What are the basic building blocks of your games?

[rusty2667]

So, if you have a particular way to using cosmology, history and geography as building blocks for your games and adventures, I would like to learn about it.

I developed a campaign using a method that can be loosely called "interaction" as you defined. Without going into too much detail, it was based in a small town on the edge of "wild" with plenty of area for the PCs to explore (and explored they did.) It lasted over 15 sessions and was good fun. This way of doing things worked fine for me.

Now I'm revisiting the campaign world and I want to add some depth, so I'm focusing on the ancient history which includes cosmology. The big effect history can have on a game world is mainly through catastrophes. War, famine, magical armageddon ...these things will influence how people will see the world, who's in power, and how that world is shaped.

The PCs don't necessarily have to know history to see its effects.

 

[Beginning of the End]

See, that sounds really interesting. I wish my games had that kind of sophistication, but I'm not very creative when it comes to devising fiendish plots, mysteries, and intrigues.

Work backwards and use the Three Clue Rule. You don't need incredibly complex conspiracies or intrigues in order to use a clue-driven method of adventure creation.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Opposition to the PCs - what monsters and NPCs will they be fighting - and location.

A campaign structure could easily be built out of just monsters and locations. PCs go to location X and fight monster Y.
Low-level: Orcs in caves, bandits in ruins, weird D&D dungeon monsters in dungeons.
Low-to-mid level: Cultists, vampires and thieves' guilds in towns.
Mid level: Yuan-ti in jungles, giants in the mountains, drow and mind flayers in the underdark.
High level: Demons and devils in Hell.

All that's needed is you need to tie this together with some sort of plot - usually one monster is working with another or various monsters are guarding parts of a MacGuffin. But to me the plot comes afterward, it's the monsters and places that are most interesting.

EDIT: Adventures are the same, except it's monsters, traps and other challenges in rooms rather than geographical locations. Mocking face in room #1, orcs in room #2, room #3 is empty, trapper in room #4, etc.

 

[Gilladian]

I suppose story is my driving factor.

For example, the dwarf technologist wants to build a projector (for story reasons). He knows that the gnomes used them in their academy, hundreds of years ago, because he has a lens from one. So he's hunting for the location of the academy.

So I gave him clues that led him to a book, then to an insane gnome scholar, and now on a trek through the underdark to find said locale, and explore it. The rest of the PCs are "along for the ride" because it meets their needs at this time.

Later, I'm going to have a litorian girl approach another PC and beg him to do her a favor. Since he's litorian, and has been done a favor by her clan before, he will probably undertake to do it. This will lead to a lengthy adventure that will end up with the PCs tangling with a necromancer they had a brush with earlier on.

These aren't "deep plots and mysteries" but they do rely on story bits from previous adventures. The adventures themselves, I mostly cadge bits from modules and such... when I do design my own, I do it mostly by habit and "this sounds appropriate" with little thought to actual "scenarios".

 

[weem]

Using my current campaign as an example...

I wanted this campaign to...

1) ...be cinematic. I wanted to capture the player's imaginations not only with regards to the action, but locations and NPC's as well. I wanted to "show" more than I "tell".

2) ...be about the PC's. That seems pretty straight forward, but I wanted to really make sure they were never overshadowed. NPC's need to feel like peers, those in power are not necessarily powerFUL people on their own (I have a King who is essentially lower than level 5 in a combat sense).

3) ...be about interactions. Specifically, I wanted their interaction with the world and it's people to not only be enjoyable and engaging, but also meaningful in ways that could be seen in the short and long terms, in both positive and negative ways.


And a few extras that are specific to this campaign...

I also wanted this campaign to...

4) ...focus on immersion. I wanted to get the players immersed in the content and life of the world, keeping them there as long as possible.

5) ...help make me a better DM. I want to be the best DM, and this campaign has been very much about me doing my very best each game and learning from my mistakes.

6) ...help my players be better ROLEplayers. They are great anyway, but most express a desire to be better RP'ers. Using RP Promoting and various techniques, I have been trying to help with that in the game.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Art.

Inevitably, my ideas for encounters, adventures and campaigns are driven by a particularly piece of art (despite my complete lack of anything resembling artistic talent).

If I have the right picture then I feel like I can do anything. In fact, a lot of time that I spend preparing my DM notes is more about finding the right picture than about the design itself simply because, if the picture is right, the design seems to come naturally.

 

[pemerton]

Excellent idea for a thread!

My building blocks are (i) NPC motivations and their connection to PC motivations, and (ii) challenges. Sometimes (i) drives (ii) - something about an NPC will suggest a challenge. Sometimes (ii) drives (i) - I will have an idea for an encounter that I want to include, and work out some way that this can be integrated into pre-established backstory about NPC and PC motivations.

I like to use clues, but these are subordinate to (i) and (ii). Clues reveal NPC motivations, and therefore help the players work out which challenges to take on and what is ultimately at stake in those challenges.

I like to use a lot of history and cosmology, but this is subordinate to (i) - it is a source of motivation for NPCs (including gods) - and is a source of flavour for (ii).

 

[Steel_Wind]

The PCs are special. They have a "Destiny".

The Bad Guy has a Plan. It will be bad, as in "crossing the streams" BAD if he succeeds.

Bad Guy meet Destiny; Destiny, Bad Guy.

Really - it's all about that with me. There are all sorts of variants and coolness (and failed not-so-coolness) which layers on top of this theme. Sometimes it's enough to be memorable on its own and distract the players from the essential sameness of the "It will be BAD" metaplot. But... I know a cliche when I see it - and that's my cliche.

Or...maybe it's a "classic" theme. Or let's call it "iconic"!!

Nah. It's cliche. I accept it and live with the consequences.

So that's the core of my good campaign structures. It's almost always a complex meta-plot and Destiny standing in the BBEG's way. *shrug* I've tried all kinds of other BAD ones. But these are the only ones that really work.

The path is never straightforward, The plot is twisty turny and the mysteries deepen and the PCs will never, ever figure it all out if someone doesn't write it down. But sooner or later -- it does become clear and a layer is peeled back... and then it's on through the next layer.

The guys get this and enjoy it. Apparently, the slow build twisty stuff drives my wife nuts though.

 

[firesnakearies]

Art.

Inevitably, my ideas for encounters, adventures and campaigns are driven by a particularly piece of art (despite my complete lack of anything resembling artistic talent).

If I have the right picture then I feel like I can do anything. In fact, a lot of time that I spend preparing my DM notes is more about finding the right picture than about the design itself simply because, if the picture is right, the design seems to come naturally.

Ooh, good call. I do this too. I find myself spending hours just searching and looking through images online, finding cool pictures of locations or creatures or characters that inspire me with adventure ideas or NPCs.


Also, weem . . . another great post. You're pretty much my DMing hero at this point.

 

[FireLance]

Thank you for all your thoughts so far. The discussion has helped me identify what I would consider a fourth basic building block, namely, Lore.

Lore could be interesting facts and details about the cosmology, history, geography, and NPCs, etc. The PCs don't interact with lore in the same way that they interact with a challenge, or an NPC or an object. Instead, the PCs discover lore about the campaign if they put enough effort into finding it. Some lore cannot be obtained directly, but must be deduced from other pieces of lore, effectively turning them into clues.

At the most basic level, lore functions as a reward for PCs who have an interest in it and seek it out. However, lore can also underpin the other building blocks mentioned so far: it can help the PCs overcome a challenge, shed light on the motivations of an NPC, or suggest the best way to interact with an object.

Games which focus on lore may resemble exploration-themed games, but the emphasis is on learning and discovering instead of interaction. The campaign world would be one rich in secrets, mysteries and background details for the PCs to unearth.