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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 6324585" data-attributes="member: 23935">The description above covers two different tools I use.The first is creation of new game assets.  I create small after-action reports for myself.  The primary purpose is to collect world results so as to determine consequence/world reaction and to collect loose ends -- those things that happened or were discovered by the table through play that do not currently have a known cause.I review my loose thread file and look for a cause that can be the rationale for one or more threads.  Once I'm inspired, I'll review constraints on the potential of the asset (minimum/maximum strength, breadth of operation, known intelligence by other groups, etc.) so the insertion provides no contradiction for table history.  If the asset is still viable, I'll design the asset, attach the threads to it, and add it to my "default future-history" timeline (what will happen assuming the PCs do nothing to cause any alterations).The asset now "exists".  It will react to PC actions that are of interest to it and it will continue to cause effects in the universe for the PCs to detect and interact with as it exerts an influence on the area around it.Asset reaction is my second major tool.  Assets will react to PC action, to each other, and to the passage of time.  The way assets react is constrained by their nature, their strength, breadth of operation, and their knowledge.Here's a simple example.  While on an overland mission, the party is attacked a few times by the same random encounter: cultists.  Normally this encounter is rare.  There is no game asset in the area that can account for the activity.  The history for the area notes a diabolic coven was burned out of the area about a century ago.  Could a new coven be forming?  Other loose ends include rumours fed to the group about missing townsfolk -- the townsfolk are blaming the dryads in the faerie woods.  If a coven were trying to move into the area, what would be attracting it?  Until now no one has raised an alarm or mentioned unusual events so the group has to be small and circumspect but large enough it can tolerate the losses from the encounters.  Using the area maps I note a abandoned logging camp not too far from a couple of the attack sites.  The camp notes a few small fae creatures call it home.  If the coven wants to move in here it will have to dislocate the fae.So using the constraints determined, I figure the coven could exist but would require a minimum level 7 leader to account for the strength of those already encountered.  The coven is seeking the original coven site as it believes an item of power lies forgotten in the ashes.  Considering the area, if the leader were 9th level or higher, available magic would circumvent the need for manual searching to a degree that the encounters wouldn't have happened.So I add the remnants of a coven led by a 7-8th level character.  Effects on the game world: Displaced fay will begin to appear in nearby locations complaining to the local druids about humans who break the treatiesOthers traveling in the area will report encountering similar cultists (if powerful enough to survive) or just go missingQuiet recruitment in the area and further afield to make up for losses sufferedThe coven is added to the timeline  with actions (searching for site for next 83 days, setting up to excavate the site in 90 days, discovery by local druids in 76 days), other assets get new actions (druids look for help investigating faerie claims in 15 days, seek out problem themselves in 70 days if no help forthcoming).</blockquote>

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