I'm not really a fan, but in the club we've had to deal with this in oWoD mostly, but coming up we have a lot of stuff planned.  

I stay as far from metaplot as I can when it's present, but some of the GM's I'll be running the game with want to use some of the settings as presented, with metaplot and all.  A lot of them are first time GM's that the club is sponsoring, and I'll simply be there to make sure the game runs smooth without 'rulebook stalls'.

So, what are your favorite / most hated metaplots, for which rpg's and why are they your picks?

How do I like my metaplot? Gone.

Favorite metaplots? None. Extensive backgrounds, however: Vampire the Masquerade's, Orpheus's, Nephilim's come to mind. The nuance between metaplot and background to me is that the latter is completely optional in my mind. I include some allusions to it or not in the game, use some of its elements or none, as warranted. The background of a game is never, ever "canon." I do with it what I want. If I HAVE to use some published "storylines" for the game to make any sense, then there's a "metaplot," and that sucks.

I like metaplot as background but I feel that once the core setting book is published Canon should end. Everything after should not change what's come before. I think you need a strong coherent background with most games these days. I played/ran a ton of VtM and Werewolf using the core rules and players guides and I have no complaints about the background rich setting material contained within. The splatbooks on the other hand were good only as idea mines because they threatened a lot of the concepts I had already introduced into my campaign. Same thing with Star Wars.  The movies were canon and everything else was mined for ideas. Same thing with Shadowrun 2e. Core book, stteet sam, riggers book, deckers book and grimoire were all I bothered with.

Pete

Oh yes. And I really don't like settings that keep moving chronologically. My campaign is not your campaign, Mr. designer. Stop trying to tell me what happens in MY world once you've published your book, thank you very much. Showing the same setting in two completely different eras is not problem, when there's a point to it. Moving the dates of a few months/years between supplements and assuming I bought them all IS a big problem.

Open-ended, or none at all.

Metaplot sells supplements.   I get the attraction, especially since most people who buy games don't play them.  If you're just reading the books and imagining what it would be like to play, then metaplot is great.  Like cliffhangers in an old serial.

But as a GM?  All canon is just fodder for your own campaign.   Take what you like and toss the rest.

RIFTS has the whole Tolkeen disaster.   I either play pre or post the war, but avoid the during.  Too many players are invested in canon and many can't wrap their head around alternate options.

I like them inspiring, maleable, and non-disruptive, with few metaplot-connected NPCs.

Quote from: Blackhand;419632So, what are your favorite / most hated metaplots, for which rpg's and why are they your picks?

Faction War for Planescape stands out in my mind. It messes up the assumptions by which PCs are made (Factions) and IMO, it slaughtered and/or merged the most interesting factions.

Traveller as of The New Era. Totally changed the setting. Not just the setting details or backdrop, mind you, but the whole tone. Changed it from a hardish gritty space opera to a post-apocalyptic fascist wankfest.

The original Dark Sun suffered by having the first major conflict of the setting solved in the novels.

Having trouble thinking of metaplots that I point to and say "that was good". Most of them I start thinking of, I come around to saying that the game/setting didn't really have a metaplot. I mean I like stuff like Scarred Lands... lots of recent history, lots of implications, lots of places to go... but nothing happens until the GM sets it into motion. Though I suspect if the novel line had taken off, that would have been different.

I only use my own stuff; own settting; own adventures; etc.

I've never understood why others do, really.  It's lost on me.

But I suppose metaplot is one of the reasons why.  It takes some of the reasons why I make my own stuff and squares them.

Quote from: Spinachcat;419660But as a GM?  All canon is just fodder for your own campaign.   Take what you like and toss the rest.

This is it for me.  I don't mind metaplot if I'm using a published setting.  I'll ignore, adapt, mutilate, etc what I need for my own campaign.  Ideally metaplot is just a suggestion for places to take your own campaign.

That said I've never really run into one that I like.  

You could argue that The Enemy Within is metaplot for WFRP as v2 references events in TEW in some sourcebooks.

Q: How do I like my metaplot?

A1: I never metaplot I didn't like.

A2: Burned in a cut down, rust flaked 55 gallon oil drum, with me wearing fingerless gloves warming my hands over it.

-clash

I dont mind it is background but I dont like it when it is so defined that the characters can't really do anything significant.

Star Wars is a great example of a game where players can create little waves in the world, but nothing big (like blowing up the Death Star).  That is what turns me off about Metaplot so I avoid games like that when possible

Quote from: Daedalus;419696I dont mind it is background but I dont like it when it is so defined that the characters can't really do anything significant.

Star Wars is a great example of a game where players can create little waves in the world, but nothing big (like blowing up the Death Star).  That is what turns me off about Metaplot so I avoid games like that when possible

When I run Star Wars, I specifically tell my players that things they do could very well change the entire established Canon -otherwise, they wouldn't play.

Quote from: LordVreeg;419664I only use my own stuff; own settting; own adventures; etc.

I've never understood why others do, really.  It's lost on me.

But I suppose metaplot is one of the reasons why.  It takes some of the reasons why I make my own stuff and squares them.

Same here, but I'm eventually going to do a Spell Jammer fantasy space travel thingy and I'm going to tap into a lot of other homebrews and professionally produced settings as ports of call, or so I am thinking now.  This will allow me to visit some of these settings without being married to them- if I decide to go this way.
 
As for metaplot, no thanks.

You mention Spelljammer...is there a lot of metaplot in that?

I have to ask because I skipped most of that during it's heyday and now I'm in the middle of tracking down the line so that it can be run in our club.  

Never had a chance to read the material but I got to play it enough times to want to drop some cash on out of print boxed sets.

I only have the first boxed set. I don't think there is any real metaplot presented therein. Truthfully though, the interior artwork is so bad that i could never bring myself to read through the whole thing. No art would have been better.  
I like the idea of fantasy/ science fantasy space stuff though.