Abstract Guide For New Storytellers (focusing "based off" games)

[Wolf Rawrrr]

This post is actually taken from a PM between me and another member of RPdom planning his first RP who asked for my help. When I replied, it occurred to me that this might be somewhat useful for others out there as well. Needless to say, other experienced Storytellers are welcome to expand on this guide with less or more abstract advice by replying to this thread.

Wolf

​

"Proper story starts at the beginning. It ain't so simple with this one."

- Rucks (from the "Bastion")


There you have it, the answer and the problem in the same question. The man makes one hell of a point, eh?


I've made what, a couple of RPs here? Nivirres: The Frozen World, Amaranth, and now the upcoming Silent Hill. Not to mention that I've got more than solid ideas for at least two more games in my lair, and I've played half a dozen other people's games. Not exactly RPdom's leading authority on Storytelling, but ol' Wolf will do what he can. It helps that in real life I'm a rising writer, so words and thoughts are about the only things in the world that I'm good at.


Start off with the basics, I say. I don't know how much you've already got planned out, so I'll assume you're starting from scratch. You might be surprised to learn that I actually rely on improvisation nearly 80% of the time. However, always keep in mind that the more you improvise, the less organized and ordered your RP gets. On the other side, planning out every possible aspect of a game is not just time and resource consuming, but also downstraight impossible. What you need to do first, is find a healthy balance between the two. I wish I could just tell you how to do that, but it ain't that simple, remember? It depends on your personal Storyteller traits, general game characteristics, and the very idea that's powering the RP, its heart and soul. Relax, I'll lay down some support fire right away.


You should start by drawing some guidelines. These can be actual, visual drafts, or just in your head. Humans are both auditive and visual types, some, like me, really both. Every advantage you can get helps.


Regardless of where exactly you've put that slider between chaos and order, improvisation and planning, you need to know some things in advance. Pretend your whole game in its entirety is already a written book. Write the recapitulation. You need to know the setting of the world. To learn the answers, you must ask the questions. Simple as that.


What is the point of your story? It likely depicts the journey of some characters, right? Well, who are they? Why are they on that journey? What happened to have caused the journey? They will probably have some opposition along the way. Why? Who stands against them? What will happen if the enemy succeeds? What happens if the characters win? How does the story end?


Those are the questions that will trigger the right way of thinking. If you got this far reading but still didn't start getting ideas, then I am a damned Wolf and this is all for naught. But that's not the case, is it?


You are basing this roleplay off an existing world, right? That makes it as much harder as it helps things. Starting something from scratch grants unlimited freedom, but there's few things in the world as taunting as a blank piece of paper. On the other side, following an existing world grants you access to various resources to manipulate, but takes away a large portion of your freedom as well. Since you've already gone with option number one, I shan't digress.


You want answers? You want to know how to take a story and make it your own? Make a great RP out of it without messing it up? Well, then ask some more questions.


Do you really like the story? Don't do this if you don't. But since you do, the next question will be easy. You've probably immersed yourself quite a bit in the original story. Ask yourself, what would you change, if you could? Would the actions of some characters be different? Would you save some lives and take away others? And better yet, did you imagine some things, places, or people from the real story differently before you had the chance to see them?


Each and every aspect that would have been different in your head compared to the original story, is a damned ticket to making a great game. Why? Because by playing or reading through an existing world, your mind does all the bloody work for you. You think of ideas, however small or brief, you regret some events and wish you could change them - and now you have the chance. It's perfect because it will still be within the reasonable boundaries of that particular world. You created those ideas while in game/in character, so to speak.


Before drifting off further into abstract waters, I'll get back on point. You know how the original story goes. Write an alternative recapitulation. You'll have to decide what stays and what goes, and sure those will be some hard calls, but only you can make them. You will do well to remember that the more you distance yourself from the original, you run greater risk of ruining the spirit of the game - however the more you stick to the old story, people are more likely to be less interested because it might feel nearly the same.


You need to know how the story starts, progresses, and ends. An introduction, twist, climax, and finally ending. While making that simple, primitive draft, you will find your mind teeming with ideas like a hornet's nest. In a good way, I think. Probably. Maybe. I hope...


If your game is beyond plain freeform, it has a system. Probably skills. Putting together a near-final version of the character sheet template might help you understand how the players' characters will come to life and what they could be like. It is important to know the characters, because those sons of guns will reshape the story you have in plan with their unpredictable actions and foolish ideas, twisting it to their own ends. And that's alright. In the end, a single mind can only get so far before it drowns in its own saturated world. A single mind lacks perspective, and by leaving some things undefined until they need to be defined, you are allowing for the possibility that your players will inspire you - maybe even do your job for you, if you're lucky. Hell, you wouldn't believe how many times I let my players accidentally change my story. Sometimes it happened with events that I thought were made in stone.


Finally, trust yourself. Even if you don't know something now, it will come to you if you only try. Sometimes different problems will merge together, other times one will solve another. A journey of a thousand miles starts with that one first step, but it has to start - lest it never be completed. Do something. Write a brief recap of your story. Or write a recap of the real story, then go back and follow it, but make some changes this time. And never worry about all the details until you really have to. Also - and this is important - only thoroughly plan out along the path that you are absolutely sure the game will play by. You are the Storyteller, damnit. If you really want something to happen, it will happen. If you want the characters to all end up north, you can do it in ways that don't even have to be railroading. Hell, you can even do it through their own meaningful choices. They can't run, no matter how south they go. You are the Storyteller.


And whatever you do, remember... Shite. I forgot what I was going to write here. I just went to edit the last few sentences of the previous paragraph and when I came back, I forgot. Stared into the "And whatever you do, remember" that I wrote earlier and... Damnit. Let's hope it was nothing important. Still, you seem to have enough material already.


Well, that's about it. If I can be of some more help do not hesitate to ask. Wolf's always here for ya *reassuring barking*


p.s. listening to inspirational music also helps *woof*

 

[Alexandra]

I actually love this.


It's really difficult to pin down what's going through one's head before and during the initial creative process, where everything 's up in the air.


I always look at a game as something that's made to be given away; while I construct the plot, locations, encounters and NPCs, I'm always aware that once my players become involved, it's no longer mine; it belongs to them.

 

[Articus]

I had a feeling that this was from the PM. Glad I could inspire you post a helpful guide for the newbies like me 'w'

 

[Lux___Wolf]

My first e-crush: Volk. This was particularly useful and got me laughing here and there. Thanks!

 

[Ian Hanrahan]

Great post!

 

[Millershipper]

My biggest problem with running a game are the details. The NPCs. The monsters/aliens/random opponents. Statting out the major players....sketching the minor ones....I wind up drowning in the details of my creativity. How do other GMs handle that part? Not the over-arching game and the storyline, but the gritty details that can hit one like a bug hitting a motorcyclist doing 100kph.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

My biggest problem with running a game are the details. The NPCs. The monsters/aliens/random opponents. Statting out the major players....sketching the minor ones....I wind up drowning in the details of my creativity. How do other GMs handle that part? Not the over-arching game and the storyline, but the gritty details that can hit one like a bug hitting a motorcyclist doing 100kph.

WARNING!! LONG POST IS LONG! Make sure you've been to the toilet and have drinks and snacks sufficient to reach the end of the post...


I find that when creating a game, I divide the antagonists into two categories, 'meat' and 'bones'.


The 'meat' is the supportive part of the structure, it is the mooks, minions, minor bit-players and miscellaneous merchants who populate the scenery of the PC's world. They, while helping to progress the storyline are little more than flavor, they are the enemy soldiers that the heroes have to sneak past or kill, the shadowy informants passing vital information about how to infiltrate the enemy compound, the shadowy wizard in the tavern with a quest for a magical treasure. These characters need little more than the most basic of stats, a combat stat-line (for those who are likely to get into combat) and a couple of appropriate skills for their role (like magical knowledge for that grey-bearded wizard). Beyond that they are nothing.


The 'bones' are the core plot NPCs. They are the evil masterminds that manipulate their puppets from the shadows, the bloody-handed warlords who dominate battlefields with their legions or the vicious necromancers conjuring their undead minions from the bodies of their slain foes. These NPCs need the most intelligent design, and they are where you would spend most of your time in creating the game. Design these characters as if they were your own PC, stat them out, maybe even write a brief history for them, give them motivations and goals beyond 'Dominate the world and kill the PCs'. And, if you intend them to be recurring characters, design ways that they can reasonably escape if/when their plans go south and there are a half-dozen PCs advancing on them with thirsty blades. Use of smoke bombs, 'meat' with a higher level of training than the rest, secret lockable doors leading to escape routes, specific escape magics (becoming a sentient mist or instantaneous teleportation are good ideas) and the like add to the 'bone' NPCs repertoire of standard operating procedures. Just make sure that these techniques are feasible within the game setting, since it helps with the 'suspension of disbelief' that you as an ST create for the duration of the game. Because, let's admit it, we've all played or witnessed that situation where an ST has, in the interests of saving a key NPC, has 'fudged' the rules/setting to save them: (PC: "Wait, what? You said we'd entered an Anti-magic field cast over the whole room, which automatically cancels out all spells and magical item bonuses. So how did that guy manage to cast 'Teleport Self'? This is some bullsh*t!"), so using believable escape techniques which could intelligently be countered is key.


And, also, let's not forget another key to survivability. Surrender. We've seen many a movie when the BBEG has been cornered and, despite the fact that his great scheme was almost complete, he decides to fight to the death in a horribly one-sided fight with the heroes and ends up tossed into the fires of a volcano/blown up/turned into a sheep. So why not buck the trend and have him drop his 'Wand of Arcane Darkness', throw up his hands and turn himself over to the most honorable PC. Use the heroes as a shield against each other. You have a bloodthirsty barbarian and a noble paladin facing you, throw yourself upon the mercies of the guy in the glowing silver armor and demand that you face higher judgement. Chances are the heroic paladin would protect you to see the full weight of the law thrown at your NPC. This saves your 'bone NPC' and allows such things as backroom dealings, chicanery and corruption to be brought in as the NPC worms his way back to freedom with promises to the local king/governor/general of assistance against another enemy. Imagine the looks of fury on the faces of the PCs as your NPC skips merrily back to his evil schemes after successfully pulling the wool over the eyes of the powers that be. It's also a strong motivation to the PCs to keep chipping away, while still maintaining the realism.


Okay, tl;dr summary of that section: have 'throw-away' NPCs who provide one 'service' to the PCs (combat opposition, information, quest hooks) and are discarded/recycled. Have 'core' NPCs with various realistic options to maintain survivability.


Next up, plotlines.


When writing the plot or storyline of a game, I tend to create them as if I was writing a story. I have a start, a middle and an end. With the start, I concoct a means for the PCs to potentially meet and forge a group. With the end, I visualise what I hope the game will achieve (save the princess/avert the war/slay the alien overmind). The middle? I leave that as a hazy morass that the PCs actions will bring focus to with their actions. I create a number of set-piece events during the 'main body' of the game (the great diplomatic assembly of the various in-game factions, the battle royale on the blasted plains before the enemy's fortress, the sneaky infiltration of a bunker complex to steal the plans for a new enemy stealth mech). I also create optional 'side-quests' that are time-fillers and which wield potential bonus experience and/or other tangible benefits to the PCs (new powerful allies, magic macguffins, milk and cookies). These side-quests need not impinge on the greater mission, though they could potentially offer new options on how to defeat the major NPCs plans (rescuing a scientist who reveals a fatal flaw in the new shadow-stealth armor of the enemy commander's mech, finding a spell scroll that nullifies a specific type of magic, meeting someone who knows a vital piece of information regarding the location of a secret passage into the impregnable fortress), but on the whole they should just be a means for characters to step away from the main storyline and have a bit of fun expanding their character's experience of the world and it's setting. And looting the dead for cash, gear and new boots.


In this way, you can allow players to move organically through the story arc, without the risk of 'railroading' or forcing one particular outcome and you can adjust events around them to suit without jarring your greater narrative. Giving the players options is the key (Do we forge on to the Citadel of Egregious Doom, or shall we help Mandalf the Monochrome to find this magic sword of his in the Temple of Things with Sharp Pointy Teeth? He promises us any loot we find, as long as he gets his sword....)


One thing you should consider, though is a timeline of key events. If the enemy necromancer says he's going to flood the land with blood and zombies by the full moon that will occur in twenty days, and the PCs happily fart around on side-quests for the entire twenty days, ignoring the threat, have it occur as scheduled. Don't wait on the PCs to trigger events, the world (most often) does not revolve around them and, while they may be key players in the events, there are things beyond their control that will happen at set times. Their direct intervention will, obviously, impact upon the results, but a lack of engagement will result in the event happening as planned. With multiple, parallel plotlines, it can get complicated, but then you have the luxury of writing up your NPC's plans as if the PCs have no impact within those plots. Write up how the necromancer dominates the world by poisoning all the wells with zombie plague, plan the Var'Khul main starfleet's advance through Sol system before ultimately nuking Earth to ashes. And at regular stages, advance these plotlines, using the set piece events that you had planned (humans loyal to the necromancer arrive in various towns and villages to start preparing the plague vials, the Neptune Orbital Deep Space Monitoring Station suddenly stops reporting in). The more the PCs involve themselves in these plotlines, the more they will affect the later stages and the more focus you can put upon that plotline, while other plotlines fall into obscurity and quietly advance, unopposed, toward their endpoints. Of course, your hope is that the PCs will successfully avert all of the cataclysmic events that your plots will result in but, even if they don't achieve 100% of the plotlines, there should be some grounds for future storylines dealing with the aftermath of those events (the necromancer only managed to infect two cities with the plague, so now rather than having to deal with countless millions of the walking dead, the PCs have to mobilise armies to fight a scant 150,000 zombies; the Var'Khul fleet's nuclear battlecarrier was destroyed in the Titan Defense Satellite battle so they have to risk a more costly ground offensive on Earth). In my own personal experience, multiple overlapping plotlines are fun, especially when they interact with each other and the PCs are often chasing one villain's schemes to be sidetracked foiling a lesser foe's plans only to return to their original threat which has now advanced further. To do this effectively, you need to do a fair amount of note-taking and reorganising. I recommend keeping a concise log for each plot, charting it's advancement, any stumbling blocks it faces and the methods by which the NPC mastermind running it got around those problems. This way you have a good narrative of how the plots moved and you can potentially defend your results from PC scrutiny.


tl;dr Don't write a strict storyline, be more fluid. Write plotlines and introduce diversions. Advance plotlines regularly without PC interference and don't wait on PCs to make stuff happen. Keep good notes.


So overall, my massive post can be summarised with one phrase. Stay flexible. You will likely be dealing with a group of divergent minds, each working toward different goals and advancing their own personal narratives in their own ways. This is not something you should waste time planning every eventuality for. Write your plots as if the PCs never got involved and only adjust them when the PCs place a sleeper on the train tracks. Trigger events as and when they occur, stuff will happen when it happens if the PCs are not quick enough to avert it. Only their direct or even indirect attention will change the outcomes.


NPCs should either be well-planned if they are to be surviving antagonists or quick-and-dirty if not. Guard #6 doesn't need a biography, just a combat statline and a life insurance policy that covers 'death by PC'.


Still with me? Hey, you in the back row! Wake up!


These are just insights from my personal experiences behind the ST screen and they've worked out pretty well so far. Sometimes I've fouled it up and had to scrabble to mitigate storyline damage, but most often I do it in a way that doesn't destroy the narrative. It's a matter of flexibility.


Captain Hesperus

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

Well said, Captain. Well said.


Lux___Wolf - Exactly what I was aiming for

 

[Midna1]

This is reassuring, and thoughtfully written. Thank you!

 

[Wolf Rawrrr]

A note to the Staff - you might want to sticky this thread so it doesn't sink deeper.


That said, I might be expanding on this project soon *bark*

 

[Lost Gretel]

This was great, and now I got a basic idea in mind, thank you both!