Can someone help me track down a recent post? Someone, and I can't recall who, shared a post about seeing modifications. Like, you would start with a "PC goes to the tavern to meet the bounty hunter." But, there was some kind of randomizer that would turn it to "PC sneaks into the ball to stop the bounty hunter" or something like that?
Sounds familiar?
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Can someone help me track down a recent post? Someone, and I can't recall who, shared a post about seeing modifications. Like, you would start with a "PC goes to the tavern to meet the bounty hunter." But, there was some kind of randomizer that would turn it to "PC sneaks into the ball to stop the bounty hunter" or something like that?
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You referring to the Aladdin technique?
ReplyDeleteThe “Aladdin” Technique - an easy way to spontaneously spice up RPG encounter ideas, solo or otherwise.
STEP 1: Write an encounter set-up in a single sentence. Bracket-off each key element, action word/phrase, and descriptor, but not any references to the PCs. (I aim for six items.)
So, in an opera-themed fantasy world, I’ve currently got two PCs on a treasure hunt in cold-hearted Princess Turandot’s exotic kingdom. I wrote the following encounter set-up:
Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] an [old] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [warriors].
STEP 2 - Al: Randomly select one element or descriptor and alter it with inspirational help from a random idea generator like Mythic or Story Cubes.
I had 6 elements and descriptors in my set-up sentence. I rolled a d6 and got a 2 for the [old] descriptor. I rolled a Story Cube and got an image of waves. So, I altered my sentence into:
Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] a [submerged] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [warriors].
STEP 3 - Add: Randomly select one element or descriptor and add a word or phrase immediately before or after it with inspirational help from a random idea generator.
I rolled a d6 again and got a 5 for the [Turandot’s] descriptor. I rolled a Story Cube and got an image of a person dancing. So, my sentence became:
Orsini and Guglio try to [break into] a [submerged] [tomb] while [being pursued by] [Turandot’s] [capoeira] [warriors].
A weirdly satisfying development!
STEP 4 - In: Create intrigue by following the encounter set-up sentence with an ambiguous question devised via inspirational help from a random idea generator.
I rolled a Story Cube and got an image of an apple. That gave me the final version of the encounter concept:
Orsini and Guglio try to break into a submerged tomb while being pursued by Turandot’s capoeira warriors. But what is the nature of the strange fruit growing out of the water surrounding the tomb?
And that’s it! In four steps, the encounter has been embellished in ways the player(s) could never have expected!
roryb bracebuckle that was it! Thanks. I'll save it to play around with later!
ReplyDeleteCredit to John Fiore for this.
ReplyDeleteI played my first game of D&D with my three daughters last night. You've reminded me to use this to help generate memorable and surprising encounters for me, not just the players.
ReplyDelete