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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JiffyPopTart" data-source="post: 5151238" data-attributes="member: 4881">Sometimes when I struggle to convert from BIG IDEAS to encounters I use a simple flowchart to layout what encounter can lead to what encounter and how success and failures at encounters (or scenes not involving fighting) affect the plot at a whole.A simple 4 ending plot with three planned encounters might read as follows..BIG IDEA:  Some orcs are attacking a castle.  The PCs might intervene for the king.  If the PCs fight for the king this is the plot.1. PCs defend castle walls from orc army.  (Giant set-piece battle involving siege warfare and coordinating different untrained troops)PASS: goto 2FAIL: goto 32. PCs are asked to harass/destroy the regrouping orcs.  (Stealth, traps, ambushes, or assassination of the orc leader.  Anything goes that hampers and hurts the orcs)PASS: goto ENDING 1FAIL: goto ENDING 23. PCs are asked to help the royal family escape the castle.  (Chase scene through the sewers with the PCs acting as royal guard.)PASS: goto ENDING 3FAIL: goto ENDING 4ENDING 1: The PCs are true heros of the castle and are treated royally by the king.  They have a new home base to launch adventures from.  (Campaign takes a "seeking adventure" turn as the PCs are relatively free from immediate danger.)ENDING 2: The PCs are thanked and rewarded by the king.  The orc army is still around and may show up later in the campaign.  (Campaign still at its "War sometime in the near future and the PCs can be mercenaries" standing)ENDING 3:  The castle falls to the orcs but the king lives on.  The PCs may pass the king off to some other castle and move on or help plot to retake the castle in the next adventure.  (Campaign switches to a "Citybuilding with the new king" mode)ENDING 4: With the castle overrun and the royal family killed, the PCs have totally left the area ripe for the picking.  The orcs have moved up a slot or two on the "movers and shakers" list of the world and the PCs have lost a bit of their reputation as heros.   (Campaign switches to a "PCs on the run an in hiding" mode)DS</blockquote>

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