Gamemastering advice on preparing adventures for Sword & Sorcery campaigns

[Numidius]

Sounds like standard d&d

 

[chaochou]

What?! I am not! No! Scripts bad!

Newly created PCs are sting in a dark cell in the dungeons below the palace
Then they'll do a bit of dungeon crawling like in The Scarlet Citadel.
End up leaving the city on a ship or riding lizards before the sun comes up.
Sailing out to see or riding into the savanna means they can end up pretty much anywhere for the start of the first real adventure.

Oh look, the script.

 

[pemerton]

they'll do a bit of dungeon crawling like in The Scarlet Citadel where they get an opportunity to interact with stuff to figure out what kind of people their characters are and get a feel for the world, and eventually end up leaving the city on a ship or riding lizards before the sun comes up.

So there's your script.

EDIT: ninja'd, just, by @chaochou.

 

[Yora]

No?

"Your in a cell and there's nothing to do but get out" is hardly having pre-written scenes with fixed outcomes that the players must act out in a fixed order.
And I wrote that this is the inciting incident to start the game, but if that goes past your heads I really can't help you.

 

[chaochou]

No?

"Your in a cell and there's nothing to do but get out" is hardly having pre-written scenes with fixed outcomes that the players must act out in a fixed order.
And I wrote that this is the inciting incident to start the game, but if that goes past your heads I really can't help you.

Yes! Do we have to spell it out? Clearly we do - here's what you wrote:

ONE - Newly created PCs are sting in a dark cell in the dungeons below the palace
TWO - Then they'll do a bit of dungeon crawling like in The Scarlet Citadel.
THREE - End up leaving the city on a ship or riding lizards before the sun comes up.
FOUR - Sailing out to see or riding into the savanna means they can end up pretty much anywhere for the start of the first real adventure.

Pre-written scenes with fixed outcomes in a specific order. Totally scripted.

But if you're too locked into your railroading to see it, I can't really help you.

 

[Bilharzia]

But if you're too locked into your railroading to see it, I can't really help you.

I think the ship has sailed on this one. I have nevertheless enjoyed reading everyone's contributions in this thread!

 

[pemerton]

Bizarrely, the OP has blocked me - apparently because I mentioned the script.

 

[Bilharzia]

Bizarrely, the OP has blocked me - apparently because I mentioned the script.

Same here. Apparently going with the start to every Elder Scrolls game is the way to run Sword & Sorcery ....

 

[ART!]

Indeed, it's total naughty word and completely unworkable. That's why I am asking.

What?! I am not! No! Scripts bad!
But if you don't have a script, and don't want to tell the players what they are supposed to do, how do you know what to prepare?

The impression I am getting here is that people think the best way to do it is to start by getting a group of players and having them make characters, and only then start working on content for the first adventure. Do I get that right?

The idea I have in mind right now is to start the game with a short prolog in which the newly created PCs are sting in a dark cell in the dungeons below the palace of the God-Queen, getting the news that they are going to get beheaded the next morning. The players then have to make something up for what they did and who's at fault that they got into this situation. Then they'll do a bit of dungeon crawling like in The Scarlet Citadel where they get an opportunity to interact with stuff to figure out what kind of people their characters are and get a feel for the world, and eventually end up leaving the city on a ship or riding lizards before the sun comes up. I am hoping that that will produce some material for me to work with.
Sailing out to see or riding into the savanna means they can end up pretty much anywhere for the start of the first real adventure.

That means I'll have to come up with something interesting in only a week or so, but I guess in the end there's no other way than to just jump in and trying not to sink.

The only kind of advanced preparation I can think of is to write down a decent roster for generic NPCs, draw a couple of floorplans for generic monster lairs and camps, and put together some random encounter tables that reflect the wildlife and society of the starting region.

My sense is that you're stuck thinking about all this in traditional D&D adventure ways. There's a real comfort in using a planned adventure, but playing a S&S rpg means not doing that kind of planning. The kind of planning you need is NPCs with motivations, groups of NPCs with motivations (the theives guild, the dock workers, the kids at the lizard mount stables, the town guard, the local religious fanatics) , and then a variety of cool locations (the bar where the theives guild meets, the docks, the lizard mount stables which has access to the sewers, the town guard armory, the temple of murdergod). Also: a sense of what the surrounding countryside is like should they actually decide to leave the city. Maybe a location or two for that area. Now you're done. That will probably serve you for a couple sessions.

It may also be that you have a GMing confidence issue like my own, wherein I have the ideas, but the thought of actually running brings anxiety. I tend to over-plan, which doesn't help.

SO: less structured planning + more confidence. Easy, right?

 

[uzirath]

I guess in the end there's no other way than to just jump in and trying not to sink.

Not a bad choice to print on a GM’s mug.

When is your first session? Please report back with details and lessons learned. I’ve been intrigued by the conversation here.