Building Better Adventures with Cyberpunk’s Beat Chart

Here’s a great adventure-building tip from @CasualOnesRay on the RPT Discord:

Check the Beat Chart from Cyberpunk Red (well, all the Cyberpunks, really).

Essentially, an adventure should have:

  • A Hook
  • At least one Development (information)
  • At least one Cliffhanger (a contest of some sort that puts the adventure at risk)
  • A Climax
  • A Resolution

You can typically reorganize those categories and add extra instances of Developments and Cliffhangers. They also tend to map nicely onto 5 Room Dungeons.

To add to that, each beat tends to run roughly 30 minutes of gameplay, making it a great tool for budgeting time. Using the chart could create a session framework like this:

Hook: The players are falsely accuse of a crime. They have limited options – fight for the truth, run away, or die.

Development: Obsession – You learn that a member of the party has been the obsession of an NPC. Hate, love, curiosity, or anything else that motivates them.

Cliffhanger: Chase – The NPC attempts to escape once their motivations have been discovered. The players pursue the only thing that can clear their name.

Climax: Final Battle – The NPC refuses to come quietly. The players attempt to persuade them otherwise.

Resolution: Greater Threat – The information they extract points out that the extortion truly came from a higher authority. The scope and scale of the threat increases.

Graphic of section divider

Excellent tip. Thanks Ray!

I like the hook example you provided. It comes to the PCs in a believable way. This saves a GM from the headache of getting the party to trigger the adventure.

Great climax, too. You’ve put the party in a tough spot because they need the NPC alive and talking, and possibly even in good condition to convince a judge or jury.

And I love how you set up the Infinite Game in the Resolution phase, where a new layer of the onion gets exposed while increasing the stakes.

Good job!

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

P.S. When you are ready, here are +4 vorpal ways I can help you with your campaign:

+1 Get My Campaign Logger App Free to Make Prep & GMing Easier
For GMs of any system looking to run deep, detailed, and immersive games, Campaign Logger lets you take session notes at the speed of thought in your unique GMing style while improving your preparation experience so you can focus on the parts of the game you enjoy the most.
Get your free Campaign Logger account here.

+2 Level-Up Your GMing With My Books

+3 Get the Demonplague (with 62 5-Star Ratings so far)
A complete level 1-20 campaign D&D 5E adventure path that offers intense roleplay, sandbox and hexcrawl play, cunning combats, and fiendish monsters.
Click here to see more details and to order.

+4 Get More GM Loot
Visit the Roleplaying Tips DriveThruRPG store, or browse books and courses to level up your GMing at the RoleplayingTips.com store.

Join a private community with Johnn