Stephan Hornick
Community Goblin & Master of the Archive
Platinum WoA
Wizard of Story
Wizard of Combat
Borderland Explorer
Today, I read a fantastic post by @JohnnFour in the adventure building sub-forum about how @Jordan Jessee could plan his campaign.
That got me thinking. Johnn began with the system pillar, asking himself how the game could be improved for the players. I usually begin with setting and story instead.
Naturally, I wondered how it would be, if I did it like Johnn? What could I learn from it? And how will the game improve (and I believe it will)?
So, next weekend, I will GM a quick adventure and I plan to approach it this time with the game designer hat on. This will be a challenge!
Please, @JohnnFour (and all others), I would love to hear your tips on how I should approach this.
The PCs:
- Rhea from the Bitter Plains, Blue Leaf tribe elven warrior-druid, who tries to protect her tribe and nature from unnatural creatures and dangers.
- Edwyn from the Saphire Capital, chaotic human bard in search of a great ballad to sing about (that's why he accompanies Rhea)
Rhea wants to prove herself before her tribe and to herself, while she gradually realizes that other races are sometimes not inferior to her.
The down on luck fat bard Edwyn on the other hand has just realized that he may very well become a hero of his own story, even as much as the mysterious Rhea.
The Quest:
The heroes have just rescued the small town Auheim from invading insectoid monsters called Kikimore. The town is forever grateful to them, the mayor even more so because they had managed to solve a very difficult dwarven puzzle to enter into the mysterious burial mound of the late king.
There they found a copal amulet containing a living will-o-wisp called Smirny. Although imprisoned in the copal Smirny was able to communicate with the heroes and told them that the late king had imprisoned her for one of her tricks and she was left in the burial mound to forever watch his remains after he had died.
She was still in her copal prison, but she yearned to be free again and to return to her bog. The heroes helped her out of the burial mound but didn't dare yet to smash the copal as nobody was sure whether she could survive it. They agreed to bring her back to her bog, but even she doesn't know where that is.
The heroes first plan is to investigate and research further on the copal, will-o-wisp and bogs.
That got me thinking. Johnn began with the system pillar, asking himself how the game could be improved for the players. I usually begin with setting and story instead.
Naturally, I wondered how it would be, if I did it like Johnn? What could I learn from it? And how will the game improve (and I believe it will)?
So, next weekend, I will GM a quick adventure and I plan to approach it this time with the game designer hat on. This will be a challenge!
Please, @JohnnFour (and all others), I would love to hear your tips on how I should approach this.
The PCs:
- Rhea from the Bitter Plains, Blue Leaf tribe elven warrior-druid, who tries to protect her tribe and nature from unnatural creatures and dangers.
- Edwyn from the Saphire Capital, chaotic human bard in search of a great ballad to sing about (that's why he accompanies Rhea)
Rhea wants to prove herself before her tribe and to herself, while she gradually realizes that other races are sometimes not inferior to her.
The down on luck fat bard Edwyn on the other hand has just realized that he may very well become a hero of his own story, even as much as the mysterious Rhea.
The Quest:
The heroes have just rescued the small town Auheim from invading insectoid monsters called Kikimore. The town is forever grateful to them, the mayor even more so because they had managed to solve a very difficult dwarven puzzle to enter into the mysterious burial mound of the late king.
There they found a copal amulet containing a living will-o-wisp called Smirny. Although imprisoned in the copal Smirny was able to communicate with the heroes and told them that the late king had imprisoned her for one of her tricks and she was left in the burial mound to forever watch his remains after he had died.
She was still in her copal prison, but she yearned to be free again and to return to her bog. The heroes helped her out of the burial mound but didn't dare yet to smash the copal as nobody was sure whether she could survive it. They agreed to bring her back to her bog, but even she doesn't know where that is.
The heroes first plan is to investigate and research further on the copal, will-o-wisp and bogs.
So here are my initial brainstorm ideas for the game designer approach:
Win-state: Smirny is freed of her copal prison and returned to the bog where she came from (to return to her "people").
Meaningful Choices: How to release her from her prison? Smashing? Magic? Asking for help from the will-o-wisps they eventually encounter? Learning how copal can originally be used to imprison will-o-wisps? The "meaningful" part is still very hazy... it needs costs for that... What else could meaningful choices be?
Conflicts: I imagine an interesting conflict with a giant during their travels to the bog (as they read quite a lot about them in the burial mound), but a mere combat encounter seems lame here, I am actually looking for a different kind of major conflict, maybe even a moral conflict. What else could be conflicts here?
Constraints: These are constraints on how to overcome the conflict. Obviously, the constraints are that the smashing of the copal prison would probably prove as a failure. Smirny needs to be kept alive during the prison break and during the travel to the bog. What else could be constraints here?
Costs: So, I could imagine that there is a choice between going through the hills and the accompanying risk of meeting a giant, and the choice to go via a different likewise dangerous path. The second one maybe with a stronger risk from nature itself. What else could be costs here?
Consequences: Consequences of her death would just be two sad heroes, I guess. Her survival could on the other hand mean that more merchants will find their death in the bog... if I turn her into a dark-grey NPC in order to artificially create a moral choice... What else could be consequences here?
But really, what is the game, I want to play with the players? Investigation and Exploration, not predominantly combat.
Maybe to reach different steps in the process...
1. Legend about an old dwarven hermit in the mountains who showed the king how to use copal.
2. He doesn't want to free her, but tells them how it would be done, if they can convince him.
3. It needs a specific material from a monster (e.g. giant) that he doesn't have.
4. The PCs would need to borrow, steal, trade, loot that material from the giant.
5. The PCs might be able to free the will-o-wisp.
6. The PCs research all the bogs in the area and are down to two or three that could be her home-bog. This could become a sort of a riddle to find the correct one.
7. There is an obstacle in the way to the bog.
8. The PCs might be able to return her to the bog and her (loving?) "people" without themselves becoming deceived by the other will-o-wisps.
This is all very raw...
Win-state: Smirny is freed of her copal prison and returned to the bog where she came from (to return to her "people").
Meaningful Choices: How to release her from her prison? Smashing? Magic? Asking for help from the will-o-wisps they eventually encounter? Learning how copal can originally be used to imprison will-o-wisps? The "meaningful" part is still very hazy... it needs costs for that... What else could meaningful choices be?
Conflicts: I imagine an interesting conflict with a giant during their travels to the bog (as they read quite a lot about them in the burial mound), but a mere combat encounter seems lame here, I am actually looking for a different kind of major conflict, maybe even a moral conflict. What else could be conflicts here?
Constraints: These are constraints on how to overcome the conflict. Obviously, the constraints are that the smashing of the copal prison would probably prove as a failure. Smirny needs to be kept alive during the prison break and during the travel to the bog. What else could be constraints here?
Costs: So, I could imagine that there is a choice between going through the hills and the accompanying risk of meeting a giant, and the choice to go via a different likewise dangerous path. The second one maybe with a stronger risk from nature itself. What else could be costs here?
Consequences: Consequences of her death would just be two sad heroes, I guess. Her survival could on the other hand mean that more merchants will find their death in the bog... if I turn her into a dark-grey NPC in order to artificially create a moral choice... What else could be consequences here?
But really, what is the game, I want to play with the players? Investigation and Exploration, not predominantly combat.
Maybe to reach different steps in the process...
1. Legend about an old dwarven hermit in the mountains who showed the king how to use copal.
2. He doesn't want to free her, but tells them how it would be done, if they can convince him.
3. It needs a specific material from a monster (e.g. giant) that he doesn't have.
4. The PCs would need to borrow, steal, trade, loot that material from the giant.
5. The PCs might be able to free the will-o-wisp.
6. The PCs research all the bogs in the area and are down to two or three that could be her home-bog. This could become a sort of a riddle to find the correct one.
7. There is an obstacle in the way to the bog.
8. The PCs might be able to return her to the bog and her (loving?) "people" without themselves becoming deceived by the other will-o-wisps.
This is all very raw...
Last edited: