In yesterday’s post before going into the dramatic ramblings about the latest D&D session I promised to use the first half looking at how to plan campaigns and adventures. Or more to the point the process I will use that will involve a few sources out side of RPGs that I think are relevant and I can borrow from.

One of the things that got me thinking that these were valid sources of information was the Creating Adventures Quickly chapter in the 2017 update of the classic Paranoia RPG Gamesmasters Handbook. On an aside I think this is definitely a chapter that James Wallis (one of the authors of the update) wrote, after all this is a subject he knows an awful lot about.

It started off making the following promise that they would present a

“simple system for throwing a small pile of ideas into a coherent narrative that will entertain a bunch of people for three hours as long as there’s pizza.”

Quite a promise. Ok we haven’t got round to pizza at our sessions. But there are lots of sweets, and sometimes due to the start time one or two are finishing off a KFC or McDonalds. But back on track, simple is always good.

“All stories break down into a number of elements. Books have chapters, plays have acts and scenes. That’s all we’re doing here: taking the underlying framework of an adventure – the metastructure – and filling in the blanks. But to fill in blanks you need a blank framework to fill in.”

Ok they hooked me in. Started to relate the planning to something I might be familiar with. For this system all we need is a blank piece of paper, a pen or pencil and our imagination.

The start of this simple system they present is coming up with a theme for the adventure.

“What’s the big idea? What’s the adventure about? Write one line here. Ignore what your English Literature teacher told you: theme doesn’t have to be about big feels and personal growth, it’s just the layer of fertilizer that lets everything else in the story grow.”

This next little bit seems almost brainstorming like.

“Write your theme at the top of the paper. Underneath it, write down the first three things that occur to you as a result.”

Now they move onto the meat of the simple framework.

“You’ve probably heard of the Three Act Structure that is supposed to underlie all movies. We’re going to nick it.”

Oh ok I’ve heard of that structure, and one or two more (which when we start to look at story structure in a later post we will cover). It was this sentence that got me convinced about using external sources to help me with the planning.

“The three acts are: 1. Setup; 2. Confrontation; 3. Resolution. Each act has a job: Act 1 establishes the status quo, gives the central characters a problem or danger … The core of Act 2 is rising tension. Act 3 is discovering what’s really going on, thinking you’ve fixed it, realising you’ve screwed things up completely, really fixing it…

In proper screenwriting something important should happen at the moment Act 1 transitions into Act 2 and the moment 2 becomes 3. These are the Act Breaks. However, we are not writing a screenplay.”

That is a good basic and brief breakdown of the three act structure. There are books aimed at writers that look at this in much more depth. And for shadowing once more a future post, so will we.

So in this simple system they have us do the following.

“Divide your paper into three columns. Number them. At the top of each one write three things that happen in that act, either a key moment (‘find the grubby slippers’), a set-piece (‘big fight with the warbot’), or important information to be discovered (‘learn about Gehenna Incident’).

For an experienced GM that’s enough and the rest can be laid at the door of Make Some Shit Up. The rest of us may need a bit more hand-holding, a bit more detail in the metastucture.”

After that they apply the typical structure of a Paranoia adventure to the three acts. Which is for my purposes of little interest (until I finally decide to run a Paranoia one shot of my own design).

However this seems like a great simple brainstorming system. Applying a framework such as the three acts helps organise those thoughts. But it also could help generate ideas by providing a prompt or focus.

Naturally after this brainstorming/planning there will be more prep involved for us inexperienced GMs. But I’ll save that for a future post, I’m sure we will cover it at a natural point in this series of posts.

In this first part of the post and it will be a running theme for the next few posts, I want to look at planning campaigns and adventures.

I’m not a GM, I don’t have tonnes of experience. But once the Android source book drops for Genesys I want to run a campaign in that universe.

Which as you have seen in some recent posts I’m getting together source material and inspiration to use in creating my own campaign and adventures in that world.

To help me in this mammoth task, I’m calling on not just information from within the field of RPG’s but also from comic book writing. Which in-turn makes use of the cinematic/tv world.

To me there are a few similarities between writing a comic book and a RPG campaign. Both are episodic, and usually have an over arching story that ties everything together. So the tools for one should be usable in the other. And we will see how that goes and if it holds true as I develop my campaign, and adventures.

Below are a few of the sources I will be calling upon for this series, and my journey in creating my campaign.

So now you know the direction this section of the post will be taking over the next few weeks. Although as I write this, it may spin out into it’s own dedicated posts as well. We will see how the mood takes me.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for, the dramatic retelling of the latest adventures of Dram, halfling wizard.

As the blood of the recently departed hobgoblins was pooling on the ground next to the corpses. A discussion was being held by the group as to what to do next.

Dram needed to recharge and recover from the stress and strains of casting all these big spells. But Grull, Ace and the gnome decided that they would compete in some foolish demonstration of strength by trying to throw the remaining three hobgoblin corpses into the pit.

Out of the three taking part, the smart money would have been placed on Grull winning this. What chance would an elf and gnome have against the hulking brute of muscle that was Grull? But what can only be described as a shock result, Ace won. Grull slipped and fumbled trying to toss his corpse (yes that could be a halfling euphemism). The gnome was more of a drag the corpse into the hole. Ace picked his limp hobgoblin corpse up, and threw it through the air and into the hole as if he was throwing a bag of spuds.

With the hole now full with hobgoblin corpses, the three competitors decided they’d set the pile of bodies on fire. With the aid of Nick and a fire bolt spell they finally got the burning pile of hobgoblin flesh they wanted.

Dram wasn’t impressed. This was wasting time and attracting attention. They really needed to be moving on and finding a safe place to rest.

They left the carnage behind them and faded into the forest. Hoping to avoid any more trouble that might be on the path they were following.

Finally the group made camp roughly a mile south of the ambush in a clearing. It was going to be a long, cold night. They couldn’t risk a fire. Wrapped in his fur and blanket, Dram drifted off into an uncomfortable slumber.

Dawn broke, breaking the darkness of an uneventful night.

The things I have to do, thought Dram as he chewed his cold breakfast of jerky.

After breaking camp they approached a castle. A castle that looked like it had seen better times, and was now in much need of some repair.

Ace went off scouting the perimeter of the castle looking for entrances, and see if he could spot anyone inside.

After a few minutes Ace returned and retold what he had saw and heard. There was a man and women arguing inside. Plus he had found a couple of entrances.

In hush tones the group discussed how they were going to get inside.

Eventually after much indecision they started to stealthily edge their way round through the trees to an iron door. Sadly Nick and the gnome were what can only be described as clumsy and loud. A travelling troupe of entertainers could have been more discrete.

While observing the iron door, and once again trying to formulate a plan. Ace crept up to check the door out. He heard voices the other side. That blood thirsty gnome wanted to rush in the front door and fight whatever came out.

Suddenly the iron door opened a fraction. Something peeked out. Closed the door, and the noise of bolts falling into place could be heard.

Through the front doors it was then.

Nick turned into horse and trotted up through the front doors of the castle, whilst the rest of the party from the cover of the trees watched on. Dram used his staff to cast Mage Armour.

Two goblins appeared and tried to capture Nick. I suppose fresh meat is in short supply in these parts. Horse is good as any to a goblin, thought Dram.

During the goblins failed attempts to capture Nick they spot Dram. Luckily Grull and Ace were quick off the mark. Ace kills one with an arrow, while Grull dashes forward and throws his javelin into the other killing it.

Using Grull as cover Dram ran up and stood behind Grull. But as he stood there he caught a shadow moving to his left. Dram cast magic missile at it. The shadow disappeared.

Ace and Grull enter the castle where Nick is. As the rest of the party join them, Ace is listening at a door. He hears voices the other side.

After much mumbling amongst themselves a plan is formulated to lure the occupants of the room out and ambush them.

Grull, Ace and Dram hide in a small side room, while the others went to hide in a similar room the opposite of the hallway. Except the gnome. He decided he was going to hide nearer the door. But he didn’t. The gnome set off a trap that collapsed the roof where he was, blocking that section of the hallway off.

Luckily for the gnome he managed to drag himself out from under the rubble before a goblin rushes out of the room they’d heard the voices in. Grull, Ace and Dram go unnoticed as it rushed passed them. Sadly the second goblin was not as lucky, as Grull kills it instantly with his axe, and then rushes into the vacated room. The luck of the first goblin didn’t last as Ace put an arrow in it’s back, killing it.

Dram followed after Grull into the room. Inside Grull was staring down a goblin. Dram tried unsuccessfully to cast a charm spell on it. But Grull was doing a pretty good job of intimidating it. So Dram worked his way down a passage way behind them and peaked round a corner.

In a hall that was obviously used for meals, were about six more goblins as far as Dram could count in the brief moment he had. Unfortunately one of the goblins noticed him. Dram cast darkness on them. And went back to Grull to warn him.

In a half hearted effort Grull managed to dislodge some of the passage roof, creating only a partial blockage.

Out of the darkness and over the top of the rubble a goblin appears and swings at Dram. But the goblin misses. It was the only chance it would get. In response Dram kills it with a magic missile, and uses a final one to bring the rest of the roof down. This time the passage was fully blocked with a small gap at the top.

Grull runs out of the room to go help the others, leaving Dram in the room with the goblin. This was enough to give the goblin a little bit of courage, and fancy it’s chances with Dram. The goblin throws its scimitar at Dram but misses.

Ace rushes in and grabs the goblin by the throat before Dram can react. Dangling by it’s throat Ace starts to interrogate the goblin.

During this interrogation Grull enters the room, and expresses his disappointment in the goblin to the goblin.

In the meantime Dram formulated a cunning plan. He got Grull to lift him up so,he could see through the gap at the top of the blockage. Dram then cast burning hands. Flames shot from his finger tips into the darkness of the hall. They could hear screams from the room. Dram repeated the spell. It was followed by more screams, then silence.

Grull was impressed by this magic. And started formulating plans about using in future encounters.

After extracting some information from the goblin, apparently there is an owl bear in the castle. Ace killed it.

Dram joined the others in the hall way. Scattered on the floor were the bodies of some hobgoblins. It looked like the others had been having their own fun. Why hadn’t they waited for him? Now his companions were looting the dead. Such scavengers,

With all that casting of spells, Dram was in much need of a rest. Would the others agree?

And we leave our adventurers there until the next instalment.