Tips on an event based adventure?

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Prak
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Tips on an event based adventure?

Post by Prak »

I'm trying to run a one shot D&D game set in Innistrad. I'm going with a zombie theme because the idea is for it to be a Halloween game. A ghoulcaller (traditional magic-using necromancer) is stealing notes from skaberan (Dr. Frankenstein mad scientist style necromancers) because they're frustrated they can't make mohrgs with necromantic spells (at least not without being ridiculously high level. Necromantic feats are being used to represent mad science undead creation).

So the site is "In and around the port city of Selhoff" making this is mostly event-driven, and I have next to no experience running that kind of game.

I feel unprepared with just a list of acts, some stuff they'll be looking for, and a few monsters statted up. Any tips?
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Chamomile
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Post by Chamomile »

If it's an event-driven adventure, a list of events is in fact most of your prep. The remainder is mostly stats and, if you use them, some maps.
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Prak
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Post by Prak »

Yeah, it just feels unprepared.
Cuz apparently I gotta break this down for you dense motherfuckers- I'm trans feminine nonbinary. My pronouns are they/them.
Winnah wrote:No, No. 'Prak' is actually a Thri Kreen impersonating a human and roleplaying himself as a D&D character. All hail our hidden insect overlords.
FrankTrollman wrote:In Soviet Russia, cosmic horror is the default state.

You should gain sanity for finding out that the problems of a region are because there are fucking monsters there.
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Chamomile
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Post by Chamomile »

I guess you could handwrite the list twenty times if that'd make you feel better.
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Post by Zaranthan »

The list is most of the prep, but it's actually a lot of information. You need to know what's going to happen if the party misses the show, if they stop the event, if they try to stop it and fail (might alter how various involved NPCs react in the future), if they show up and decide to HELP THE VILLAIN, and how each of these might affect future events.
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Nath
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Post by Nath »

What I recommend is to clearly identify what are the requirements in each of the scheduled events, and what is just a matter of look and feel.

Who are the protagonists and who are spectators?
Where and when should the protagonists be? Where and when the spectators can be?
What are the reasons for the protagonists and spectators to be there?
Which piece of information or equipment is required for the protagonists to intervene?
Which information do the audience (ie the players) need to understand what is going on?

Those requirements may differ from your overall intention for the scene. If you plan the final showdown to be a fight against a zombiedragon atop the highest tower of the local castle, it obviously requires all the protagonists to reach the castle. But you also have to ask yourself: can it take place somewhere else? At the top of a local temple? The city gates? A random street? A castle outside the city? If for some reasons the PC start moving away from the castle, or set it on fire, you must adapt, and identify the actual requirement as any open sky place (unless the scene also involves the zombiedragon eating the local political and military leaders, that is).

A proper analysis of events should reveal one or several chain of events, as some events are needed to fulfill the requirements for later events, literally setting the stage for them. You ought to detect early when things won't go as planned because the PC walked out of the tavern before one event took place in it (and thus never get to meet one NPC, get a reason to move to his place, discover a specific item there, and so on).

The events can be simple and generic enough so that there is little to no chain of events. Like, the PC just need to notice there is a zombie invasion in town, which a dozen of possible events is going to show them bluntly. In this case you just need to care having the PC in the right place at the right time.

Still, pay extra attention to the last requirement I listed, Which information do the audience need to understand what is going on. In your case, for instance, knowing how ghoulcallers and skaberans power differ might be considered such key element. There is a number of anecdotes from GM who realized too late they failed to introduce one key NPC or information (like, because none of the PC ever considered to talk and free the prisoner in the cell adjacent to their, or simply because none of the player read or remember a specific background element from a sourcebook only the GM owns anyways). Not to mention the many GM who simply don't care and engage into intricate plots involving a dozen of factions the PC will never get the chance to simply identify.
Last edited by Nath on Sun Oct 30, 2016 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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