Plot
Some tips from Rich Redman's Adventure Writing, Part 1:
Basically, the rule is that nine out of every ten jokes you write will be awful. Here's how to use the Rule of Nines.
When you're stumped for a name, a location, a plot, a monster, or anything else, make a list. Just write down the first five or ten possibilities that come into your head, and you'll be surprised how much genuinely clever material you generate.
Around my writing desk are about a dozen books that I consider extremely useful, including a dictionary of phrases, a flip dictionary, and a book of names. Another helpful volume is 20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias (Writer's Digest Books, 1993).
I suspect that two of the biggest problems people have writing adventures are finding the time to write and producing something "good." You need to schedule time to write, and you need to actually write during that time if only to build up your "writing muscle." You also need to stop listening to the voices in your head that criticize you. Just aim to write something that's good enough and don't try to be perfect.
- Pick a topic.
- Make a list of ten words or names related to that topic. Don't worry about whether your choices are good, bad, funny, clever, stupid, or anything else -- finishing the list is the important part.
When you're stumped for a name, a location, a plot, a monster, or anything else, make a list. Just write down the first five or ten possibilities that come into your head, and you'll be surprised how much genuinely clever material you generate.
Around my writing desk are about a dozen books that I consider extremely useful, including a dictionary of phrases, a flip dictionary, and a book of names. Another helpful volume is 20 Master Plots by Ronald B. Tobias (Writer's Digest Books, 1993).
I suspect that two of the biggest problems people have writing adventures are finding the time to write and producing something "good." You need to schedule time to write, and you need to actually write during that time if only to build up your "writing muscle." You also need to stop listening to the voices in your head that criticize you. Just aim to write something that's good enough and don't try to be perfect.
Some tips from Rich Redman's Oh, We Don’t Go There!:
Nothing helps an action scene like a cool location.
Action scenes that don't advance the plot are like beautiful paintings viewed by someone who's starving -- they look good, but they don't satisfy.
Opponents are optional. You can have a great action scene without a single opponent if the heroes have enough hazards to overcome. Climbing a cliff in stormy weather, escaping a burning building, defusing a bomb on a moving bus, and moving through an overturned and sinking ocean liner are all great action scenes in which the only opponents are time and the forces of nature.
And, in true barsoomcore style: Action scenes that don't advance the plot are like beautiful paintings viewed by someone who's starving -- they look good, but they don't satisfy.
Opponents are optional. You can have a great action scene without a single opponent if the heroes have enough hazards to overcome. Climbing a cliff in stormy weather, escaping a burning building, defusing a bomb on a moving bus, and moving through an overturned and sinking ocean liner are all great action scenes in which the only opponents are time and the forces of nature.
Cliffhangers
When using this technique, the GM gets the players to commit their heroes to a course of action, tells them "no take-backs," and then ends the game session. Until the next session, the players worry that they've overcommitted themselves or made a bad choice. The GM, meanwhile, has time to create an exciting action scene in response to the players' choices.
When using this technique, the GM gets the players to commit their heroes to a course of action, tells them "no take-backs," and then ends the game session. Until the next session, the players worry that they've overcommitted themselves or made a bad choice. The GM, meanwhile, has time to create an exciting action scene in response to the players' choices.
The Shaman
First Post
That's so remarkably close to my d20 Modern tabletop campaign it's scary, right down to the thumping house beat in the background - just substitute "necromancers" for "arch devils," and that's it.cmanos said:
I create my campaign-setting and my BBEGs, figure out what they're doing, throw the adventurers in, and start the whole thing spinning on its axis. It's great when the adventurers find a clue and involve themselves in one of the various BBEG story-arcs.
Then again, it can be even better when they don't and all of a sudden the army that's been gathering in the darkness comes storming over the hill and the players say, "Wait a sec...isn't that the same guy who...aw, crap..."
devilish
Explorer
mmadsen said:
Very good point! I use Jamis Buck's NPC Generator and generate 1,000 PCs as well as a random name generator
for 1,000 names (or so.) So when they bump into the mayor, I stab at the
page at random...."Mayor....Tilsby greets you as you walk in. " or if they go looking
for a bard in a bar...scan the page for a bard.
The rest is creativity --- the party went looking for a ranger and out of the
list came .... Vyschyslav! The party loves him because he is just an imposing
Ukranian-like tracker who responds to every question/statement with "Da!"
Darkness
Hand and Eye of Piratecat [Moderator]
Very, very good summary.Henry said:How about:
"Plot is what happens if the PCs do nothing; Story is what happens after the PCs get involved."
I always try to write up the goal markers for the villains ahead of time. If the PCs don't interfere, then what is planned, then happens.
This also just about sums up my adventure planning style.
Chronosome
First Post
Nice article.
Some tips from Rich Redman's Mystery Plots:
A good mystery actually involves two stories -- what appeared to happen, and what did happen. These two tales are sometimes called the surface story and the real story. You have to know both of them.
A cardinal rule of mystery fiction is not to over-plot. Keep the crime simple and the reasons why the criminal's identity isn't obvious equally simple.
When populating your mystery story, give every GM character a character flaw. Make one a liar, another a gossip, a third a petty thief, a fourth a spouse abuser, and so on. If you give the heroes a reason to dislike everyone, the villain's flaw can hide in plain sight.
One of the "rules" of mystery writing is that you have to introduce the villain early. Thus, one of the first characters the heroes meet should be the person who committed the crime.
It's a good idea to give one character no motive, no means, and no opportunity to prove herself innocent. Chances are your audience will assume this seemingly innocent person is the criminal.
Since red herrings lead to people who did not commit the crime, scattering a few of them around gives you opportunities to present colorful characters and give them some time in the spotlight.
When the players find an element of the story that doesn't make sense because you made a mistake, just shut up and wait. Chances are that their overactive imaginations will come up with an explanation they can accept. When they've done so, move on.
Summarizing my longest column to date is a tough task, but I'll take my best shot.
* Make sure your players want to investigate a mystery.
* Don't over-plot. Keep things simple.
* Plan out both the real story and the surface story.
* Consider who the heroes are and what information they have access to.
* Set your first mysteries in cities.
* Murder is the most exciting crime for a mystery, but it's not your only choice.
* Your villain must be someone who is both capable of committing the crime and has a reason to do so.
* The victim is the heroes' route into the mystery, so choose her carefully.
* Make a list of clues that could lead the heroes to the villain, considering all the different kinds of clues.
* Suspense happens when something menaces the heroes because of their investigation. The closer the heroes get to the truth, the higher the level of menace should become.
* Practice your poker face and tell the players the truth -- just not all of it.
* Consider FX when crafting your mystery, both as a tool for the heroes' investigation and as a tool for the villain to commit the crime.
* Monsters as killers are too obvious, and monsters as misunderstood victims are clichés. They do make interesting and hard-to-track-down witnesses, though.
* Do your research not only on methods, but also on locations, criminals, and crime fiction.
A cardinal rule of mystery fiction is not to over-plot. Keep the crime simple and the reasons why the criminal's identity isn't obvious equally simple.
When populating your mystery story, give every GM character a character flaw. Make one a liar, another a gossip, a third a petty thief, a fourth a spouse abuser, and so on. If you give the heroes a reason to dislike everyone, the villain's flaw can hide in plain sight.
One of the "rules" of mystery writing is that you have to introduce the villain early. Thus, one of the first characters the heroes meet should be the person who committed the crime.
It's a good idea to give one character no motive, no means, and no opportunity to prove herself innocent. Chances are your audience will assume this seemingly innocent person is the criminal.
Since red herrings lead to people who did not commit the crime, scattering a few of them around gives you opportunities to present colorful characters and give them some time in the spotlight.
When the players find an element of the story that doesn't make sense because you made a mistake, just shut up and wait. Chances are that their overactive imaginations will come up with an explanation they can accept. When they've done so, move on.
Summarizing my longest column to date is a tough task, but I'll take my best shot.
* Make sure your players want to investigate a mystery.
* Don't over-plot. Keep things simple.
* Plan out both the real story and the surface story.
* Consider who the heroes are and what information they have access to.
* Set your first mysteries in cities.
* Murder is the most exciting crime for a mystery, but it's not your only choice.
* Your villain must be someone who is both capable of committing the crime and has a reason to do so.
* The victim is the heroes' route into the mystery, so choose her carefully.
* Make a list of clues that could lead the heroes to the villain, considering all the different kinds of clues.
* Suspense happens when something menaces the heroes because of their investigation. The closer the heroes get to the truth, the higher the level of menace should become.
* Practice your poker face and tell the players the truth -- just not all of it.
* Consider FX when crafting your mystery, both as a tool for the heroes' investigation and as a tool for the villain to commit the crime.
* Monsters as killers are too obvious, and monsters as misunderstood victims are clichés. They do make interesting and hard-to-track-down witnesses, though.
* Do your research not only on methods, but also on locations, criminals, and crime fiction.
Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
mmadsen said:
Alternatively, make your villain a Shadow Dancer!
