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Chapter 9: Running the Game

Building Adventures

As shown on the previous page, there are a number of elements that make up an adventure. It often doesn’t matter which element you start to develop first; you should take whatever idea you have and see where it fits. Once one element begins to take shape, you can start to figure out the other parts.

Component First

One method of building an adventure is to decide on a component of the adventure and use that to determine the story. For example, maybe you have a few different locations in mind. You really want to have a graveyard and a warehouse in your adventure (who knows why – maybe you’re inspired by a TV show, an old video game, or a fun adventure that a different GM once ran). Now you know that you will need to add characters and a goal to these locations, as well as other scenes to make a complete adventure.

So you think to yourself, why a warehouse? Maybe that’s where the antagonists (who ever they are) are holding something nefarious – something the players will want to find and destroy. Where does it fit in? It could provide a decent place for a fight, being a collection of open spaces and constricted spaces. Perhaps it should be one of the end locations.

Now how about the graveyard? Is it just another place for a fight? Or maybe the antagonists are in league with supernatural terrors. Maybe a villain is creating some Frankenstein-style monsters among the gravestones , or inside the rot of a forgotten crypt. The villain won’t always be here, but you can set it up so there’s a good chance that they will encounter each other when the PCs arrive.

Going back to the warehouse, how does it connect to the graveyard? Maybe the undead monsters are being stored at the warehouse. The antagonists are building them up, either to ship them off as slaves to some evil client, or to strike the local community in force. Who would do such a thing? It could be an evil cult, or covert agents from an enemy nation. Either way, the leader is probably possessed by a terror – someone with the ability to bargain with other supernatural creatures from beyond the barrier to create these undead monsters.

How are the players going to get involved? They probably shouldn’t know too much from the start. Maybe a local Warden Investigator has heard rumours of heavy smuggling occurring at the edge of her jurisdiction. Local matters are tying her and her subordinates up, so she forms a temporary task force to look into and deal with the smuggling. It would probably work out best to give the players a list of a few suspected places and individuals that would eventually lead to the real menace.

And that’s kind of the thought process behind the components first method. It’s a lot like working backwards. You keep throwing questions at yourself and choosing what hopefully fits and will work out. At some point you’ll probably get tired of working backwards and start at the beginning, filling in the middle and then connecting it to the end, making adjustments in your early assumptions.

The most important thing is to just keep building. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, but there should be around half a dozen scenes in the adventure – something that you think the players will take at least a few hours to work through and solve.

Story First

If you already have a story in mind when you decide to build an adventure, first decide what is going on in the background and then decide how and when the players will get involved.

With this method, you keep thinking about the plot and what scenes are necessary to move the story along in the framework of the game.

You may find it easier to link the scenes together and provide interesting challenges for the players. Regardless of what the story is, challenges way outside the Player Characters’ league is not acceptable.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from moving back and forth between the methods (Components and Story) in order to create the base of your adventure.

Adding Challenges

Each scene needs a goal, even if it’s just to gain enough information to progress to the next scene. If nothing ever crops up to provide a little challenge, the players are going to finish in a hurry, not to mention become a little bored. Below are some ideas that you can use to add a little challenge. Use them, adapt them, or even better - come up with your own obstacles for the player to overcome.

Each scene needs a goal, even if it’s just to gain enough information to progress to the next scene. If nothing ever crops up to provide a little challenge, the players are going to finish in a hurry, not to mention become a little bored. Below are some ideas that add a little challenge. Use them, adapt them, or even better – come up with your own obstacles for the players to overcome.

A group of thugs are standing watch, ready to attack anyone who nears the farmhouse. Combat is a possible solution, although stealth may accomplish the goal, depending what it is.
Another group of adventurers is hired to recover the same rare item, person, etc. While the rival group won’t outright attack, they try to get ahead, destroy clues, mislead and do anything they can to gain an advantage. The players must use their own skills to get ahead and decide whether to sabotage the rival’s efforts.
While travelling, the PCs come to a spot where a bridge has been washed out. Depending how the party is traveling (foot, mount, vehicle), they will have to use different skills, spells and resources to cross. This area may make for a good delayed ambush as well.
Finally locating the person of interest, the players discover she is violently ill and in need of a medical facility. This will cause different complications depending on what has led up to this point and will challenge the players’ knowledge of the surrounding area. Using the Heal Skill can buy the PCs some extra time.
Roaming monsters, bandits, etc., patrol the area that the PCs need to pass through. Combat, or at least an epic chase, is a likely outcome.
A group of local loud mouths take a disliking to the PCs. The use of deadly violence will cause more trouble.
The players need to access an area fortified by high walls. Skills, spells, equipment, and a good plan will all help.
The NPC would be happy to help with the critical step, but needs something first.
The NPC with the information the players need has been thrown into jail.
The PCs witness a horrific injustice in the making.
The PCs discover that the area they’re in (or need to pass through) contains numerous traps.
Hitting a dead end, the PCs must search to find a secret entrance.
An innocent bystander wanders into the path of fire, complicating a situation.
A vile NPC wants a favour in return for cooperation.
Weak and rotten floorboards.
Dogs and other guard animals.
The bad guys hurry their time-line.
Turns out that the map is out of date.
The employer forgot to mention something critical.
The players have an encounter with a mix of enemy gunmen, melee fighters or spell casters who could be members of organized crime, hostile law enforcement, members of a restrictive or secret group, mercenaries, foreign soldiers or agents, etc. Roll for initiative.

Linking Scenes Together

At any given time during the adventure, the players should have one or two ideas about where they can go next. Towards the end of a scene, provide the players with a clue or new information. They should feel like they are progressing toward a goal. When you draw and map it out, you might have multiple routes out of or into a scene.

When you have most of your locations and your story, start drawing boxes. Indicate to yourself how the players are going to get from one scene to the next and what will trigger the opening of the route. This may not be exactly how things will work in the actual adventure, but you still need to map out and understand how the events connect.

Some triggers and routes will be simple. Successfully traveling down a road leads to the next scene. A dungeon adventure requires going further and further into the depths. A city adventure might mean questioning witnesses, whose information may or not pan-out. Only after following up a false lead might an eyewitness come forward, which makes that trigger timed. Similarly, only after a certain amount of time might a forensic clue give a result.

Non Player Characters can be a great trigger source. players can find clues on fallen enemies, including letters, deeds, keys, etc. Secret plans can be pick-pocketed. players can interrogate defeated foes. NPCs can be followed, mind-read or caught in a lie. NPCs can be duped into saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. Some of these actions will be player initiated, so you’ll have to remain flexible.

Neutral NPCs can be cooperative, but lack the ability to help the PCs with their original objective until a new objective is completed (“I would love to help you, but unfortunately… maybe if you helped, then I could…). Neutral NPCs can also be greedy, and want some specific payoff before they are willing to help (“I could help you, but first I need...). In either case, the adventure is lengthened by a side quest, which can be a change in tone from the main quest, depending on the NPC’s needs.

Remember that as the GM, you only inform the players what the goals are. Let the players figure out how they are actually going to accomplish those goals.

In between scenes

Not every single space in a scene will have an objective. A castle might have hundreds of rooms. When mapping it out, you only need to indicate which ones you think will be significant.

Up Next: About the Opposition