Great idea for a thread.
I use a lot of different building blocks for my games.
I strongly focus on interactions. I sometimes make the mistake of having stories that overly focus on NPCs rather than PCs, but I try to focus on things that the players will enjoy interacting with. This means NPCs that are fun to spend time with or that they love to hate, and places the players will find interesting. It also means glossing over things that are not fun. That said, I do try to make the world seem real and describe that their characters have been waiting in line for hours to see the bureaucrat, etc.
Another very important building block in my mind is scene. I try to come up with at least one truly memorable scene in every adventure, and usually have several. These scenes are where I spend most of my time, trying to add in environmental elements that will be interesting, giving the PCs indications of how some NPCs will react to certain events (with some surprises thrown in), and trying to add cinematic elements to the climactic encounters.
I use a lot of different building blocks for my games.
I strongly focus on interactions. I sometimes make the mistake of having stories that overly focus on NPCs rather than PCs, but I try to focus on things that the players will enjoy interacting with. This means NPCs that are fun to spend time with or that they love to hate, and places the players will find interesting. It also means glossing over things that are not fun. That said, I do try to make the world seem real and describe that their characters have been waiting in line for hours to see the bureaucrat, etc.
Another very important building block in my mind is scene. I try to come up with at least one truly memorable scene in every adventure, and usually have several. These scenes are where I spend most of my time, trying to add in environmental elements that will be interesting, giving the PCs indications of how some NPCs will react to certain events (with some surprises thrown in), and trying to add cinematic elements to the climactic encounters.
