I have problems coming up with a reasonable method to design adventures. The methods from the core books (I have all three!) seem pretty useless to me, and the ones from the Narrator Toolkits aren't much better.
I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share the methods in which they design and plan their episodes?
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"Please rush me my portable walrus polishing kit, eight super brushes guaranteed to clean even the stickiest seabound mammals. Yes I am over 18, even though my IQ isn't."
TOS Episodes generally followed the three-act structure.
- A Teaser to introduce the problem.
- Act One: Define the problem.
- Act Two: Complicate the problem, but also begin moving towards your solution.
- Act Three: Final conflict/resolution. Problem is solved, enemies defeated/confounded, justice served, etc.
- Postscript: Brief commentary on lesson learned, humorous insight, etc. Speeches are never long-winded and speak to a simple universal truth; humor is lighthearted, contributes to cameraderie/esprit-de-corps, and is never mean-spirited.
One of Voyager's weaknesses was overcomplicated plots at the expense of a believeable resolution, or a resolution that came too quickly and too easily - whether a deus ex machina or a tomato surprise.
Some sound advice from Stephen J. Cannell (creator of The A-Team, Wiseguy, and other top-rated shows): "What Are The Bad Guys Doing?" - they're not just sitting around waiting for the heroes to catch them. That's difficult to capture in a live RPG outside of a cutscene, but it should figure into your planning. If the characters won't reach DS9 for six hours, what are the Cardassians doing in that time? Setting up traps? Hacking the computer?
Try writing a short story to set up your scene and see if its sustainable/believeable.
Other writers have suggested using 3x5 cards - put one action on each card and shuffle things around to determine your pacing. (Personally, I've never really found that method to work particularly well - I usually do a straight outline or the above story method.)
If it's just plot seeds you're trying to come up, here are some questions to consider:
1. What if? (What if the crew was subjected to radiation and began living in different time streams?)
2. How and Why? (How did this happen? Was it a result of the experimental slipstream drive test?)
3. Where is the conflict? (Often, this comes down to someone wanting something that rightfully belongs to someone else, or an unwillingness to share a plentiful resource for the benefit of all.)
4. What is your solution? (How do the characters discover the solution, what obstacles stand between them and implementation, how do any involved parties respond?)
Although it's acceptable to have drama turn on a technolgical issue, remember to emphasize the human aspect of Trek ... if the problem is a broken widget, then there must be reasons why it hasn't been repaired - the planetary inhabitants have forgotten how, the necessary widget is owned by a neighboring race, the Ferenghi sold them the widget, but are not honoring the extended warranty ... and so forth.
I'm the most dangerous kind of Narrator - I do things by the seat of my pants, and I've gotten good at it Anyway, I'm not totally unprepared, although it sometimes feels that way
What I generally do is come up with a concept to begin with: (investigate raids on shipping near the Neutral Zone that, so far, have left no survivors.)
Who is doing the raiding? Well, the Romulans deny any wrongdoing (of course) but hint that they've had to chase off pirates who violated the NZ. Are they telling the truth or not?
At this point there are any number of possibilities. The Romulans could be testing Federation resolve. They could also be telling the truth, a group of pirates is attacking small merchant vessels and traders. Or the Tal Shiar could be involved without the knowledge of the Romulan military.
At this point, I usually decide who the villain is and script out how any Romulan war birds would respond to Federation activity. What happens from that point is pretty much up to the crew. I'm lucky (or unlucky) enough to have a group that typically does not do the expected, so I have to be quick on my feet. I've found that the formula of setting up a scenario and simply being fully aware of what is going on should be enough to keep the adventure going while dropping enough clues to keep things moving in the right direction.
To me, though, the key is a combination of of prepared story and flexibility. You should have enough prepared so that you can answer specific questions about sensor scans, etc, as well as role-play various NPCs. You should also be flexible enough that you can easily throw a wrench in the works if the crew is moving too fast or allow a major breakthrough if they're floundering. Above all, remember that the crew is there to have fun.
Know your players (target audience). Get them to do your work for you.
This is how a typical campaign works for me. I come up with a idea of what I want to do, "Ok, I want to run a deep space exploration campaign, where all the characters are department heads/command staff of an Intrepid class."
Then, I pitch the idea to the players. "I've got a great campaign lined up. It's going to be aboard an Intrepid Class, exploration based. I don't want to say any more, or I'll spoil it." Notice the Hyperbole. I don't actually have a campaign at this moment.
Then, I listen carefully to what my players start to say. I make a list of what they want to see in the campaign (Borg, Iconians, Klingons, whatever), and get an idea who wants to play what character.
This allows me to flesh out an outline of what they want to see.
Then, I have them make characters, individually, and hopefully with me present. This allows me to interject things at the character creation step, allowing me to alter histories and skills to "Cooler" things. It also gives me ideas on what each player wants the character to do and be.
I then modify what the players want to see by what the characters are and want to become.
Sometimes, everything Gels well, and I end up with a crew of second rate officers, people happy with being a Science Officer Lt for the past 25 years, and people who for one reason or another have been shunted off to the hinterlands. Apparently, StarFleet sends them off to explore because it can't figure out what to do with them.
However, in this case, all the players want the characters to sort of redeem themselves.
If the players don't have access to this website, then I'll go to the Tactical section on the front page, and borrow the most likely adventure, one that fits the needs of the group. If not, I'll borrow liberally from some other adventure.
The first thing that I lay eyes on is a haunted castle Adventure. Hmmm, that can become a haunted space ship, with "Subspace Echoes" of the lost original crew haunting it. The PCs have to figure out how to release the Subspace Echoes before they get lost there too.
By watching how the PC's interact in this canned adventure, gives me ideas on how to add the hooks they've given me to the adventures they want to run.
If I get stuck, I can always have them explore a boring nebula or planet, allowing them plenty of opportunity to role-play amongst themselves, while waiting for me to drop the hammer on them. Or I can steal from other adventures, or from other star trek episodes, altering them slightly to fit my players.
Most of this requires that you listen carefully to what the players think and want. Give it to them, but not quite in the way they expect. It requires some on the fly thinking, but when it works out, it's very rewarding. And the Players never quite know how much work they did for you.
Yeah, I really admire people who can do those "on-the-fly" things. I have a friend who runs a Star Wars d20 game for me- he can come without even done any planning at all, think for about 30 seconds, and then have a terrific adventure in store for me after that brief thinking period. I tried that once- let's just say it didn't go too well.
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"Please rush me my portable walrus polishing kit, eight super brushes guaranteed to clean even the stickiest seabound mammals. Yes I am over 18, even though my IQ isn't."
The path to adventure
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Anyway, I'm not totally unprepared, although it sometimes feels that way 