Dungeon Master: Side Quests

Making and running good sidequests is a bit of an art. They take emphasis off the main story. If the adventure your players are going on is time critical, a side-quest doesn't make much narrative sense in most cases. However, they provide an opportunity to try new things and mix the situation up. The trouble is fitting them effectively into a session. With that in mind, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the matter in the hope that it helps someone out there. 

Do Your Players Even Like Them?

Sidequests are a tool. Some groups might not want any at all. They'd prefer a narrative tight story and want to go towards its end. However, I've also seen situations where people prefer to jump around more often. Each session was mostly self-contained and allowed for a wide variety of different types of quests at the expense of a greater narrative. This is quite similar to the different styles of television series.

A Break

Sometimes players want to take a small break from the main quest and do something new for a little bit. They don't want to abandon the main story but just want something different. Often it is something lighter and more relaxing. I most often see this kind of thing in horror heavy and/or high casualty games. These two often go hand in hand. It can also be a chance for the players to see how far they've come. An adventure that would have killed them earlier is now something they can breeze through in their spare time.

Time Gap

There are some adventures where there may be a more relaxing period. Things take time even in a fictitious world. If your players found an item and it'll take time for learned people to research it, you have options. You could skip past all of the uneventful things and go right to the point the story starts up again. However, you could also use the chance to mix things up with a sidequest. Some players prefer to have an interesting though less important adventure in that time instead of skipping past it by using the downtime rules or hand-waving it away. The rewards for this kind of thing are better than the downtime rules in Dungeons & Dragons 5^th edition as well. Another way is to have a main story that is composed of multiple stories that intersect. In such a case, it's not just a sidequest but an important task related to the story that needs to be dealt with sooner or later. 

Part of the Design

Having multiple quests that on the surface have nothing to do with the main goal could be part of the design of the adventure. A classic example I can think of is needing to raise money for some purpose. In this case, the results of the quest influence the main story but the story of the sidequest doesn't relate beyond the monetary factor. Trying to find items or equipment is similar but material instead of monetary.

If the basis of the campaign isn't a story but instead the adventures of a group within a particular faction that gets different jobs, the campaign is kind of a collection of sidequests already. You might have the equivalent of a season finale or a special, just like a television show might, where there is a larger story that takes more time than your typical story. Multiple ones might be related and become the biggest story of your campaign, but you'll still have other more disconnected adventures.

How Related?

There are degrees to how closely related a sidequest is to the events of the main story. It can be completely or nearly completely disconnected. Helping someone you ran into on the streets is one such example. Sure, maybe the party has some connections with some temple of a good aligned god that helps people who need it, but that's as closely related as things are. Another situation is where the party will need to help a faction that one or more members of the party belong to and are aiding the party in their goal. In such a case helping the faction is also helping themselves, but the connection to the story isn't as clear. It is still present though, since there could be consequences to not helping.