Why do players so rarely plan their actions out ahead of time?

Because fuck you, that's why

>>53190199
Because player, by default, are stupid.
Trust, since I managed to shed my mantle of long time GM and was able to play most of the time, I noticed that I rarely have good ideas - it gets especially bad if it's getting pretty late

Don't look for a reason, I could probably rattle of a long list of stuff, but it will help much.
Players are stupid and there's not much you can do about it

>>53190199
No plan ever survives contact with the enemy.

My group tends to do a lot of planning, actually. It's just that sometimes those plans quickly devolve into Shock and Awe.

>>53190395
No plan survives contact with the Players.

>>53190199
That stupid rabbit don't know jack, that animal can jump at least 3 stories. He went so far up a fuckin tree when he was off his ADD meds that the narrator had to tilt the page of the book to get his tigger ass down. What are you gonna do you stupid coneho, build a dome over your carrots? Tigger doin us all a favor by stompin your garden so you won't reproduce and overpopulate the Hundred Acre Wood with inbred simpletons like yourself. Go back to playing 4e you cosplay child predator fuck

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35KB, 350x355px

>>53190199
>not enough investment in character
>laziness
>distraction
>lacking creativity
>lack of information about the game world
>roleplaying character that is too spontaneous or stupid
>indecisive about goals
>perceived futility because GM will invalidate plan
>had a plan but failed to communicate
>had a plan quickly dismissed
>to little time for plan
>inclined to follow what party leader does
>lacking knowledge of game system
>no planning needed because every obstacle can be steamrolled

any number of these may apply to different degrees.

>>53190199
Because it takes forever and ends up being irrelevant most of the time anyway. In a system where success depends on rolling a certain value on a die, planning doesn't really help you, since any plan can be derailed simply by one of the rolls going poorly.

>>53190199
Because the GM cannot be trusted to know the true depths of my sinister plans for his precious NPCs.

The best plans look spontaneous.

>>53190461
Most of these apply to my group, I'd add
>Lack of clear leadership or party structure makes it hard to propose or enact plan

>>53190457
You appear distraught friend. Did a rabbit and/or hare consume your vegetable patch?

I'd say mostly there is a disconnect between GM information and player information. Or even information between players. Miscommunication is often rife in these kinds of games, because there can be subtle differences in how players are interpreting a situation.

As a player though, since my normal modus is to scout, form a plan and return, I've found most GMs don't seem to allow this. Either through time critical points or just laying out the rails as soon as you show up to the Place Where the Thing Is.

Sometimes it just comes down to the player trying to process information and then defaulting to "What would my character think?" and then letting the dice fall where they will, sometimes literally.

>>53190679
Yes, I can see that happening ic and/or ooc.

As both a player and GM, I have a lot of experience on both sides of the table. From what I can tell, most groups have at best one highly motivated/clever leader. Combine that with the fact that in a lot of ways being a player is actually harder than being a GM, because you're constantly trying to figure out what to do when you have a very incomplete picture of the events and surroundings and the tendency of most GMs to try to throw curveballs, and you just don't really know what to do. Hence, when I play, I tend to play characters that are headstrong, impulsive, and have strong motivations to do things. That way I can keep things moving, even when the GM doesn't.

>>53190395
No plan ever survives contact with the gm making up random shit and not giving you any indication of what to expect except in order to ""surprise"" you.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time" is often part of it.

Because that one time i made a plan it ended in party wipe

>>53190199
What are you talking about? My group spends 3/4 of every session planning.

My last group loved to make plans. Although it didn't help that we were all working on our own separate agendas at the same time.

Man, if everyone was more available that could have been a great campaign.

>>53190199
I ran a one-shot bank heist game where most of the game was detailing the heist.