Reading the Lazy Dungeon Master, taking notes.
"How little can I prepare and have an interesting game?"
-Robin Laws
Minimalist prepping gives you the most dynamic game, asserts the author. Over prepping locks it all down.
If you want a game and not a novel, you need to do as advised in dungeon world. Draw a map but leave blank spaces.
To begin you need three things. A place to start, paths from there, and NPCs.
When designing the adventures starting place, use an elevator pitch. A single evocative sentence.
I personally would add some questions.
The Jabberquai Goblins are raiding the peaceful village of Drome at night. What are they looking for? How do they enter?
Paths ahead can be linear (so you hit them all) or radial and sandboxy. I find myself wanting to do an encounter table at each of them.
And NPCs. Since we run solo, all characters are NPC or PC depending on your perspective. Primary or Major characters should be about a paragraph, enough to know who they are. Minor or secondary characters don't need much more than a name and occupation but can be promoted to primary if they become useful to the story.
I tend to start off with a broad situation -- why is my hero here in this place? -- then a series of tighter questions -- what am I doing right now?. Usually no more than three or four statements total.
ReplyDeleteI usually break actors into "my hero", "people who are meaningful in my hero's life" and "everyone else".
I've been thinking of it like a show.
ReplyDeleteMain cast, supporting cast, recurring characters, and extras.
Main cast is tied to the plot and each other. Supporting cast is tied to main cast, the local setting, or both.
Recurring characters are tied to the plot, characters, local setting or all three. Extras are tied to local setting.
I was thinking of getting that book awhile back, but I ended up going with Dungeon World. My next purchase for running that sort of improv-style game is probably going to be the Gamemaster's Apprentice cards.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of minimalist prepping. When I use maps at all, I usually generate them with hexographer.
ReplyDeleteI almost never generate NPCs in advance. Unless they're in the party, they exist in those blank places on the map (literal or figurative).
Sometimes I even start without a clear idea of what my character is doing, and head straight for the random event tables.