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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 19950" data-attributes="member: 812">More spy thrillers, less fantasy novels.Read John Le Carre, Ken Follett and Ian Fleming.Or read Steven Brust, especially Jhereg, Yendi, Phoenix and Orca. Great examples of convoluted plots with magic.Also Steven Erikson's Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates have lots of scheming and double-crossing going on.The thing to remember is that NOBODY is ever telling anyone the truth. What I do is start off with a sort of, &quot;Here's the situation,&quot; report and then sit down and figure out the REAL situation.For example, Lady Mac wants the party to root out enemy agents in the city. Straightforward enough. But of course, that's not what she really wants. Now I put my thinking cap on. What if Lady Mac IS an enemy agent herself and is setting up the party? Another round with the thinking cap and I come up with this:Lady Mac has been an enemy agent for six years but has had a change of heart and wants out of the business. She knows she'll be killed if she just quits or if she's found out so she sends the party after OTHER enemy agents to convince her spy bosses that it's just too dangerous for her to remain her. They'll give her a big whack of cash to get out of town and she can just run, hide and live out her life in quiet obscurity.Then I put on my thinking cap again...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 19950, member: 812"] More spy thrillers, less fantasy novels. Read John Le Carre, Ken Follett and Ian Fleming. Or read Steven Brust, especially [i]Jhereg[/i], [i]Yendi[/i], [i]Phoenix[/i] and [i]Orca[/i]. Great examples of convoluted plots with magic. Also Steven Erikson's [i]Gardens of the Moon[/i] and [i]Deadhouse Gates[/i] have lots of scheming and double-crossing going on. The thing to remember is that NOBODY is ever telling anyone the truth. What I do is start off with a sort of, "Here's the situation," report and then sit down and figure out the REAL situation. For example, Lady Mac wants the party to root out enemy agents in the city. Straightforward enough. But of course, that's not what she really wants. Now I put my thinking cap on. What if Lady Mac IS an enemy agent herself and is setting up the party? Another round with the thinking cap and I come up with this: Lady Mac has been an enemy agent for six years but has had a change of heart and wants out of the business. She knows she'll be killed if she just quits or if she's found out so she sends the party after OTHER enemy agents to convince her spy bosses that it's just too dangerous for her to remain her. They'll give her a big whack of cash to get out of town and she can just run, hide and live out her life in quiet obscurity. Then I put on my thinking cap again... [/QUOTE]

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