been destroyed, imprisoned, ambushed, robbed, etc...
Basically, you do your level best to remove any avenue of mischief from the player by giving them two options: fight or flight.
Of course players may still choose the course of falling on their swords to spite the GM.All this said, I find myself in a predicament that falls somewhere in the realm of creating a game for an unknown group(s) of players and characters by offering to write two freelance adventures set in Palladium Book's "After the Bomb" RPG settings
[1].
Now, not knowing what the make up of a group is before and while writing an adventure makes it difficult to decide what kind of hook to use to bring the players and their characters into the story while keeping the story from degenerating into a dungeon-crawl or hack-n-slash. I suppose that's why most published adventures start with the more direct approach where the characters stumble upon some ruins that need exploring, or being approached by a wealthy somebody who wants to hire the characters to do something (recover artifact, save loved one, kill some evil monsters, etc.)
The problem I am having is coming up with a direct approach that works with the adventures.
The first adventure (Birth of the Praetorians) is set on Yuro Station
[2] in the Mutants in Orbit setting. The back story originally revolved around a nemesis who is intent on creating an army of super soldiers and, by selling them as mercenaries and guards, heal the faltering Italian wings economy and promote him to a place of power within the wing's government (or at least gain him favor). However, there is another player in the mix who wants to use the super soldiers as tools to take over the station.
The first hook I had for this was the dissapearance of a player character's relative. However, I was having a difficult time trying to come up with a way that the characters could track down what had happened and where they were taken. Add to that my dislike for telling a player that their character has a relative that they may reject and use as an excuse to scuttle the adventure.
Next, I came up with the characters being hired to protect and escort home an arriving non-player character who would then be kidnapped by a mysterious group of individuals when she arrives at the spaceport (inspired by "Big Trouble in Little China"). However, now I have to come up with a reason for the kidnapping and how it works into the bigger picture.
Any helpful suggestions are welcome in this aspect.
The second adventure (as of yet untitled) is a combination of Road Hogs (think Mad Max) and Mutants Down Under. Luckly this one was a little easier as it was a request for a younger role player (by his father/GM) and his character, who is basically a bounty hunter. In this instance I don't have to worry about the hook--the character(s) is simply hired to capture and return X.
[1]After the Bomb's post-apocalyptic and anthropomorphic settings include: AtB First Edition (US northeast coast), Road Hogs (US southwest coast), Mutants Down Under (Australia), Mutants of the Yucatan (Central America), Mutants in Avalon (Brittan and France), and Mutants in Orbit (Earth Orbit, Moon, Mars, and Asteroid Belt), and AtB Second Edition (US northeast coast).
[2]Yuro Station is a multi-national space station (Britan, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) divided into eight national wings (cylinders 610 meters long and 200 meters wide) connected to a neutral hub that is attached to a 30 mile wide solar sail. Yuro Station is nicknamed King Angel.
