Blue Moon Aurora

Before GMs can run an adventure they need to write, or design, the adventure.  Writing an adventure has three parts: brainstorming the idea, organizing the idea into an outline, and developing the challenges (which is really applying the mechanics you are using to your idea). 

 

Now the idea is important, but not as important as many GMs assume.  If as a GM you can come up with a really original and clever idea every ten adventures you are doing awesome, but remember if you aren’t executing your ideas well then it doesn’t even matter how brilliant they are.  Execution is everything, though we aren’t going to discuss that in this article, sorry. Look for execution pointers in a future article on this site!

 

Alright, now what does an adventure idea entail? Well, it should include the hook, line, and sinker.  The hook is the part that gets the hero involved with the adventure, the line is the main body of the adventure, and the sinker is the little twist in the adventure that makes it interesting.  So let’s give an example:

 

Hook: The PC is met by a kingdom’s heir (or corporation, interstellar empire, secret brotherhood, etc.) who informs the PC that his father is dying and that he is afraid a civil war may erupt for control of the kingdom.  His father has told him to hire the PC to acquire a ceremonial item from ancient ruins that he can use to secure his claim on the kingdom.

Line: The PC must journey to the ancient ruins through many dangers and explore the ruins and return with this ceremonial item of great power and deliver it to the heir.  

Sinker: The heir is actually the one slowly poisoning his father who has named someone else as his successor, but the heir with the ceremonial item will be able to either secure control or win the ensuing civil war.  Now for a double twist the ceremonial item is cursed and will actually bring ruin to whoever possesses it. 

 

That is in my opinion a pretty solid adventure idea.  Is it a little hackneyed? Of course, all the good adventures are to be honest.  Remember the core idea has to be solid and that usually means using a classic idea with some repackaging. 

 

OK let’s go over my major caveat about adventure ideas:

 

“I pronounce you GM and brilliant idea; you may now force the idea upon your player!”

Believe it or not this is a common problem when a GM marries his brilliant idea and then forces his new relationship upon his player.  All the player will be thinking is ‘by the gods, could you guys just get a room’.  The best ideas are subtly delivered not forced down the player’s throat and the GM needs to sometimes step back from the idea.  Here are a few classic problems to avoid:

 

1)      Character Obsession: Sometimes the GM falls in love with one of his characters, but it is not a relationship that is destined to last.  This is because this is a forbidden love and this character will come between the more important relationship between the GM and player.  Warning signs are when a character is really ‘cool’ (in the eyes of the GM), shares the spotlight with the player, and who the player silently dislikes.  The cure is to have the character die or disappear from the campaign.  

 

2)      Setting Obsession: Sometimes the GM will fall in love with a location or setting that the player has had more than enough of.  For me this is the Tapani Sector from WEG’s d6 Star Wars and I do enjoy the setting, but my wife detests it at this point.  Warning signs are when the hero tries to quickly leave or avoid a location, the GM is always trying to tie an adventure to the location, and the location seems to dominate conversations between characters.  The cure is to find another new setting to embrace and this time to not become obsessed. 

 

3)      Plot Obsession: Sometimes the GM will fall in love with a plot outcome and force it upon his player.  A classic example is imprisonment where the GM wants the hero imprisoned as this is the story he wants to explore, but the problem is that the player does not want the hero to be imprisoned.  Unfortunately, the GM is determined to tell his story and the player no matter what she does is doomed.  Warning signs are highly scripted plots, limited free will for the player, and outcomes that cannot be avoided. The cure is to let the player have the ability to control the destiny of her hero and the adventure.

 

You have now been warned so you are ready to get an idea!  Some have an easy time brainstorming and some really struggle with the process. We are focusing on those of us who really struggle to get an idea, as the other group is just annoying and we should ignore them.  So what follows is a five step plan to give you some good ideas for your next adventure:

 

1)      Ask the tough questions:  These are the soul searching questions that really can help focus you on your quest for a good adventure or campaign idea.  So ask these questions and be honest with yourself:

1. What is something my player might enjoy at this time?
2. What is something I might enjoy at this time?
3. What type of adventure (comedy, exploration, horror, intrigue, mystery, quest, romance, war, etc.) should I do next to keep things fresh? 
4. What has really worked the last few adventures? 
5. What hasn’t really worked the last few adventures?
6. Should I take a break from using the Cyborg Ninja Mummy King as my main villain for an adventure and do something different?
7. Is this really a good idea? (Ask this one after you get your idea and more often than not you should chuck the first idea you get, at least from my experience.)

 

2)      Hit the books:  Take a look at the resources for the RPG you are using.  A good RPG book should be inspirational and be a catalyst for adventure ideas, if it is not then it is not that good of a RPG book.  You can also go to the web site for the company that makes the RPG you are using and look for ideas there, many will have forums that are very useful and some will have published adventures and adventure ideas as well, and often these are all freely provided to their loyal customers.

 

3)      Don’t forget the media: A fantastic source of ideas is the media, from books to movies to the news.  Even if you are running a realistic Viking campaign the evening news can be a catalyst for an adventure idea: ‘wild fires in the West’ could become a forest fire sweeping towards your home village, or ‘coup in Chaostan’ could mean someone decides to challenge the Jarl for control.  All it takes is to look at things through the prism of hunting for adventure ideas, though I must give you a warning after awhile you start looking at everything as potential adventure ideas, even trips to the store or helping you kid with his homework, and your wife will start sending you wacky news stories knowing you will mentally file it away for future roleplaying purposes. 

 

4)      Recycle and repackage:  Really there are very few truly original ideas, but you can make even the most hackneyed idea fresh and new by recycling and repackaging it.  For example, take the movie Seven Samurai which is an inspiration to many movies, RPGs, books, and so on, but you don’t always notice it as the basic idea is often heavily repackaged.  The trick to repackaging something is to give it a twist.  For example, instead of having to rescue a princess kidnapped by an evil dragon make it the heroes have to rescue a dragon that has been kidnapped by an evil prince.  Seriously, a few twists like this and the next thing you know the player thinks they are in the most original adventure of all time and in a way it is.  Remember you don’t need to reinvent the wheel you just need to make it run smoothly.  My best adventures have simply been repackaging classic stories or movies and with enough smart twists it actually works better than a truly original idea.  Why? Well because the classic sources are classic for a reason!

 

5)      Take a break you need it: OK if at this point you are out of ideas then you need to take a break for awhile.  Seriously, burnout is a real problem for GMs.  What I do is either switch genres like go from fantasy to science fiction or take a break for a few weeks.  Use this time to catch up on watching some movies and read a few books and I can guarantee that after the break you will be ready to go with some great new ideas. 

 

Fantastic we are done talking about ideas! You are ready to go as by now you should have an adventure idea.  This idea will change and morph as you get down to the serious work of designing the adventure and that is not only alright but recommended.  Next we will tackle the structure of adventures!

 

OK so we have the idea and now we are going to tackle the plot. Remember adventures are easy to write, but good adventures are hard to write.  This is the fundamental truth about adventure design and it can be a frustrating truth for new and experienced narrators.  The secret is to be flexible.  Good adventures morph during the game due to the actions of the hero while bad adventures are rigid and inflexible.  So the question is how do you build flexible adventures? 

 

Well here are two tips:

 

“Good GMs create problems not solutions.”

This is very, very, very important.  Let’s tackle an example: you decide that the Key of Loki (our MacGuffin) is in the possession of the CEO of Ragnorak Enterprises and that he has this item displayed prominently in his office which is in an orbiting office complex.  You need to give some thought to what security is on the Key, but really you shouldn’t worry about how the heroes will acquire it.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, it is fun to be surprised by your player.  Second, if you have a solution in mind you may leak it to the player or, worse, force the player to only pursue that solution.  Third, there are really too many variables for you to consider every option and even trying to is a waste of time. 

 

“Adventures should be fluid not rigid.”

This is also very, very, very important.  If the hero kills your evil mastermind in scene 2 - long before the climax, so what?  You can still keep your adventure mostly intact by having a lieutenant of the evil mastermind take over, but most likely the lieutenant is going to change the plan so you need to do this on the fly as well.  This may seem difficult, but the trick is to know your characters and to be honest with the outcomes from the hero’s actions.  Players really appreciate this fluid approach and it is the mark of a highly skilled GM, though it isn’t that hard with a little practice.

 

So I have told you to not worry about solutions and that you should be fluid, but you still need a structure for the plot of your adventure.  The thing to remember is that this structure is an outline, a guideline at best, of the adventure.  When you can design an outline that is not only logical but modular then you have mastered writing adventures. Now adventures are usually organized both geographically and chronologically.  So when you are organizing your adventure the outline should follow the route and timing you expect the adventure to follow. 

 

Now I break down adventures into six components:

 

Prelude (Optional)

This is the opening of the adventure.  Often with group adventures you can skip the prelude and go straight to the hook, but with duet adventures this is often a favorite part of the adventure.  The goal for the prelude is to give the PC a ‘slice of life’ moment that can give either the PC or the setting a little more depth.  It often will have little to do with the actual adventure, but can set the mood. Make sure the prelude is self-contained and has a clear beginning and end that will not occupy too much time. But if the player really is interested in a prelude then extend it and let the PC have some freedom. If a little humor or poignancy can be woven into the prelude it will be more potent.

 

Hook

This is the method you use to get the PC to bite on the adventure so you can hook and reel her in.  Hooks can vary greatly and include promises of wealth or power, missions to help friends or protect innocents, opportunities to defeat evil, orders from superiors, and so forth.  With duet adventures the hook is incredibly important as the narrator should NEVER force an adventure on a reluctant player.  When a player has freely chosen the hook it will make her more committed to completing the adventure, but when it is forced the player will be apathetic at best and possibly downright hostile to the adventure. 

    Usually, hooks only fail when the narrator is forcing an idea on a player that goes against the PC’s goals or personality, or perhaps the player just doesn’t want to pursue the hook.  For example, the narrator really wants the PC to explore the Fathomless Dungeon of Eternal Peril he has spent the last two months drawing up, but the player would rather have a city adventure as she is bored with dungeons.  This can be frustrating for narrators when the player rejects the hook and, by definition, the adventure. When this happens the narrator is stuck without an adventure.  In these situations, the narrator should let the player control the session, use a substitute adventure, or possibly go impromptu and just throw out some vignettes.  It is better to have a loose mediocre session than to force an adventure on a player and create bad feelings that may ruin the entire campaign.  Remember your work is not wasted; with a little repackaging parts of the Fathomless Dungeon of Eternal Peril could become the Palace of the Sewer King that is under the city and which the PC needs to explore to rescue a kidnapped friend, or perhaps the entire adventure could be used at a later point when the player is in the mood for a dungeon. 

 

Scenes

Scenes are the heart of the adventure.  With a dungeon the scenes are pretty much laid out geographically and thus chronologically, but with other adventures it gets more complicated.  To get a grasp on this here are some basic questions:

 

A.      Is there a timeline?

B.      Where will the action happen?

C.      What might the players do?  

 

Once you answer these questions you will have an outline of scenes.  Don’t fret too much on the detail, but a crude map or two and some descriptive notes are all that you need.  Remember players do not enjoy long flavor text.  We will go over designing the challenges in the next outing, and for now all you need is some notes on the scenes.

 

Vignettes (Optional)

Vignettes are optional components of an adventure that are similar to the prelude as they give the PC either a ‘slice-of-life’ moment or a self-contained mini-adventure that is relatively quickly resolved.  Vignettes are diversions that can be used to spice up an adventure, slow down the PC, or just add some depth to the setting.  Vignettes are very useful when an adventure is dragging or the PC is flying through the adventure and there is a lot of time left in the session.  The beauty of vignettes is that they can be dropped in an adventure as desired so you might have a few drawn up and can use them as needed over the course of several adventures.

 

Climax

The climax is the really the point of the adventure, this is where the PC faces off against the dragon or reveals who the murderer is.  It is hard to pull off a good climax and mostly impossible to pull off the ideal climax that is in your head.  Just let the dice fall as they may and don’t try to force a climax.  To be honest, I spend little time worrying about the climax and almost never design this part of the adventure.  Let the heroes find their own heroic climax and just make the most of it when it comes.

 

Resolution

In group adventures this is mostly the rewarding of mechanical rewards (like XP), the dividing up of any treasure or spoils, and maybe some roleplaying of the reactions of key NPCs to the actions of the PCs. With duet adventures the roleplaying will be more significant, but it is generally the same.  One thing to consider is that some resolutions may extend into future adventures.  For example, if the PC killed the evil king at the end of the adventure the repercussions of this could extent throughout the campaign with a possible succession war, coronation of new king, appointment of new ministers, and maybe even coup attempts by former supporters of the evil king.  Players do like it when a NPC mentions some past exploit they performed even if was years ago in game time. 

 

Conclusion

Well there you go – a brief tutorial on designing adventures.  Of course, you now have to fit your ideas into the mechanics of the system you are using.  On that point, my main advice is to only do what you need to do and make the most of your time.  Despite common opinion, the mechanics aren’t that important, in fact, they can be a distraction.  Ideas and flavor is what catches the players and keeps them, so spend at least as long on those as the mechanics. 

It often all comes down to tone.  If you are shooting for a serious adventure of political intrigue, but all your players are laughing and giggling then you have utterly failed.  This happens a lot, because it can be very hard to set the tone.  However, there are some tricks that can make you more effective in setting the tone so that you can avoid unwarranted giggles when the diabolical duke’s insidious plan is finally revealed.

 

Words

Remember that the main tool of a narrator is words.  Props can be useful, but it is words where the narrator truly works his magic.  Words are powerful.  But the power of words requires you to understand some basic truths and the following tips help with this: 

1) Less is more.  The more you talk the less your players will listen.  Make your words count.  Trust me fifty great words are worth five thousand good words.   

2) In Media Res.  When possible skip the beginning.   One of my favorite writing tips comes from Hemmingway who said that all authors should cut out the first 200 words of their story or novel.  This is kingly advice for narrators. 

3) Mystery.  Don’t explain everything - always leave a little mystery.   Mystery is the most important spice for narrating.  Players who are curious and trying to figure things out are very engaged players.  It is very natural for narrators to want to explain stuff, often to show off their brilliance, but leave gaps and let the players mentally fill in the blanks.   

4) Use familiar words.  Yes, Gary Gygax believed in educating people by using archaic and rarely used words in his writing, but Gygax was a pompous bastard.  Your job is to communicate.  This doesn’t mean you dumb down your speech patterns, it just means you make sure your audience clearly understands you.  The next tip actually conflicts a little with this one.

5) Use accents and exotic grammar if you can.  If your campaign takes place in a foreign locale, and if you can, work in some foreign words and grammar structures for that locale.  Personally, this is something I’m not very good at - so I rarely do it as I think too much in English and my normal idiom.   However, I do sometimes use exotic words to describe places and people as they can evoke reactions by their difference from more mundane and familiar words.

6) NEVER TELL YOUR PLAYERS HOW THEY FEEL!  OK we all do this from time to time as narrators, but it is not a good thing.  We should be able to evoke a feeling without telling the players what that feeling is.  This is very hard, but once mastered is the mark of a great GM.  When players find their own reactions to a situation it is far more potent.

 

Delivery

Now with play-by-post delivery is less important, just make sure you spell your words correctly and everything is grammatically correct (remember commas, I usually don’t).  In live sessions delivery is everything.  No matter how great the words if they aren’t delivered well they lose their impact.  If you have read a number of movie scripts you can understand this.  Often the scripts are better than the movies, even with well-acted movies.  This is because just with words we can create the ultimate expression of those words in our minds.  Still here are some tips to help your delivery carry your words:

1) Speak clearly.  Speak as clearly and concisely as possible.  Do not ramble. 

2) Volume control is key.  If you want your players to listen to you - speak quietly.  Think of the most menacing characters in movies, more often than not they were quiet people.  Good actors know that loud isn’t powerful, quiet it powerful.  That said, loud is great for some NPCs - if you want to project the fact that a NPC or creature is large in size then speaks louder than usual. 

3) Make eye contact.  Eye contact is powerful.  Seriously, this is how you make an emotional contact with someone.  You want someone to like you then make eye contact with them.  As a narrator eye contact is critical to sharing your imagination with your players. 

4) Use accents and funny voices if you can.  You will feel awkward at first, but it really works.  Even your worse accent might make your players remember a character better.  But if you do use an accent for a character then make sure you make a note of it.  You want to use the same accent next time the PCs encounter that NPC.

5) Sound effects are fun.  I do sound effects all the time for swords, vehicles, crashes, and the like.  Personally, I think I can give the guy on Prairie Home Companion a run for his money.  Certainly, don’t overdo it, but with a little practice it can add something to adventure.  If you aren’t comfortable with this then don’t do it, being at ease with yourself is critical. 

 

Props

You have a lot of props you don’t even know about.  Music, lighting, and tons of junk you can create with Photoshop or download from the Internet.  Little things like dimming the lights during a dungeon adventure and putting in an eerie, but quiet, CD can really enhance the mood.  Once again here are some tips:

1) Less is more.  Don’t overdo props.  This also applies to handouts.  Yes, I know you want to share the 10,000 year history of the 108 Sorcerer-Kings to your players, but don’t.  It’s too much.  It is the same with props.  Miniatures and battle grids may be good every now and then, but if you use them for every battle then they undermine the roleplaying and disrupt the mood. 

2) Physical props may be lost.  If you spend 12 hours hand drawing the ultimate map of the dungeon of perpetual peril and give it to your players, realize that most likely the player who has it will lose it.  Don’t get upset (you should have only given him a photocopy) and work it into the campaign – “oh no, the map has been stolen!”

3) Remove distractions.  Don’t make the music too loud, don’t leave a nearby TV on, don’t let people surf the Internet with their laptops (actually, just ban laptops), and lock your kids in their room.  Distractions are the worse thing for a narrator to overcome after they have come into play, deal with them beforehand.