Scenes

 Scenes

I always set up scenes in a similar way.

1) purpose

Every scene serves one or more purposes, and the first job in setting up a scene is to establish the scenes purpose.

I have distilled a number of general purposes for scenes, but different structures and circumstances may provide others.

Hook. The first scene in a session will often provide a hook into the sessions events. Something to get the ball rolling.

Action. These used to be the only scenes I ran at all. They are the scenes that most RPGs mechanics support, and provide the excitement.

Development. Interface Red introduced me to these scenes. I intersperse them with action scenes and they provide space for reflection, plot development, character interaction etc. stories are much richer for their inclusion.

Climax. Every session should build to a climax. A big event of some kind that ties everything together. Often I play this as an action scene.

Resolution. I finish sessions by tying up loose ends, seeding hooks for future sessions, and generally rounding the adventure off.

Seeds

A scene begins with one it more seeds. These are ideas that can be combined to give a premise for the scene.

I have found that generally I want two or three seeds, and pull as many of them together into a scene premise as possible.

Seeds can come from (amongst other places):

Character goals

Scene types

Random idea generators

Game structures

NPC goals

RPG specific generators

Never be afraid to gather more seeds for a scene, especially if no premise springs to mind. You don't have to use them all, but weaving as many together as possible can lead a story in unexpected directions.

Once you have your seeds, pull as many ideas from them as you can into a single sentence describing what the scene will be about. This is the scene premise.

Test the premise

Once you have a premise for the scene it is best to test it using a GME.

If the scene is altered or interrupted, you can use the seeds to help guide a new interpretation of the scene.

Build challenges

Once I know what the scene is going to be about, I can use the rules of the RPG I am using to build any challenges or set up any mechanics I will need for the scene.

The more I can set up in advance, the less I need to set up while playing and the smoother the scene will run.

End scene

Once things have run their course, I take stock and Update anything that needs updating.

Then I look at character goals (both pc and NPC) and note down any changes that might lead to seeds for new scenes - the goals and plans of my player characters are especially useful for this. 

On Campaign Structure

On the structure of campaigns

Recently I have been experimenting a lot with the structure of stories and campaigns.

I have a number of competing needs in terms of structure when I play a solo game:

- I like to create a meaningful story with narrative beats.

- I like flexibility so that a story can take any shape it needs to

- I like epic (and so long) campaigns

- I need stories to be short enough that I can get a sense of completion before I get bored and wander onto something else.

- many RPGs assume you will play in "sessions" however these are difficult to define in solo games that tend to be played in a more as hoc fashion.

There are plenty of story structures out there, and I will hopefully cover some of them in their own posts.

Many narrative structures provided by early pioneers in the hobby, such as 9 questions and 5 room dungeons provided great narrative beats and short stories but I found the structures a little too predictable in some respects.

Many GM emulators (such as mythic and PUM) later developed their own story structures with narrative beats that were less predictable but also considerably longer.

After a lot of experimentation I have settled on creating campaigns using a layered structure with elements from each layer combining to make the next in a similar fashion to a Fate fractal.

Let's start with the smallest building block of a campaign:

Scenes

It is possible to play a freeform game using a GME without breaking it into scenes, however they are a foundational narrative building block for a reason - they work.

I tend to have a scene comprise a single main challenge or activity, and potentially a couple of extra complications.

Sessions

Outgunned breaks stories down into "one shots" (or just "shots"), which are complete stories beginning with a hook and ending with a climax and resolution, that are short enough to play in a single session.

The idea is that every session should provide a satisfying story with a conclusion.

I love this idea, and have adopted it whole heartedly. It both provides me with short but satisfying gaming goals, while at the same time gives me a mechanic for tracking a "session" for games that need it.

On average I play around 9 scenes per "session" with a loose minimum of 5 and maximum of around 12.

Story Arc

Sessions are grouped into story arcs consisting of between 5 and 12 sessions (again, with an average of around 9).

Much like a session, a story arc will have an introduction and a climax of some sort.

If I have a group of characters, I will often play through separate introductory sessions for each before bringing them together in the first story arc.

Often each story arc will culminate in facing a mini boss or completing a larger goal.

This layer provides a slightly longer term goal and gives structure to a campaign.

For a more complicated campaign, there is nothing to stop story arcs from overlapping or interweaving with each other.

Campaign

Story arcs are grouped into a campaign, with the first story arc introducing the campaign and the final one providing the conclusion and resolution.

Again, a campaign should generally consist of between 5 and 12 story arcs with an average of around 9.

This layer gives me the epic campaigns I am looking for.

Game structures

The nice thing about treating a campaign as a fractal is that the same (or similar) structures can work at any layer of the fractal.

Story structures providing around 5 to 12 scenes can be used to structure a session, but with a little tweaking they can structure a story arc or even a whole campaign.

You can play around with different structures at different layers to give the campaign a unique feel.

A 5 room dungeon for example could provide a small dungeon fit for a sessions exploration, an in depth exploration covering a story arc, or even the focus of an entire campaign.