Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="SweeneyTodd" data-source="post: 2663301" data-attributes="member: 9391">Oh yeah, I hear you. These moments are the point of play, for me. Here's what I tend to do: Have the players create their PCs together, kicking ideas around the room. I heavily encourage them to create characters with strong motivations, goals, and beliefs, and complex relationships -- and I use systems that reward these things mechanically. (e.g. Dogs in the Vineyard, Burning Wheel, The Shadow of Yesterday, or The Riddle of Steel. In a pinch, though, you can make these things a source of XP or Action Points, or use something like the excellent D20 addon Sweet20.)Finally, I have each player come up with a "Kicker", something that propels their character into motion. Often this is based on those goals or relationships they've come up with. Then, based on the input I've gotten from the players, I start prepping the campaign. I come up with NPCs who also have strong goals and beliefs, and work out a relationship map detailing how they're all connected.First session, we play out the Kickers, and things start into motion. This kind of play has been really effective at getting those "dramatic moments", which are often laden with emotion.If nothing else, check out Sweet20 -- it's an addon for D20 that handles XP based on the characters pursuing Keys, which are goals or motivations. If the players pick emotion- and relationship-based Keys, and everybody gets into the pursuit of Keys as a means of gaining XP, then you're literally guaranteed moments of emotional intensity in play. Seriously.* <a href="http://www.anvilwerks.com/src/sweet20/experience.html" target="_blank">http://www.anvilwerks.com/src/sweet20/experience.html</a></blockquote>

Verification