Creating Homebrew Events

[The Doom Pool]

Hey guys, I posted a blog detailing how I plan out my ongoing campaign's events. http://wp.me/p2jKw4-72

It is only the first part of multiple parts to come this week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it; more importantly, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you plot out events (here or on the blog).

Thanks.

[gebeji]

Left a reply on your blog already, but since i'm here, might as well answer that second part

I tried doing an event following the OM, but i quickly came to the realization that it was too detailed a process for me. I ended up making overviews of each Act's storyline, along with the required Locations, Scene Distinction/Complications, Opposition and Doom Pool.

As for the thinking behind the story itself, well, i had a basic idea to bring back an old enemy, then made some research to find suitable acolytes. Along the way the story changed to mesh everything more cleanly and i also found a hidden plot for a future event (Sorry for the vagueness but my player is reading this forum, so )

To make things more interesting i had the idea of having the players play the villains in 2 of the 4 Acts. Thinking ahead of exciting locations, scene distinction/complications also made the event come alive in my head.

The downside of having a neat comicbook in mind being that i must try to avoid railroading the player and let him make his own choices, retooling the adventure as we go through it.

Since i didn't follow the complete Event structure, i must also make sure not to forget Transition Scenes to regroup and recuperate, although the storyline does have a number of non-action scenes already planned.

Does that answer your question ?

[The Doom Pool]

Gebeji, it does.

I think one of the things I want to stress this week on the blog is that the Event structure can actually be made pretty loose. Scenes are essentially outlines of possible action or transitions ... but, they are not all going to be played. Depending on the actions of the players certain scenes may be skipped, altered, or replaced by entirely new scenes.

Fortunately, since scene structure is kind of loose creating them 'on the fly' seems very possible.

[The Doom Pool]

A bit more on homebrew events http://wp.me/p2jKw4-76

[June Jazz]

This is really cool. Where before I've been fumbling around in the dark, these posts have given me a lot more direction to frame my events around.

Thanks, Doomy.

[dgh1973]

Gebeji, it does.

I think one of the things I want to stress this week on the blog is that the Event structure can actually be made pretty loose. Scenes are essentially outlines of possible action or transitions ... but, they are not all going to be played. Depending on the actions of the players certain scenes may be skipped, altered, or replaced by entirely new scenes.

Fortunately, since scene structure is kind of loose creating them 'on the fly' seems very possible.

I would tend to agree here. I think the most important things to develop are probably an over-arching plot, a few scene outlines (the important ones), and the XP unlockables and milestones that will make it all "shiny".

I like running open-ended games that don't force a path of action, and the people I play with tend to prefer that as well (they hate being railroaded). That being said, the core things I think I'll focus on for my first run will be the above.

[dgh1973]

Hey guys, I posted a blog detailing how I plan out my ongoing campaign's events. http://wp.me/p2jKw4-72

It is only the first part of multiple parts to come this week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it; more importantly, I'd love to hear your thoughts on how you plot out events (here or on the blog).

Thanks.

Well done, reading now and I like - gets to the heart of a lot of the stuff I need to work out for my first campaign.

A+.

P.S. Just as a "personal interpretation" note - and this is a somewhat controversial topic but I'll let it fly anyhow - I think the Civil War event was also a bit of a reflection of our modern day situation here in the states. I think the use of Captain America as the leader of the "free movement" sort of highlights this a bit. IMHO, the Civil War event was about Governmental paranoia and control.

I bring this up because much like Law and Order, CSI, and other television drivel it can be very easy and effective to create campaigns around what's floating around in the current news headlines. This doesn't tackle the how of plotting campaigns so much as the what, where, or why of the whole process.

Anyhow, great stuff, looking forward to reading more.

[The Doom Pool]

dgh - Thanks for the read. Also, good point about Civil War and its connection to certain fears/ideas/concerns regarding the real world.

Art imitating/expanding on life, and so on.