Try This Fantastic Adventure Mad Lib
On the Roleplaying Tips Discord, @Kodia Tomekeeper reminded me about the fantastic template Pixar used for story spines. It works well for our own adventure, campaign, and even world seeds:
| Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___. |
Let’s give it a whirl for my Lost Isle campaign:
Whispers From the Ziggurat
Here’s how I initially noted an encounter seed in Campaign Logger:
@Troglodytes farm around and live on a #Ziggurat that’s an ancient tomb for #”Mithril Dwarves”.
That’s pretty plain. So let’s see how we can use the Mad Lib to polymorph this seed into something more exciting to play.
The Once Upon a Time starter serves as your establishing shot, as they say in TV-land. It sets the context and orients us to the time, place, and situation. It helps frame up the rest of the template, so I feel it’s critical to get right.
The first step I took was to focus on the monster.
Once upon a time there was a clan of troglodytes…
Then I tried to describe their normal or baseline so the story begins with something clear and simple that transforms.
…living on a jungle island.
I figured that was a bit plain, so I added more context and adjectives:
…eking out a meagre existence on a remote jungle island.
That made the Every Day clause easier because of the clear initial framing.
I then flipped it around into a question in my mind:
What do they do every day?
I think it’s important to establish conflict in a story as early as possible. So I embedded a struggle for survival in the day-to-day. eking out a meagre existence.
With the initial context set up like this, it was then a matter of choosing:
- An interesting event that happened.
- A couple of twists or event consequences.
- The final situation for player characters to encounter.
When we put those ideas together, we get a much richer seed:
Once upon a time there was a clan of troglodytes eking out a meagre existence on a remote jungle island.
Every day, they foraged for mushrooms, bugs, and vermin.
One day a troglodyte discovered a sea cave.
Because of that, they discovered a scarred, three-tiered Mithril Dwarf ziggurat surrounded by bubbling magma vents.
Because of that, their shaman began hearing a voice from the sealed pyramid that was scheming, ancient, and yearning. He started performing rituals tapping into the structure’s lingering demonic magic, which slowly warped the trogs’ bodies and minds.
Until finally the clan became something more – and worse – than troglodytes, who now worship a mysterious god and pray to keep whatever is inside the structure from being discovered, disturbed…or released.
As you can see, the Mad Lib works well for non-fable stories.
Using It For Cool Combats
I woke up with an idea today. Could I use this Mad Lib to craft better battlefields?
My GM’s Log mini-series on battlemap design continues this week. It helps you create dynamic, three-dimensional combat scenes with combat missions, stakes, and strategies baked in, with only a few minutes of extra prep.
So, what if I started a battlemap design with a story premise?
Let’s try it out:
Once upon a time there was a clan of Mithril Dwarves who built a magnificent, three-storey ziggurat plated in protective metal to live in.
Every day, they forged wondrous objects, trained hard for battle, and worshipped their three gods.
One day a demon discovered the pyramid, wanting the magnificent dwelling for itself.
Because of that, a terrible battle took place between the dwarves and a horde of frenzied fiends.
Because of that, the dwarven high priest sealed the fortress and overloaded the forge’s magma vents to create an impassable moat of fire.
Until finally the demon lord was banished, leaving behind a scarred, three-tiered battlefield where unstable magma vents still erupt and lingering demon magic warps spell use on the upper two tiers.
This is great. In a couple minutes using the Mad Lib I’ve got a backstory that offers and explains three dynamic features I can draw onto the battlemap:
- High Ground: Ranged attackers and battlefield controllers can climb the ziggurat’s levels for advantage.
- Meaningful Hazard: The magma moat and vents offer tactical options.
- Chaos Magic: Each spell cast on the top two tiers warps in some way, including any ongoing effects.
So now, instead of a flat and typical situation where both sides just rush to the middle to grind it out, we have a dynamic, tactical puzzle that’ll make the melee memorable.
Want to Make Your Melees Dynamic & Memorable?
Static combats where monsters just meet in the middle to slug it out kill session momentum and adventure pacing.
Use this Pixar Mad Lib to build dynamic battlefield puzzles with evolving hazards and interesting tactical choices.
For deeper dives into crafting exciting battlemaps that keep players on the edge of their seats, get my step-by-step GM’s Log battlemap tutorials today.
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
- Logical Dungeon Design: A System for Creating Living, Breathing Dungeons That Make Sense and Generate Their Own Stories.
- Tiny Prep: Learn the perfect way to deliver epic sessions without the epic prep time.
- The Simple AI Guide to Adventure Building: Turn ChatGPT into your GM’s familiar, a smart assistant with an infinite well of ideas.
- NPC Mastery Bundle: A huge collection of tips, techniques, and aids that will inject life and detail into your NPCs
+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.
