Happy New Year! Due to various personal factors in my life, this is going to be a quick column!
For me, one of the most exciting parts of Game Mastering is setting up a new campaign (or series, for you “episodic” gamers). This is the time when I am at my most creative, designing a new setting, establishing the style and tone, and guiding the players through character generation. I become my own public relations agent, wooing my players with promises of exciting sessions and the elimination of any problems plaguing the last campaign.
Unfortunately, this is also the most daunting aspect of GMing for me. Many issues crop up during this process. I may not have had the time I needed to fully develop the new setting, leaving gaps that could prove to be problematic later. I need to watch over character generation to eliminate “mood-breaking” or “game-breaking” abilities without looking like an iron-fisted tyrant. I need to ensure that, come play time, the players are all on board and roleplaying appropriately.
One method I use to combat this is the “three-adventure” rule. Prior to using this rule, I establish the basics of my campaign (themes, setting, mood/tone, conflicts, appropriate character types). I then design three adventures that incorporate these basics, all prior to pitching the game.
Setting is the easiest to control. If I’ve decided that my campaign takes place in Lima, Peru, then all I need to do is make sure that all three adventures are set in Lima.
Themes are a little harder, but need to be present in every adventure. Themes are the driving force of my campaigns. Themes should also be present in any recurring NPCs. If your theme is “redemption,” then any recurring NPC you design should be in need of it or working toward it (you may even have a sage NPC that’s been redeemed or an irredeemable NPC for contrast). When designing adventure goals, I ask myself, “how does this fit the theme?” Working toward the theme counts. Every NPC does not need to face redemption in their initial appearance, but there should be hints of it. Adventures should guide PCs or NPCs toward redemption.
Mood and tone should also be designed into every adventure. If you’re planning a “life is cheap” cyberpunk game, then the adventures should have high body counts over what we may regard as trivial things (e.g. a news reporter talking about how a local megacorp office shut down today, putting 100 people out of work. Thirty former workers have committed suicide within the first six hours of the announcement). If you’re planning a Victorian game where social class is important, then each adventure needs to show the lifestyles and conflicts among classes.
Conflicts and character types go hand in hand. “Conflicts” includes any situations that must be overcome through the PCs abilities, whether skills or combat prowess. If you want a game where all the PCs are scientific investigators, then you probably aren’t going to want a lot of conflicts that result in combat. It’s a good idea at this stage to make a list of all the conflict types and frequency over the course of the three adventures (e.g. 4 shootouts, 6 lock picks, 7 social interactions, etc). Not only will this help you to see if you’re designing adventures properly, but it will also give you a checklist to use during character generation (“Hmmm, looking at my notes here, are you certain no one wants to take lock-picking as a skill?”).
Special mention should be made here of “Big Bads” (campaign villains). It’s my general rule that if I design a Big Bad that will plague the PCs for a few adventures until a final showdown, then that Big Bad needs to be foreshadowed in the first adventure (even if only indirectly mentioned). It’s a given that the Big Bad should reflect the overall theme.
A benefit of the three-adventure rule is that it will reveal any basic problems with your campaign. If you designed the game for Sherlock Holmesian mysteries, yet your adventures are designed as action-dramas, then you’ll want to address that discrepancy before you pitch the game to the players. If your campaign is about Victorian high society machinations, yet your adventures are basically sewer-crawls, you have a problem. If you de-emphasize combat but 75% of your conflicts are combat related (I mentioned this as the bait-and-switch in a previous column), then you may want to reevaluate your character types.
Once you’ve ironed out your issues and you have three adventures in hand, it’s time to pitch the game and design characters. You now have a practical guide to help you through the process (for at least three adventures). Players are more likely to take your advice seriously if you have adventures in hand than they would if they smell a bait-and-switch (e.g. you hammer the need for climbing skills yet it doesn’t crop up in any of the next few adventures). You’ll also have a better idea of what abilities will break your particular campaign (especially in areas like Contacts, Influence, Patrons, and Enemies, things that aren’t immediately noticeable without context).
After character creation, I like to use the “three-adventure” rule to showcase any advantages or disadvantages the PCs may have. Since I’ll have to modify parts of my adventures anyway (especially in the subplot area), it’s a good time for me to incorporate advantages and disadvantages. I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to rank advantages and disadvantages in roughly three levels, according to cost. Players who spent a lot of points on an advantage will want to use it often, while I’ll want to use a big disadvantage against a player often. Using my “three-adventure” rule, I’ll incorporate Level One advantages/disadvantages in one of the three adventures, Level Two’s in two of the three, and Level Three’s in all three. Keeping Kosher
Proper preparation is always key to good adventures. It also helps to prevent your campaign from straying in unwanted directions.
Good Gaming!
