Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #245
7 Tips On Creating Moments Of High Drama
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
7 Tips On Creating Moments Of High
Drama
- Making The Scene Work
- Mine PC Backgrounds
- Take Copious Notes
- Seek Out Crystalizing Moments
- Pick An Interesting Revelation
Location
- Conspire With Your Players
- Important - The Golden Rule Is Don't Embarrass
Anyone
Readers' Tips Summarized
- Split Party Tips
From: Bill Collins
- Great Character Sheet Resource
From: Troy van Dongen
- Spitting The Party
From: Erik Lee
- No More Flat Dungeons
From: Alessandro Bilosi
Return to Contents
A Brief Word From Johnn
BioWare Online Store A Success
The launch of our latest project at work was a lot of fun.
We finished deployment about an hour after midnight and the
virtual doors opened at 1:30 am. Three minutes later the
first purchase was made and everything worked. Woohoo!
The launch was a bit crazy with tired people hopped up on
caffeine running around wreaking havoc (hmmm, maybe that was
just me). I learned one important, life-long lesson from a
colleague that night too: never stick a paper bag with a
smiley face drawn on it on your head and dare people to
throw things at you. It ain't pretty. No sir, it ain't
pretty at all.
Catching Up
Now that there's a bit of a lull between zany work schedule
and Christmas, I'm catching up on my To Do list. I still
have emails from early October to reply to, much to my
chagrin, but I'm catching up now.
Monster Geographica: Underground A Good Deal
One of this e-zine's sponsors, Expeditious Retreat Press, is
holding a two week sale on its D&D PDF book: "Monster
Geographica: Underground." I own this book and think it's a
great resource. It provides details on nearly 200 monsters.
I like the fact that the monsters are sorted by challenge
level, making it easy to build critter encounters based on
difficulty level.
Anyway, I encourage you to check the book out and to support
a Roleplaying Tips Weekly sponsor. You can find their ad at
the end of this issue.
2nd Campaign Starting
I'm currently GMing a game set in the D&D Birthright world
of Cerilia. It takes place two Tuesdays each month. Just
last week, I agreed to GM another campaign two Thursdays each
month. I'm pretty excited about gaming regularly again! The
new campaign will take place in Greyhawk, probably in the
Yeomanry. I'll be re-purposing B2 Keep On The Borderlands to
start, and then I'll see what the PCs do before planning
more.
I haven't decided at what point on the Greyhawk timeline the
campaign will start. I'm thinking pre-Wars so that I can
use the detailed events from various Greyhawk products that
lead up to the War as background stuff to flesh out my
campaign with. Plus, the Canonfire site has a great timeline
I can draw on as well.
I purchased City State of the Invincible Overlord this week.
Upon first skim it looks great. The City State is a lawful
evil city, and I'm thinking of placing it near the PCs' keep
to fuel adventures and hooks.
I think one of my favourite periods is during campaign
formation. Anything is still possible, and considering all
the game world, rules, adventure, and story options is so
much fun.
Well, I guess having a little more time on my hands means I
start to ramble, so I'll wind this week's "Brief" Word up.
I'll inflict upon you more details on my campaigns in
upcoming issues--we're trying a few minor experiments in
each campaign, so I'll let you know the results in the
future.
Have a game-full week.
Cheers,
Johnn Four
johnn@roleplayingtips.com
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November Issue of D20 Filtered Now Available
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and an interview with Sean K. Reynolds. Pick up a copy!
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Contents
7 Tips On Creating Moments Of High Drama
A guest article by Jonathan Hicks
It might sound like a bad thing to say, but let's face it, a
lot of roleplaying games are often two-dimensional. You
have sword fights, defeat the monsters and bad guys, solve
mysteries, and blast about in high-spec ships popping bolts
of light at the enemy. There's magic and explosions and
lasers and bombs and monsters and... that's pretty much it.
It's very easy to look at roleplaying as a black and white
thing, and in many respects it is. When you first see
classic good-versus-evil movies, like the original Star
Wars, you want to cheer the good guys and throw popcorn at
the bad guys. It's easy to see it as a big, dumb, action
movie.
However, what about that scene when Luke Skywalker went
racing back to his uncle's farmstead to find the bodies of
his guardians torched, the home burning? Highly dramatic
music coupled with heart-wrenching visuals. It pretty much
hit home with everyone and made for an emotional scene. Or,
how about when Gandalf fell from the bridge in Moria? Who
wasn't moved? Or, Luke finding out that Darth Vader was his
father? Or, when the Colonial Marines are first attacked in
Aliens?
Take a long hard look at these kinds of films and you'll see
scenes far beyond black and white. I'm a bit guilty myself.
For a long time I craved adventure in the Lord of the Rings
and Star Wars settings and I simply re-created the highest-
octane scenes from the books and movies. I didn't see the
drama behind the narrative or the special effects, which was
not wholly my fault considering the tension scenes are what
you take away from things like that when you're young. And,
after a while, my games and creations started to suffer from
it. Unoriginal games gambolling over into the next one, each
one the same as the last but with different locations and
names.
So, what am I talking about here? Well, what if you could
insert these emotionally dramatic moments into a scenario or
campaign and make the players do two things:
- Throw a shocking revelation into the works that forces
the players to rethink the direction of the game.
- Give the players something to sink their roleplaying
teeth into instead of the next puzzle or threat. The
emotional shock of a sudden revelation or an unexpected
incident during a campaign can heighten emotion and make
quite an impression on the players.
-
Making The Scene Work
The difficult thing is also the most important thing,
unfortunately: how are you going to insert a scene that
makes sense to the story and is an emotional shock to the
players?
Let's use Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back as
an example. The scene with Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader is
a classic and is down as one of the most dramatic moments in
cinema history. The revelation of the father and son
relationship is well placed and totally unexpected, yet
subtly clever.
You knew that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Vader knew each other. You
knew Vader was Obi-Wan's pupil from the talk they had in
Episode IV, and you knew Vader was supposed to be
responsible for Luke's father's death. The only thing you
didn't count on was Obi-Wan keeping it all a secret, but
when the truth does come out, you can understand why.
It all slots in nicely and makes a lot of sense, but the
crunch comes when Vader reveals to Luke that he's his
father, and not in a roundabout kind of way, mind you. He
waited until he'd beat the snot out of him, cut his hand
off, and had him hanging off a vane over a shaft before he
told him. Now that's drama!
So how can you set up such a thing in a game and make it
work? Read on...
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-
Mine PC Backgrounds
The first thing you can do is take a long hard look at the
character backgrounds the players have created for their
alter egos. There are always little snippets of information
in there you could use, and more times than not, the players
have created things about the past and haven't really taken
much notice of it, or they have detailed friends and
relatives they knew but don't take much notice of.
Take the details of the NPC, flesh them out (without the
player's knowledge) and introduce him or her (or it) at a
key moment. Alternatively, you could have them be a long-
term NPC whose identity isn't revealed until later. Wouldn't
it be cool if the players spent game after game trying to
figure out who the bad guy is and it turned out it was one
of their brothers? Or a friend they bullied at school? Or a
relative they thought dead?
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-
Take Copious Notes
If you keep notes during a game then so much the better.
Even the smallest plot point from a previous game might come
back to haunt the players. Perhaps, in a game a long time
ago, the players hired some help and they all went on an
adventure. Let's say the hired NPC was killed and the
players escaped without him.
Wouldn't it make for a good story if the NPC wasn't killed?
Wouldn't that NPC swear revenge on the PCs for leaving him
for dead? In this way, the game crafts its own internal plot
that, because the players were involved with it, makes it
resonate more.
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-
Seek Out Crystalizing Moments
Use the game itself as the driving force behind the drama.
As the game builds and builds, and more and more NPCs are
thrown into the mix, perhaps the plot can seem disjointed
for a while until a huge dramatic event brings the seemingly
unconnected events together.
Alternatively, the actions of the players are having an
effect they have not noticed or did not count upon. The
people they thought they were saving are turning against
them, or maybe it happens that they're fighting for the
wrong side.
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-
Pick An Interesting Revelation Location
Pick a location where the dramatic revelation can take
place. This will have to be a place that will be detailed to
the players so that the importance of the dramatic event has
a visual representation.
This could be anything: the top of the highest tower in a
thunderstorm; a deep, lava-filled cavern; the top of a
collapsing starship hull; the thin bridge over a deep rocky
gorge (Indiana Jones, anyone?).
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-
Conspire With Your Players
In some cases, you can get together with a player to sort
out a private agenda for the player's character that he
carries out. When the other PCs find out, it's even more of
a shock!
Be very careful with this option: the other players who
aren't in on the secret might feel left out or even a little
used and offended if they think the GM was favouring or
singling out a player that was working against them or had a
secret agenda.
For example, let's say that a character called Jevin Dayy
has had her background fleshed out in a sci-fi game by the
player. Just to make the character more interesting, the
player has entered details about her father, a business man,
who she ran away from because of his anti-adventure and
miserly feelings. This explains her well-spoken manner, but
also reveals the source of her dislike of safety-conscious
people and money-hoarders. She loves her father but can't
condone what he is doing: a nice little detail she added
just for effect.
Jevin has been used for quite a few games and is very good
at what she does (a technician with the group), but the GM
decides that one day on-planet she works on a vessel she
recognises - one of her father's business vessels.
What will she do? Carry on as if nothing has happened? Run
for it? She's quite capable of doing these things, but then
she finds out that the man who is now running the company is
her fathers' brother who has basically murdered his
predecessor to take over the business.
This is revealed during a moment of high drama to increase
the emotional charge of the event. Let's say that her uncle
knows she is trying to find out about how her father died
and has sent men after her. She assumes it's her father's
murderers trying to get her but, whilst she's crawling to
safety over an old rickety steam pipe over a shipyard, her
uncle catches up to her.
"Jevin!" he cries.
"Get away from here, uncle! It's dangerous!" The pipe
creaks and she hangs on for her life.
"Jevin, come back, it's dangerous out there!" He holds out
a helping hand.
"It's the men who killed my father! We have to get away
before they get you, too!" She despairs for her uncle's
safety and grabs hold of his offered hand to pull herself
to safety.
"No, Jevin, I came out here myself. These men are my
employees." He tightens his grip.
"You're lying!"
"I'm not lying, Jevin. I killed him."
"Nooooo!" she screams.
See how that works? It doesn't need to be a character that
was created for the PC background; it can be a long-running
NPC that the players know from previous scenarios or
campaigns.
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-
Important - The Golden Rule Is Don't Embarrass
Anyone
You have to be sure that the emotionally charged scene
you're about to drop in isn't going to make anyone at the
gaming table uncomfortable.
After all, some of them are there to just game and not get
emotionally involved, and having one of the NPCs suddenly
leaping forward shouting, 'I love you!" or something or other
can be a bit of a shock, especially when most of the game
has centred on action and adventure.
Remember, also, that the scene you're going to introduce has
to be a shock that's not out of context and that doesn't
suddenly appear out of nowhere. This can be embarrassing
for the GM as well as the player.
Here are a few lines you could use as a basis to charge the
scene, just for a bit of fun. Try to see if you can insert
these NPC phrases into a game and get the emotional response
needed.
- "I'm not your father"
- "I sold out your family/city/planet/race"
- It wasn't me who killed him"
- I'm your mother"
- He's been dead for years"
- She's the commanding officer of the new garrison"
- I am here to take you back"
- You are not who you think you are"
- This is my home"
- (my personal favourite) 'I'm your sister's husband's
friend's cousin's flatmate's former roommate"
Johnn: Thanks for the great advice Jonathan!
Here are some additional links related to twists:
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=75
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=69#r4
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=30#6
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=120#r5
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=159#r1
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=166#r3
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=176#r2
I highly encourage GMs to try their hand at plot twists. If
your first attempt doesn't work because the players end up
guessing it ahead of time or you made a mistake, it's not a
big deal--keep trying.
Also, it's key to avoid over-planning twists. If you over-
plan, then you'll try too hard to make a specific situation
happen in a certain way at a certain time in your campaign.
This will feel like railroading to your players and the
effect will not be enjoyable because it will feel forced.
Your best bet is to think about your campaign as it
currently is and look for loose ends, interesting NPCs
already encountered, and PC backgrounds, like Jonathan
mentioned, and mine them for potential twisting ideas.
Think in terms of "situations" rather than pre-scripted
events. For example, if the PCs' employer is a doppelganger,
then that's an ongoing situation. Instead of planning the
encounter where the doppelganger gets revealed ahead of
time, keep the situation in mind and look revealing
opportunities as the game moves along.
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Contents
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Readers' Tips Of The Week:
-
Split Party Tips
From: Bill Collins
Johnn,
Here are some split party strategies that have worked in
the past.
- Identify chronic wanderers. Talk with them outside the
game about how, when they go off and grandstand on their own,
it doesn't advance the game.
- If people wander for no good reason, especially if it's
not a crucial plot point, make sure NOTHING happens until
the rest of the party catches up. People get the message
when they aren't rewarded for their behavior with an
individually tailored encounter.
- For situations when it IS important for the party to
split, don't attack with overwhelming force, even if the
situation calls for it. Otherwise you make players gunshy.
- During split situations, try to limit the amount of time
for each split group to five minutes of real time. Switch
back and forth every five minutes. That way nobody feels
like there's too much "dead air time."
- Ignore time after a split situation ends. Nobody really
cares if in real life it should have taken 20 minutes for
Group A to conclude their business and Group B will be busy
for two hours. Make it happen that they can get together
again quickly without a random encounter.
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Contents
-
Great Character Sheet Resource
From: Troy van Dongen
I'm unsure if this site has been mentioned before, but "Ema"
has some absolutely awesome character sheets. There are colour
and b/w downloads available. They are in PDF format and must
be printed out to use, but my players and I love them. They
have full spell and feat lists from many (almost all)
accessory books. And they're free.
Character sheets available are:
d20 Character Sheets, 3.5E
D&D 3.5E Character Sheet
D&D 3.5E Sheet, Italian
Forgotten Realms 3.5E Sheet
Dragonlance Character Sheet
Oriental Adventures 3.5E Sheet
Ravenloft 3.5E Character Sheet
Eberron Character Sheet
d20 Character Sheets, 3E
D&D 3E Character Sheet
D&D 3E Epic Level Sheet
D&D 3E Character Sheet, Italian
Forgotten Realms 3E Sheet
Oriental Adventures 3E Sheet
Ravenloft 3E Character Sheet
d20 Character Sheets, Other
Star Wars d20 Character Sheet
Lone Wolf Character Sheet
Cybernet Character Sheet
Conan d20 Character Sheet
d20 Future Character Sheet
d20 Modern Character Sheet
Call of Cthulhu d20 Sheet
Deadlands d20 Sheet
Engel d20 Character Sheet
Rokugan Character Sheet
Melniboné d20 Character Sheet
Non-d20 Character Sheets
Dark Sun 2E Character Sheets
AD&D 2E Character Sheets
Dark*Matter Character Sheet
Alternity Character Sheet
Rifts Character Sheet
Cyberpunk 2.0.2.0 Sheet
GameMaster Screens
Star Wars d20 GM Screen
Call of Cthulhu d20 GM Screen
Deadlands d20 Marshal Screen
d20 Modern GM Screen
http://www.emass-web.com
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Contents
-
Splitting The Party
From: Erik Lee
Hello Johnn. The folks I play with almost always seem to
want to go off in different directions at once. Here are a
couple of things I do to keep things interesting.
- Use cliffhangers. I like to switch between parties
right before something suspenseful or interesting is about
to happen and right before any combat is about to occur.
This keeps everyone at the table interested in what's
happening, even if their characters aren't present at the
scene. Plus, the players also have time to discuss
strategies, tactics, and plans, and to consult the rules on
any questions they have before they enter the scene, which
helps me keep things going at a good pace when it's time
for action.
- Switch often. The players are more likely to use their
"off-camera" time wisely if they know they'll soon be right
back in the spotlight. It also keeps anyone from getting
bored by being out for too long.
- Reuse items from the split. If one group of PCs meet
an NPC they particularly like or dislike, bring back that
NPC for the whole party to meet. Do the same thing with
locations, vehicles, landmarks, etc. It's also a good way
to have the players impart info to the whole party in
character, if they do it as they remember what happened when
they split up.
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Contents
-
No More Flat Dungeons
From: Alessandro Bilosi
Hi Johnn!
First of all, let me thank you for your good work with the
e-zine. I've been following it for more than 2 years, and it
is much useful to me and my players.
I would speak about dungeons, both commercial modules and
self-made. I have noticed that dungeons are very flat. They
are composed of a large number of rooms, corridors, halls,
and secret passages, at the end of which you can find the
stairs to the 2nd level, and so on.
Maybe the dungeons are well-designed, full of interesting
rooms, traps, and encounters, but very often they add no
opportunity for 3D strategy and tactics during exploration
and fighting.
Now try to imagine: the door at the end of the corridor you
are walking through opens over a footbridge with a parapet 9
meters above the floor of a large 24 meter x 24 meter hall.
At the end of the footbridge, on the other side of the room,
a portcullis closes the way. On the left wall, 6 meters
above the floor, you can see an entry leading no-one knows
where. On the main floor, you notice also a wooden-door on
the right wall, with many scratches on it.
Just under the ceiling of the hall, 18 meters high, there is
a cornice, 2 meters high x 2 meters wide, running around the
four walls. (The players cannot see, but there is another
door in the same position as the one they arrived from, but
below them on the main floor).
How will the PCs act? Maybe someone will try to break the
portcullis while someone else will try to climb down the
wall to get to a door. A third PC might try to use a rope to
get to the main floor.
Let them separate, and then... make the gargoyles (or
whatever you want) fly out from the cornice and fight the
PCs, wherever they are.
Try to imagine the poor cleric fighting with his mace while
clinging to a rope with his other hand, 6 meters above the
floor. To say nothing of the rogue, almost reaching the door
on the left, attacked by 2 gargoyles (no one said gargoyles
prefer fair play :). And what about the dwarf fighter,
forced to fight on the edge of the footbridge, with a
gargoyle flying in his face? What if the gargoyle tries to
push the dwarf one step back? A 9 meter fall is very hard to
survive...
As you can see, encounters in vertical dungeons can be very
fascinating, and you can also use non-flying creatures with
ranged weapons.
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Contents
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and pick up this great monster resource!
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