Page 15 - GM EBOOK

points may also be used as a means of punishment/ Next, during the adventure creation, the GM needs
reward for player behavior.
Tips for Creating Adventures
Before creating an adventure for the players the
GM should consider many aspects that are involved
in the actual creation of a game. One thing to re-
member about creating an adventure, whether short
or long is that you are the creator, and therefore you
must know all of the answers. The more a GM takes
time to prepare and make details concrete the more
likely the players will enjoy the adventure and the
game will be considered a success. The more a GM
creates a well thought out and executed game, the
easier the task will become.
The first detail to consider is exactly what kind of
adventure will be created and ran. Three basic types
of games can center around combat, the character,
and power. Games focused on combat don’t have to
be just fight, rest, fight. A game of combat can be
about personal vendettas or even mass combat with
large scale battles motivated by elements such as be- so that you will know what will happen if they did
trayal, territory or history. Character focused games
can be about growth, discovery or clarification of the
characters. The focus can be about becoming a re-
spected member of society or even a noble. Power-
centric quests can be based on the aspirations of an
individual or an entire group. The players can seek
this power through monetary gains, magic items or
politics. The choices and types are only limited to
the GM’s imagination. Knowing what kind of ad-
venture to run is important because this decision will
affect all the other details when creating the game.
After deciding on the type of game to run the GM
should decide on the focus. This focus should deter- complete, and even determine the atmosphere of the
mine the main element of the game (be it a place,
event, item) that, if taken away, would end the entire
adventure.
With the type and focus of the game decided, the
GMs next decision is about the plot of the game.
This is not the actual story, but a narrowing down of
the decisions made about the type and focus. Consid- about moving the story along.
er how long the adventure will be. When you flush
out the actual story you will know how long the actu- have been determined the GM needs to face the pos-
al story is, but during the plot you need to know
whether or not this game will be short or long.
5
to decide on a conflict. Determine all of the adver- C
saries. Keep in mind that the adversaries do not al- h a
ways need to be demons or other NPCs. Conflict can p
arise from the environments the characters are in or t
even come from within the group. The characters e r
can be challenged by the elements found in a snow
storm with a lack of supplies. Or share separate con-
flicting religious views. The conflict can come from
within as well, through the development of a charac-
ter trying to changes his ways. Keep in mind that the
conflict needs to be challenging in order to be effec-
tive. These challenges should have a reason, but that
reason does not have to be revealed to the players
until the time is right. As long as the effect has an
applicable cause the conflict is correct.
Now that the plot has been determined, and the
conflict developed, it is time to build the actual story.
The first thing in developing the story is to think of
the storyline. Avoid trying to determine the actions
of the PCs. Instead, create the story without the PCs
not exist. The story, or storyline, should be thought
of as a movie, and broken into scenes. Avoid the
mundane occurrences, such as long walks between
cities (unless of course some kind of exciting action
takes place), and focus on the action. Also, The GM
may wish to employ subplots, which are secondary
strands of the main plot that support side stories.
Keep in mind the length of the adventure as each sce-
ne is developed and focus the time where it is need-
ed. Which lends itself to pacing.
Moving the adventure requires the GM to look at
each scene and estimate how long each will take to
game and players’ mood. A lot of quick scenes with
intense action and die casting can lend itself to an
exhausting portion of a game. Scenes with long slow
processes and an exciting climax will build a feeling
of anticipation. These things can all be detected
through an analysis of each scene when thinking
Now that the adventure is created and all details
sibility that the PCs may not follow the story as
planned. It is safe for a GM to assume that the play-