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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 2041737" data-attributes="member: 2205">Here I am!  Sorry I'm late!  Of course, by the time I've shown up, I'm not sure there's much left to offer that isn't already on the table, or so it looks.  But yeah, I'm a big conspiracy angle kinda guy, to the point where I'm not sure I know how to run anything else, to be honest with you.Of course, that makes it difficult for me to describe what I do, because that's just what I do, and I don't know much of anything else, but let me try.  First, some general points.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have you read Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft series of articles in Dragon?  If you haven't, you really need to.  They used to be available on the Wizards website, but Paizo --alas-- chose not to continue to host them.  I've got all the text, at least, from the articles pasted into a single pdf document, but it's a bit on the largish side, so rather than post it here in the thread, I can email it if requested.  OK, so Ray doesn't specifically address conspiracy theory games, but he does champion a GMing style that is focused on secrets and the gradual uncovering of them, and he has some good advice on how to come up with those secrets, and how to gradually unveil them.  If you're a first time DM, he's also got a lot of great advice in there for every other aspect of DMing too.  Highly recommended, and extremely practical "I can turn around and use this immediately" material.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">To summarize (with my own twists) on the whole angle of secrets, you need to come up with a bunch; one for practically every major element of the campaign setting you develop.  If you have a major "homebase" town out in the woods, create a secret about it.  If you have a handful of major NPCs; either villains or allies, create secrets about them.  You can't have too many secrets.  Not all of them are going to be (or could be) earth-shattering, but they should be intriguing at least.  Keep all these secrets filed away on a list, or on seperate index cards or something.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Whenever you run a session, pick a secret or two from this stash and drop clues about it.  If it's a smallish secret, the clues can be obvious, or at least straightforward.  It's OK to give these secrets away somewhat regularly, but for big secrets, you want to hold them closer to your chest for a while.  Generally speaking, the longer between the first clue and the final discovery of the secret, the more satisfying the experience overall, as long as you make gradual progress.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The best secrets and plot twists are often the ones you didn't even see coming, much less the players.  I often play it straight for a while, and then --this is best if you're taking cues from the players actions, even-- developing secrets or double-crosses that I never anticipated, just because they players set me up so well to deliver one.  Don't feel like you need to develop everything in advance.  In fact, in general, the more you can keep open (to a certain extent) the better off you are.  I certainly never plan too much farther than a few sessions or so ahead tops, other than to have a vague idea of the NPCs, their secrets, their motivations, and agendas.  I use this information to plan out the next few sessions, naturally, but I don't like to look too far ahead.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Read drnuncheon's Freeport story hour (I believe he still has the link in his sig, if not I can search for it for you) and any story hour by barsoomcore, but especially his Barsoom story hour.  His link actually was just taken out of his sig so he could advertise his "Cut to the Chase" book, but again, if you can't find it, I can point you towards it.  I keep it in my subscribed threads.</li> </ul>As to some specific advice on your game, give me a bit to reread your posts about the setting assumptions and whatnot a little better and I'll try to add something.</blockquote>

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