@ixokai said in What even is 'Metaplot'?:
A metaplot is not a plot in that you usually don't do anything about it specifically.
The metaplot is the plot happening in the world around you; you might do plots that it spawns, but it, itself, is not touchable as a PC.
I think this depends on the scale of your game, to some extent. And the positioning of your PCs and your plot. If your metaplot is a war, for example, and your PCs are a team of well-trained soldiers, they can (and SHOULD) absolutely affect its outcome.
If your metaplot is a team of shadowy people trying to redirect the shape of the world, and your PCs are the mutant super team who encounters them and foils their plans, you are absolutely affecting the outcome and direction of the metaplot.
I've run metaplots that were bigger than these - politics moving in the background, huge social changes sweeping the country. Sometimes they are necessary to ground your PCs. But they're also the plots people complained about all the time, because they had no means by which to affect their outcome.
In my opinion, a metaplot should be something players can and do affect, and larger, untouchable stuff should be kept to a minimum as much as possible.