Writing a game is a rewarding and frustrating experience. You get to see your ideas come to life, but you also have to deal with the problems the players create. This booklet is designed to maximize the reward while minimizing the frustration. Some game designers write solely for their own group. If you are in this category, you probably use minimal notes, and just come up with a basic outline. Most GDs (Game Designers) are designing a game to be run by others. In this case, you canCopyright 1993 by Scott Nicholson leave nothing to assumption or chance. This booklet is mainly designed at this second type of designer. Many people can come up with ideas. Few can communicate it effectively through writing. Another goal of this booklet is to teach you how to express your scenario ideas.
Anywho, I hope you can pull a few useful ideas from this thing to help you in your scenario design. So...on with the show!
The plot is the first thing a GD must come up with. Most designers have an idea about this. Many plots will evolve from an unusual item or NPC. Sometimes a scenario will evolve from an interesting idea. Rarely, an entire scenario will be written to provide one joke (not a good idea - see Making the PCs Matter for details).
When you come up with an idea, let it fester in your brain for several weeks before writing anything down. Think about the idea - explore it - enhance it - add to it - let it grow (like a tumor). By the time you sit down to write about it, you will be able to bring it to life.
If you can't come up with an idea, look around. Steal, borrow, thug, or otherwise get ahold of an idea from movies, TV, cartoons, literature, or the current news. Find an idea you like and let it grow. Take two ideas and see if you can intertwine them. You have control of everything....use it!
Some things you should ask yourself - What does this scenario do that others have not? Why is it worthy of being run? What about this scenario is different, unusual, or entertaining? Would you like to play in it? Twice?
The big question to ask is...
If this game is running at a convention or contest, chances are the players have paid to play in this game. Why do people pay money to play an RPG? So they can live the life of a hero! Everyday life is bad enough - RPG scenarios (in general) should not reflect the hardship of being unrecognized.
In general, the PCs should win. PCs that lose make for unhappy players, and those players will not play in your games. Now, the games should be challenging, and players can die, but in the end the PCs should win, receive credit for their work in some way, and should feel like heroes.
Death of a character in most systems should mean something. This is very difficult to control, since you have no clue what the PCs are going to do. Don't make red herrings lead to death traps. Don't make non-important encounters deadly. If your intention for a fight is that the PCs should have a good fight and win, don't make the fight difficult. The difficult fights and the hairy traps should be saved for the end of a chapter or end of scenario. If it is at the end of a chapter, leave a way for characters to be raised or bring in new characters. That way, the players aren't left out in the cold, and the GM doesn't have to make up some hairbrained excuse.
Don't have all-powerful NPCs save the day for the PCs. This makes the players feel useless. ("Why did we come here when Conan was going to show up and kill everything?" "Because Arnold needed the money!") If the PCs need help, have an NPC heal them and boost them up, or loan them some items. Just allow the PCs to win the situation. Why? It goes back to the hero thing - people want to play a hero.
Don't have the plot go on, regardless of PCs actions. Make what they do mean something. Write a plot flexible enough to deal with the PCs failing to do something. If you have to write two versions of the same encounter, do it. The players will appreciate the fact that what actions they chose made a difference.
NPC pickups should be weaker than the PCs. Let the players feel they have to take care of the NPC pickups - not vice versa. The only exception to this rule is when the NPC pickup won't help the players along (i.e., a disgruntled demon made to lead the party on a quest). If you have a powerful pickup, the players will feel unneeded and pointless.
Ask yourself -- why do you play RPGs? What is it about them that draws you? Ask your friends this as well. Most people will have "being a hero" somewhere in their reply. Keep these answers in mind when you write, and make the PCs matter.
However, as a GD, it is difficult to tell if an encounter is pointless. After you have written the game, look back at each encounter and ask yourself this important question: "If I removed this encounter, would it change the story?" If the answer is no, it is a pointless encounter. The two most-abused encounter types here are traps and fights. Old TSR modules are notorious for this. Many of these are dungeon-crawls filled with room after room of bad guys that are just there. Many traps are set in places that if you actually lived in the castle, you would trigger them every day as you moved around.
Valid reasons for an encounter can include settin up a red herring or to set atmosphere. These two reasons may not change the actual story, but can be valid in a game, and enjoyable. However, I would not use these type of encounters more than once a chapter (or new type of setting). I have seen games that have the GM do several random encounters in a row to set the atmosphere. One set encounter of this type is enough - then the atmosphere is set and you can go on to the plot.
Random encounters are pointless. Period. Don't do them. If your players enjoy randomly fighting things to get the treasure, fine. You don't need to read this book - just roll up monsters and treasure as you go - you don't even need a plot. However, there are many fine electronic RPGs that do this, and take less time to plan. But, if you want to offer your players a plot they can get involved in and stay interested in, then try these tips. Stay away from random and pointless encounters because they lose the focus of the game for the players. Players will switch off the importance of the plot, and then try to remember where they left off. Keep the plot significant in their thoughts.
If I still haven't convinced you of the importance of this, let me give you a real-life example. If you are trying to get ready for work, and something interesting comes on TV, you may watch it and lose track of time (i.e., lose sight of your goal). While the TV may be entertaining (like random fights may be entertaining), when you realize you have been wasting your time on TV, you will be frustrated. If the phone rings and you are rushing to get ready, it is an annoyance that does not push you toward your goal. Anything that doesn't further the "plot" is a frustrating annoyance. We get frustrated in real life with things that get "in the way." Don't frustrate your players this way.
Give the characters a chance to learn "Why?". After the game, the GM should not have to explain why this happened, and why that happened. The characters should be able to learn that information in game. Fights and traps should have a discoverable reason for working the way they do. (don't use...it's just magic and it works that way. That's a cop-out of a lazy designer). If there is a reason for everything, players may figure that reason out and thwart that fight or trap. This will make them feel very good (and that's what this is all about).
Avoid boredom and repetition. If the players have seen it before, don't do it again. There is one game I know of where the players fought 4 people consisting of the same 4 classes with the same stats 6 times in a game. The first two times were OK, after that it was boring! That is a sign of a very lazy game designer. Try to keep your players interested at all times. Avoid boredom and pointlessness, and you are on your way to an award-winning scenario!
After a character has more than 5 or 6 items, they forget what they have. An item used often, yet effectively will be more memorable than that third +5 Holy Avenger stuck in the sheath because the player has only two hands. (But..if you gave them a third arm as treasure-- *slap* --sorry.) Lots of treasure is silly. It may seem fun at first, but gets old quickly. (OK..we have another suit of +3 platemail. Who wants it?) On the other hand, no treasure is annoying. Finding a balance can be difficult.
Don't use standard treasure found in treasure lists. Change the items around. Make things that are unusual and fun to play with. If your mother gives you 10 pair of underwear for Christmas, it's useful. But, if she gets you a radio, it's useful and fun. If she gets you a new RPG system, it's fun. The items in your game should be at least fun. Creative PCs will find uses for fun items (because they will play with them). Armor and weapons that are +X are useful, but are not fun. Adding unusual abilities to these weapons (speech, making the blade shoot out, allowing the sword to produce spam 3 times a day, allowing it to shoot out oil once a day) can make such an item fun. Things that change your shape are fun and can be useful. Write items that require brains and creativity to find effective uses for.
If you need to give them useful items (like healing), do it in an unusual vessel. For example, instead of a healing potion, they find a healing wafer (and hand them a Life Saver). This can be entertaining, and keeps things from getting boring.
In games, don't design treasure for one character, alignment, sex, race, or class. What if that player quits? What if that character dies? What if the party has no males? Most treasure should be able to be used by half of the team. It gives the team much more flexibility in divvying up treasure.
Put in more "one-shot" items (potions, salves, wafers) and less permanent items. Charged items are good- if you don't get silly with the charges (no more than 10). It's fun to be powerful for one fight. It's not fun for the GM or the other players if one character is always too powerful. One-shot items should be more powerful than charged items, and charged should be more powerful than permanent items. Permanent items should be fun, but not obviously useful. (Like a ring and pouch that will allow the owner to teleport anything contacting the ring to be teleported into the pouch if it is small enough - not obviously useful, but think about it.)
How do you achieve a good treasure balance? I would use this key - during a chapter of a campaign (and about 4 to 5 chapters should make up a campaign), there should be enough one-shot items for each person to get one, or enough charged items for 1/2 of the characters to get one, or enough permanent items for 1/3 of the characters to get one. This will slowly get items around the group, but by throwing in more one-shots, more people get stuff. (for strong or weak items, you will have to vary this..but it's a start).
Most of the fights (about 75 percent) should be fairly easy. Unless they screw up, PCs should not die in these. For these fights, the NPCs should be 50 to 75 percent as powerful as the PCs. So, if they will fight one creature, total the PC levels and half it. However, small fights should give small rewards.
The other fights should be challenging. Make sure that these fights "matter" -i.e. if the PCs lose this one, there will be trouble. In these fights, bad luck may kill a character. These fights are more difficult to plan. Try making it so the total NPC levels (or skill amounts) are about equal. Then either give them items (that they will USE) or bump them up dependent on PC items. Now, if the PCs are not hitting this fight when they are full on spell points, etc, cut the NPC's points as well.
Don't make powerful NPCs if they can't act to the fullest. Don't put in a dragon, for example, and state that he can't use his breath weapon. Why? Those creatures then lose their "shock value." It is difficult for a GM to pull back a creature in play without making it look like he is showing favoritism. It is more fun for PCs and GMs when you write a less powerful creature and tell the GM to play it for all its worth, than it is to have the GM pull back a creature. It is also much more realistic.
Don't make every fight an ambush. Many GDs like ambushes, and they are quite easy to pull off in tabletopping. (They are not as easy in real life....)
Many systems have neat protective spells that the PCs would like to try - give them a chance to put them up at times. Have the PCs ambush the bad guys - have them come up to the bottom of a hill while the bad guys are on top. Try different types of terrain (swamp, tree-tops, bridges). If the system does not include rules for these types of terrain, write them up and pass them out. If the PCs don't know how the terrain works, they will cry "Unfair" when the GD begins spouting rules. Let the PCs pick the fights occasionally.
Always write up what happens if the PCs lose a fight. If a crazed halfling attacks the team with a tomato..he could still win. What will the NPCs do? Will they loot and leave, capture and hold for ransom, slit throats, what? This allows the GM to know your intent of the fight, and will know how an NPC will react if a PC goes down.
Always state the intent of the encounter. At the beginning of each encounter, state "The intent of this encounter is...." This is the best way for GMs to run the game you want it to be ran. Often, it is not obvious what should happen in an encounter. If you have no intent for the encounter, why are you putting it in the game?
Write a storyline to include with the scenario. A storyline is a brief synopsis of the game. Write no more than a paragraph for each encounter. While this may seem redundant, it is a great play aid for an unfamiliar scenario. If you know the whole story as you read the scenario for the first time, it will make a lot more sense. Use the "Intent of encounter" as a basis for the storyline.
Don't use house rules. Many people may use them (such as critical and fumble rules for AD&D), but if they are not in the rules, you shouldn't use them. If you must use them for some reason, write them on a player handout so that all the players know what is going on.
Include a table of contents and appendices. The table of contents will help GDs run the game much faster. Include appendices of items (including complete description and gold value) and NPCs (including stats and what page numbers they are on). This is another GM aid that can speed play.
The most important thing - run the game before you give it away. Get a group of friends and run the game. Make sure they know they are playtesting, and ask them to "test the boundaries" of the game. Keep good notes as the game goes. Anything they even mention doing that you did not write a contingency for should be written down and added later. After the game, ask for ideas, suggestions, etc... and use them. Do NOT get defensive - these people are trying to help you have a better game.
If possible, include live interaction in your game. If you have a puzzle, make the puzzle as a player handout. If the players are in a vehicle, take the chairs away from the table and put them in the correct formation. Write these possibilities into your games - they will be much more memorable.