Roleplaying Tips Weekly E-Zine Issue #463
The Pirate Queen's Adventure Checklist
Contents:
This Week's Tips Summarized
The Pirate Queen's Adventure Checklist
Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
One on One Adventures Compendium Available in PDF
One on One Adventures Compendium (now powered by Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game) is now available in PDF! This 244 paged
tomb is a collection of 11 adventures including the award-
winning The Pleasure Prison of the B'thuvian Demon Whore.
While these adventures are designed for 1 player and 1 GM,
they are easily scaled up to a traditional party of four.
Coming soon to stores in October!
One on One Adventures Compendium
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A Brief Word From Hannah
Renaissance Festivals
I'm sure most of you already know and love Renfests, but
I've recently discovered that some gamers haven't heard of
them. Since Renfest season is now in full swing, I thought
I'd take a moment to talk about them.
Renaissance Festivals, or Renfests for short, are large
gatherings of people dressing in Renaissance style, selling
things in the style of that period. There are also plays,
jousts, comedic performances of all sort, and every kind of
meat you can imagine on a stick. Since this is around the
time period when most fantasy stuff is set, there's plenty
of that to be had as well.
They occur during weekends in the summer and fall, and you
can find them just about anywhere. Just google for "[your
state/province] renaissance festival" and you're likely to
come up with at least a couple.
You can pick up great props for gaming; everything from
clothing and armor to real steel swords to pewter minis,
pewter and metal dice, and potion bottles. But more than
that, they're huge gatherings of like-minded people. Hang
out, swap gaming stories, and just soak in the atmosphere.
Monster Contest Deadline Extended
Chaotic Shiny's Monster Contest has been extended a week,
so it now ends October 3rd. That means you still have a
little bit more time to get in some entries!
Monster Contest Rules
Hannah Lipsky
hannah@roleplayingtips.com
AIM: DemonIllusionist
Website: http://chaoticshiny.com
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Campaign Coins
Treasure Worthy Of Your Greatest Adventures!
Introduce extra depth to your role-playing experience with
Campaign Coins - a universal money system that can be used
for RPG's, LARP's, card games, board games or props.
For more information:
www.campaigncoins.com
World wide distribution
www.paizo.com
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The Pirate Queen's Adventure Checklist
By Amy Driscoll
Here is a step by step adventure creation framework I've
developed to raise the quality of my sessions.
I aim to spend less time than the length of each gaming
session on creating the game, without sacrificing the
quality of the game I'm running. The tips below help me do
quick but quality adventure production.
1. Basic Plot Structure
Write down the basic plot and brainstorm three possible
outcomes. Choose the coolest. Run with it.
When starting to write an adventure I have often conditions
left over from the last session or I have an idea for a very
cool scene. I summarise my idea as briefly as possible, then
work out the scenarios that could lead to or result from the
scene.
Having multiple outcomes gets me thinking like the players
would when confronted with the event. What other possible
explanations are there? What emotions do I want to surround
this with? What bizarre, in-game logic can I use to justify
this? At this stage, I worry less about feasibility than I
do about possibilities. Most of it can be tied together to
add depth to the story as you go.
For example: murder on a zeppelin. The plot idea here is the
PCs are on a zeppelin flight and one of the passengers
mysteriously disappears.
Possible Reason 1. During a drunken liaison with a fellow
passenger, she fell overboard accidentally. The fellow
passenger is covering this up to protect his reputation or
marriage.
Possible Reason 2. The woman was a blackmailer. One of the
other passengers poisoned her and pushed her down the
garbage chute.
Possible Reason 3. The woman was fed to something evil in
the cargo hold. A vampire in transit? Cannibal snails? The
demon powering the ship? Scant remains that don't look human
can be found only through careful investigation.
In this case, I went with Reason 1. I made the fellow
passenger an ambassador from a particularly straight laced
society. I also liked the blackmail angle - maybe that was
her motivation in seducing the ambassador - and worked that
into the plot. I decided to add the cannibal snails into the
hold as a distraction for the players and a reason for
another passenger to act suspiciously.
If I want more structure to the plot, I would apply the 5
Room Dungeon template. But for now, the basic plot is done.
2. Pace and Tone
I consider what mood, atmosphere, or pace I want for the
session. Often this is dictated by the game and players
anyway, but it needs to be considered.
This is important when thinking about location design
weather, styles, structures, layout, etc. and NPC types.
I usually just list a two or three word description or the
mood I want. The words I want to describe the Zeppelin
Murder are "suspicious, confined, pulp."
From this, I describe the Zeppelin's interior as luxurious
but small. The walls and doors are cloth over a frame for
reasons of weight, but it also means that sounds will
travel to other passengers and there's not much privacy.
The other passengers are be pulp characters - psychics,
adventurers, mad scientists, plucky gals and such.
3. Backward and Forward Links
Next, I consider if I can add a link to previous campaign or
game.
I first think about whether I can reuse a previous NPC.
Players love this. It's a lazy way to add depth to the world
of the campaign and your hastily thrown together NPCs. It
also lends to your aura of GM omniscience. You can reuse
previously created material, saving you more time.
Continuing with the example of the Zeppelin Murder, the
ambassador is related to a previous PC. The ship is named
after a significant previous event the old PCs were involved
in. Cannibal snails killed a favourite NPC in a previous
game. An old NPC is the ship's captain, a steward, a fellow
passenger.
The next question is, can I foreshadow or link to a future
adventure?
This one is trickier - you need to have some forward
planning or vague ideas in place. Again though, it adds to
your aura of godlike GM powers.
Future cool ideas for the Zeppelin Murder could be:
- Giant cannibal snails attack metropolis! 'nuff said.
- An adventurers' club loses a valuable arcane artifact. So,
let's make one of the passengers a courier, transporting the
artifact that will later be stolen. Remembering the
detectives on board his flight, the courier will track down
the PCs for help.
- Everyone in a boarding house is sharing the same
nightmare. So, one of the passengers is a returning
university student. Her dorm mates have been sharing the
same nightmare for three weeks now. Remembering the
detectives on board her flight...etc.
4. Memorable Antagonists
Whether the antagonist is a location, a monster or a
mastermind, if you can make the players interested in
finding out more about it, they will become more involved in
gameplay.
Examples:
- Zombie Lord: He has a flock of undead ravens at his beck
and call, who follow the players about. He believes he is
granting the gift of immortality to his victims. H was once
a god, worshipped by a now dead civilisation. He deeply
mourns their loss.
- Murdering Psychopath: He is a favoured child. He uses a
clown motif and likes to sew his victims' skins into
dresses. He likes bunnies. He only attacks women named after
the virtues.
- Evil Wizard: He owns a successful tyre factory and is
using multi-level marketing to spread his sigil all over the
world. He was until recently trapped in a romance novel. He
will set his victims free if they win a card game against
him.
- Icy Wasteland: It is inhabited by a primitive tribe of elk
hunters, and contains a frozen palace carved eons ago. It
has sudden and unexpected crevasses, a single heated geyser
pool and a howling wind that sometimes whispers in a human
voice.
5. Location Map
There are several reasons to create a location map. I
usually only use these for a single structure, such as a
tavern or a ship. Leaving the larger places like cities and
landscapes vague gives me more flexibility.
Maps keep the players amused, gives them a clearer concept
of the location, and lets them plot their movements like
international jewel thieves. They add depth to combat and
keep the PCs from fudging their location. They also make you
look incredibly prepared.
Timing the map presentation should be given some thought, or
you risk losing the fear of the unknown, which a new
location gives to an adventure. I'll often only give out the
map if they have found a map in game, they have already
scouted the location, or the location is simple.
Memorable combat scenes use the location to add difficulty
or novelty to the conflict. Imagine fighting on a zeppelin
gantry during a violent thunderstorm, or on a panicked camel
near a lava flow.
6. Twists and Time Limits
A sense of urgency adds to the intensity of a session and
keeps the action and focus tight. Put in time limits
wherever you can.
The Zeppelin Murder must be solved by landfall, or else the
Great Detective Jardine will be brought in. And he's been
looking for an excuse to investigate the PCs' secret
activities for some time now.
Is there a twist you could add to make the adventure more
interesting? This one is often the hardest part. Sometimes
your plot will have built in twists, but sometimes you need
to add the extra kick manually.
The Zeppelin Murder victim was planning to blackmail the
ambassador, just as she was blackmailing some of the other
passengers. What if she wasn't just drunk? What if the other
blackmailer victims decided to do something about her and
drugged her?
She passes out mid-flagrante, and the ambassador drunkenly
panics and tosses her out the airlock. That would explain
why she didn't scream on the way down. Perhaps she's a
laudanum addict, and her bottles are missing.
7. Consider PCs and Players
Is there something for each PC? Why would they care about
what happens? Are they personally connected? If your player
has given you a good backstory, you should be able to find
something in their background to hook into the story.
Is there something for each player? Why do your players
come to the table? Does your adventure provide this? Robin Law's guide to Player Types is helpful here if you need
additional information.
If you want to shortcut this step, just add in something
that will involve players emotionally. One of the most
successful ways I have done this was to have a PC's rescue
accidentally attributed to another adventuring party in a
major newspaper.
8. Make Props
Is there an awesome prop you could make, acquire or alter?
If the prop doesn't relay information to the PCs, don't
waste time on it. If you have something already, try to
write it into the game as is.
The arcane symbols on your novelty knife become the
Magical Sigils of the Dagger of Death. Put the paper note
into your pre-existing puzzle box.
By far the most useful prop I have made was used for an
entire campaign. This was a gift box with hot-glue sigils
and spray paint on it, filled with scraps of burnt and tea-
stained paper. When magic stones were found and set into
the top, useful clues would appear in the box. The players
were motivated to look for the magic stones and loved
digging through the paper scraps to work out what had just
appeared.
9. Check for Completeness
Can you add a campaign over-arc clue or symbol? Again, this
is about adding world depth, foreshadowing and developing
the campaign.
This can be as simple as leaving the major villain's calling
card near the scene, having an NPC whisper the villain's
first name as their dying breath, or a reappearing black
crow with one eye glare at the party as they go to adventure
onwards.
Keep the symbolism subtle in the beginning of the adventure
as the campaign starts to develop. Later, you can drop the
blueprints for the Mysterious Doomsday Device into the dead
courier's case. It should be marked with the appropriate
symbol so everyone knows who is to blame.
Make sure you have generated a suitable NPC and location
naming list. You will get to the table and discover that the
player really wants to get to know the local butcher, for
some unknown, player insanity related reason.
Many of my early NPCs were named Fred. Even the girls. Pre-
generating suitable names has saved me from this. I use Randon Name Generator.
10. Re-check for Completeness
Can the players discover every vital clue they need to lead
them from one event to the next? Do you have a back-up plan
in case they don't?
Is it still fun? If not, work out why. Fix it. Otherwise,
what's the point of gaming?
If you have extra time, you can go back over the game, add
refinements, and build stats for NPCs and lovingly crafted
locations.
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Zombie Murder Mystery
Have the time of your life while PCs struggle to hold on to
theirs!
Zombie Murder Mystery is a party game of who-done-it with a
zombie infestation twist. Learn this roleplaying game in
just a few minutes and start having fun with your friends
with no preparation!
One player is the evil necromancer. Will you find him before
he finds you? You'd better work fast, the clock is ticking
down to the necromancer's ultimate victory. Or maybe it is
your ultimate victory?
Zombie Murder Mystery
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For Your Game: 10 Aristocrat
by Ria Hawk with permission from Strolen's Citadel
- The Fop
Always meticulously dressed in the most current fashions, a
staunch defender of tradition, a bit of a pansy, often
incredibly annoying, and terribly proud of his family name.
Unfortunately, he is the last of it, and may or may not be
able to continue the line.
- The Harkonen
He's the unquestioned master of his house. He's also a
bloody lunatic. Madness runs in his family, but he's one of
the worst. And he enjoys it.
He would like his sphere of influence to increase
dramatically, and has been trying to exterminate his rival
for an indeterminable length of time. Most of the rest of
the aristocracy is certain he will one day succeed, and
afraid that he will turn his attention to them when he does.
- The Atreides
This aristocrat takes his responsibilities seriously, even
if he might not have wanted the job. He tends to think that
all of the social niceties he's expected to observe are
slightly ridiculous, and unless talked out of it will often
do what he thinks should be done without regards to how
people perceive him. Between his duties and trying to keep
his family safe from the Harkonen, he has very little time
for much else.
- The Monte Cristo
In a world where money can buy titles, it matters little
that this aristocrat hasn't a drop of noble blood in him. A
former adventurer, he's returned to his homeland unspeakably
wealthy and unrecognized.
He wants revenge for the betrayal he once suffered at the
hands of supposed friends, and is using his wealth to get
it. He's quiet, preferring to let others have the glory, and
also very calculating. He can be cruel and ruthless, but
will only be so to those who have wronged him or who stand
in his way. The sort of man who always settles his accounts
in one way or another.
- The De la Poer
Something terrible happened not long ago, and this
aristocrat refuses to speak of it. He left his lands, his
title, and his wealth behind with no thought to keep hold of
them, and left his family dead.
Peasants whisper that it is better that they are dead, but
that is only so much talk. The De la Poer has no wish to
exonerate himself, and only seems to want to forget anything
connected with the bloodline of which he is the last.
- The Iron Mask
For whatever reason, this aristocrat is not who he claims to
be. He is an impostor, placed in this role by others.
Hidden
away from the world, he has been brought into the noble
world to replace the man he greatly resembles.
He was carefully trained by dissidents in positions of
power, and is watched just as carefully to see that he does
not slip up or that the deposed noble's men do not harm him.
Whether he will be better or worse than the man he replaced
remains to be seen.
- The Zorro
At first glance, he seems something of a fop, merely just
another hanger-on of the social elite, albeit an attractive
and honorable one. However, he is an unparalleled swordsman
and rider.
He sees himself as a champion of the people, and what he
cannot accomplish within the confines of the aristocracy, he
is more than willing to do with his blade. He also has a
rather acidic sense of humor, and has left an outraged
opponent humiliated more than once.
- The Bathory
This aristocrat seems to be a shining example of what the
aristocracy should be, but in reality is a human monster who
can make the Harkonen look sane. Almost definitely a
psychopath, she thinks nothing of casually murdering her own
peasants for whatever ends, be it a vain quest for eternal
beauty or personal amusement. Only the protection of her
title and the front she puts up for her fellow nobility has
so far saved her from a rampaging mob.
- The De Sade
Everyone knows this aristocrat is a depraved maniac. Stories
of his debauches, orgies, and other sexual depravities
abound, and only the most destitute will enter service with
him. An unapologetic freak and fetishist, he often and
loudly criticizes the more "normal" of his peers,
particularly the more religious.
While it's something of a mystery how he's managed to get
away with it for this long, it's almost certain that someday
he'll be hanged for heresy, treason, or some less lofty
crime.
- The Machiavelli
This aristocrat is a master of playing both sides against
the middle. He is quite adept at the eternal game of
politics, and understands psychology so well he doesn't have
a hard time of getting people to do what he wants. He won't
be a serious threat to the throne, but you can bet he will
be the power behind it.
Want more aristocrats? 30 Aristocrats at Strolen's Citadel.
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Open Design Interview - From the Shore to the Sea
by Johnn Four
From Shore to Sea by Brandon Hodge is one of several Open
Design adventures currently underway. I say the first of
several because it's up to customers to support any or all
of three choices, for Call of Cthulhu, 4th Edition, and
Pathfinder:
http://open-design.livejournal.com/337161.html
Wolfgang Baur's Open Design is a wonderful and innovative
product that customers help mould through ongoing feedback
and discussion while the adventure is actually being built.
Following are a few game master tips questions I lobbed over
the fence to Wolfgang and Brandon. With such expertise in
crafting solid adventures I figured we should tap into their
secrets so we can all build better stories for our
campaigns.
Read the inteview...
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Adventure Essentials: Holidays
How to create your own Halloween for your game worlds.
Advice and tips for designing compelling holidays that not
only expand your game world but provide endless natural
encounter, adventure, and campaign hooks. Written by Johnn
Four.
Adventure Essentials: Holidays at RPG Now
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Johnn Four's GM Guide Books
In addition to writing and publishing this e-zine, I have
written several GM tips and advice books to inspire your
games and to make GMing easier and fun:
How to design, map, and GM fresh encounters for RPG's most
popular locales. Includes campaign and NPC advice as well,
plus several generators and tables
Advice and tips for designing compelling holidays that not
only expand your game world but provide endless natural
encounter, adventure, and campaign hooks.
Critically acclaimed and multiple award-winning guide to
crafting, roleplaying, and GMing three dimensional NPCs for
any game system and genre. This book will make a difference
to your GMing.
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