Writing useful game material efficiently

[Lonely Tylenol]

I'd suggest just using the term "inert" instead of "waste".

I think the recent discussion about writing "Mandy the well-cared-for-bear" as a resource encounter rather than an "inert" encounter is a useful one for clarifying where you're going with this.

It seems like the key concept is "don't write dead ends". i.e. don't write encounters where the only allowable result is that the PCs interact with it for a while and then leave with everything unchanged. This can always be a possible outcome to an encounter, depending on the PCs' choices, but it should not be the only one.

Saying "don't write dead ends" is certainly good advice, but the question is, how do you avoid doing it? If you're determined not to write dead ends, what should your writing look like? The presented system is a method that spells out a good way to write only interactive and dynamic encounters. The key concept isn't just "don't do this thing", it's "here's a system that will produce good encounters, try it."

 

[I'm A Banana]

Just like with E6, I've used this myself and it's vastly improved my game. Just like E6, I have a hard time figuring out how to introduce the idea to others over forumspace. If I just said "All you need are problems threats resources and rewards, check the sig for some." they'd call me a loony.

I think it's a pretty good flowchart for the flow of a D&D game.

I like it better than E6, anyway.

 

[Capellan]

The key concept isn't just "don't do this thing", it's "here's a system that will produce good encounters, try it."

I'd argue that the system itself isn't a concept. It's a method for achieving a concept (that concept being "good encounters aren't dead ends")

Note that I'm not trying to denigrate or minimise what rycanada's approach does. Formalising a method to achieve a concept/goal is often a tricky task. I think this one is pretty interesting and intend to try it out in my home MnM game.

 

[Ry]

Just ran a session that was prepped with this theory, and used E6. Both were stuck to religiously (even to the point of using Use Rope - twice!).

Me and 5 players (all different levels of experience with rpgs) all had a blast!

 

[Raven Crowking]

Well, between this and E6, you're really tossing out some good ideas. So when does "Rycanada Presents: E6 Mastery" come out?

 

[Ry]

Years, RC. Years.

This one needs a lot more work to be explained well, and to explain how building webs of PTRRs creates campaign depth, and so on. Upon reading it, people think my amusement park method is pretty good, but explaining and refining this idea is harder (ultimately they're the same thing, with the amusement park focusing on creating zones full of PTRRs).

But basically this whole design frenzy I've been in is my game's defense mechanism as free time becomes more and more rare. I realized I needed to tighten up my DMing if I want to run games without making sacrifices for how fun those games are for the players. That means no more prep that doesn't turn into play, no more systems that don't match my tastes in setting, no more rules work between sessions.

 

[Raven Crowking]

But basically this whole design frenzy I've been in is my game's defense mechanism as free time becomes more and more rare. I realized I needed to tighten up my DMing if I want to run games without making sacrifices for how fun those games are for the players. That means no more prep that doesn't turn into play, no more systems that don't match my tastes in setting, no more rules work between sessions.

Well, I have the feeling that I'd enjoy your game, and I have the feeling as well that if you wrote 4e I'd actually buy the thing.

Kudos!

RC

 

[Ry]

Well... at least it would be controversial.

Thanks RC

As to my Wednesday Night game (downtown, currently held in Ryerson), I'm up to 6 players right now but I'll let you know.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Thanks RC

Heartfelt. You do good stuff. And while it might seem that I am picking at it in this thread, I'm really just trying to help you tighten up your ideas in my own limited way.

As to my Wednesday Night game (downtown, currently held in Ryerson), I'm up to 6 players right now but I'll let you know.

Heh. I would love the opportunity to see the game from the player's side of the table more often.

RC

 

[Alnag]

This article and the whole thread is very helpful and full of impressive ideas. I can only express my deep admiration to rycanada! Great work!