My wife loves Chinese food. Me? Not so much, but I go along with her whenever she has a craving. My favorite part of the meal is, by far, the fortune cookie. No, not because the meal is over by the time we get them, but I genuinely do like them. I especially like the vague fortunes (nowadays, usually just inspirational quotes) that come in them. Most of the time, like those newspaper horoscopes, they don’t have any special meaning to me or what’s going on in my life.
During one such visit, however, I got a fortune that meant enough to me that I still carry it with me and has proven true enough that I rarely disregard it’s sage advice. The fortune cookie read:
“It is up to you to create your own adventures.”
Now I’m sure the true meaning this little strip of paper was trying to tell me was to go out and live an exciting life, building wonderful memories along the way that would keep me smiling long into my old age, but I interpreted the message as any true gamer would: I needed to become better at developing my individual stories!
Now, I’m no stranger to running published adventures, but I always feel a need to adhere to the story outline and never feel familiar enough with the material. When I run a published adventure module, it just doesn’t flow well and I think my lack of confidence affects the game as a whole. Those who have been following my articles, probably know that I enjoy running improvisation games, ones where even I don’t know the outcome. This allows me to become both a GM and audience member at the same time.
If I’m running a long-term game I can afford to allow my players to explore stories or actions that have nothing to do with what I may have in mind. These sessions can change the course of the chronicle, or can prove to be just minor diversions that can be easily corrected in the next session. But when I’m running a limited run chronicle or even the occasional one-shot, I need a little more structure and plan out those stories.
Even in the adventures I plan out, I still take some time to flesh out the setting outside of the story I have planned. This may be a force of habit at this point, but as any GM knows, no plan survives contact with your players, and it’s better to have this supplementary detail and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
I try to structure my stories in three phases; in Phase One, I introduce the threat or the problem. The PCs’ initial contact with this problem should demonstrate how unlikely any victory will be. Depending on how dark your setting is, this can be established with just a sound beat down, or the death of an NPC.
Phase Two should be about discovery, research and delivering any false leads or red herrings. I generally introduce half-truths and interesting falsehoods. If the characters act, either allow them only a partial victory or have them fail only because of inaccurate information. This second encounter should reveal the truth about who or what the PCs are facing. If the enemy has any special weaknesses inherent to them or their plans, this is where the PCs should find out.
Phase Three should be the climax of the adventure; the enemy should be closing in on their ultimate victory over the PCs (or whoever their target is). The PCs should have all the information and tools they need to claim victory over their enemy. Victory shouldn’t just be handed to them, however; the players should do the work of developing a great plan, and have both the ability and the rolls needed to win the day. I highly recommend planning for whatever outcome their failure would bring too. Try to allow them some kind of accomplishment even in the face of this potential failure. (Alderaan is destroyed, but the plans to the Death Star are still safe.)
If at any part of your story, your characters need to get an item, locate a clue or find a person in order to just continue the story, don’t require them to roll in order to accomplish such a task. Just have it happen. If you want to have a roll involving such an event, have the roll be for additional information, supplementary items or to improve the help you get from the vital NPC. No one wants to be stuck in a story where you can’t proceed because the rolls just aren’t there that night!
I would also advise the GM to plan out numerous ways to get to any critical juncture or plot point just in case (or really, “when”) your players surprise you with some action that takes the story off course, and don’t be afraid when those kinds of things happen! Sometimes the best fun you can have as a GM is when your players come up with something you weren’t ready for.
And as far as where to get your story ideas from? Steal them! That’s right–shamelessly and deliberately steal them! Steal them from books, movies, TV shows or even other published adventures. Steal individual scenes, characters or even full plots. They may not fit into your current game, but somewhere down the line you’ll be playing a game that would be a perfect fit for it! You can even put all these characters, scenes and plots into a blender and come up with something that seems original! Lay it on your players and bask in the glow as they praise your originality. Only we’ll know the truth!
Alex Montoya
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