Tension between PC struggles and PC goals · Game Master's Laboratory

Tension between PC struggles and PC goals

Proactive roleplaying (PR) advocates that PC goals should drive the story. Collaborative Campaign Design (CCD) posits that story is driven mostly by PC internal struggles being overcome by confronting player obstacles and that encounters should be designed with this in mind. (That is my very high level summation of that part of the book - let me know if I got that wrong).

With that in mind, is there every a tension between the two objectives? It seems like a player could set goals that don't really do anything to overcome their PC struggles. Is the job of the game master then to design encounters that will both help the players meet their goals while at the same time helping them resolve their struggles? Or am I just completely over thinking this?

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