Preparing an Adventure

So you decided to Gamemaster a Quest of Destiny game, and now you need a story to tell. If you're new to Gamemaster role, you may want to start with a pre-generated adventure, such as The Hellfire Menace. This will allow you to focus more on running the game, and bringing the story elements to life, and less on trying to create your own story and setting. If you're ready to create and tackle your own story though, we can guide you on how to get started.

Establishing your Story Foundation

There are two major components to establishing your story foundation: your plot premise and your setting. Together, this will make up the basis for your story and allow you to develop it into a larger plot. You can start with either component, using one to help define and refine the other.

Your plot premise is basically a short phrase that describes the event or circumstance that the story is based around. There are limitless possibilities as to what you can do here, but some simple examples may include: the princess has been kidnapped, an undead army is attacking, a portal to hell has opened, or the Baron's prized artwork has been stolen. Generally speaking, the only requirement for your premise is that it presents some sort of conflict for the PCs and is something interesting that you think the PCs will enjoy. If you're unsure of what your plot premise should be, consider borrowing ideas from your favorite books, games, tv shows, or movies. There are also a number of resources on the internet if your search for "rpg adventure ideas."

Your setting includes the location (or locations) where your story will take place and the creatures, objects, and events that exist within that location. Furthermore, it encompasses the relationships between groups of creatures and organizations within that place, and can include the political, economic, and social structure therein. The choices here are also seemingly limitless: a small town or bustling city, the ruins of an ancient civilization, caverns deep beneath the world's surface, or a labyrinth full of dangerous creatures. While QoD is generally tailored to a medieval fantasy setting, this can be stretched and adjusted to meet your particular needs.

If you start with your plot premise, you will then want to build a setting that supports that premise. Consider the kidnapped princess example. In this case, you will need a setting that has some sort of Royalty, who usually reside in larger cities within guarded and protected castles. Alternatively, maybe this took place in a small summer house or while the princess was away at school? Then let's consider the other groups that might be active in this city or town: the royal family, religious groups, criminal organizations, merchants guilds, the royalty of neighboring or rival lands, etc. What are these groups doing and how does the Princess' kidnapping affect them?

Alternatively you can begin with the setting, asking yourself which organizations are active, what they are doing, and what they want. Or, you could focus on large or strange events that have been happening in the setting, and theorize the impact of those events on others. As you determine the interactions between people and the setting, you can determine where interesting conflicts may arise and develop a story premise from that.

Once you have your premise and your general setting, you can refine your ideas until you have a solid "main plot" for your story. Just as an adventure can span any length of time, your plot can be simple or complex, your setting small or very large, but we recommend starting with something small and simple. Remember that you can always add more to your adventure later.

While not every idea that you came up with during this process may fit into your main plot, don't just get rid of them. You can use these ideas to help build side plots and destinies later. See Plot Generation Tips for more help on creating your story foundation.

Jeremy's initial plot premise is that the PCs find a strange box. He takes some time considering the significance of the box: what it does, why it's there, where it came from, etc. He eventually decides that the box is a key to an ancient portal to hell.

He then takes some time to consider his setting options. He decides that he'd like to run in an area of smaller towns as opposed to a large city (large cities offer too many distractions from the story), and the portal can be hidden amongst some old ruins from an ancient civilization.

Now he works on putting his plot and setting together. He wants the box to be a point of conflict for the PCs, and decides he needs some opponents who are seeking the box. He decides on two potential antagonists: a group of demonic cultists seeking to open the portal and a wizard who wants to use the power of the box to enslave demons.

Determine the PCs Perspective

Now that you have the basic plot for your adventure, determine how the PCs fit into this conflict. For example, are the PCs trying to save the kidnapped princess or are they the ones that kidnapped her? If they kidnapped her, why and did they even know she was the princess at the time? In order to do this it helps to know each PCs motivation by asking your player's to create a character thesis and background.

The character thesis is a short phrase that represents a PC's underlying motivation for the choices they make, and could include: to please my father, to protect the weak, to gain wealth, or in pursuit of revenge. The character's background explains a little bit about where a PC came from and why they've decided to become an adventurer.

Most players are receptive to some type of constraint, so if you have a particular direction in mind you can prompt them. For example, "You are a member of a secret organization that aims to overthrow the evil tyrant. How did you come to be associated with this group?" Or, "You have been hired by the local magistrate to investigate the source of recent disappearances. What prompted you to agree to the task?" In this way, characters determine their own motivations for conforming to the perspective and path that you've laid out for them. This can also help you when starting the adventure, as your players already have a predefined purpose to get them started on the adventure (see Adventure Hooks for more information).

Jeremy decides that the PCs will initially be neutral with regards to the box, not really knowing what it is and coming upon it by happenstance. It will then be up to the PCs as to whether they would like to align themselves with either of the parties seeking the box, or keep it out of both their hands.

Sending Adventure Backgrounds to Players

This should include any general information that you want the PCs to know about the setting or premise, especially if it is important to character generation. For example, if you want to run an adventure where Elves have been hunted to near extinction, a character who wants to run an Elf may experience some extra prejudices and challenges they should be aware of. Alternatively, if you were running a world without arcane magic (or where magic was very rare), you may make Sorcerer and Wizard classes off-limits (though we recommend discussing such severe limitations with your players well in advance of the game; not everyone will be open to such limitations). If you created a character prompt (as described above), you should include this with your Adventure Background.

Your adventure background should be simple and not too detailed, as you'll have plenty of time to explore it during gameplay. Some examples of information that could be included are: the area's geographical layout (such as part of a landholding or kingdom), organizations of people of note in the area (such as rulers, religious groups, merchant guilds, criminal groups, etc), or a history of major and current events (such as wars, changes in leadership, or natural disasters). It is also ok to leave the adventure background a complete mystery, as long as it will not impact character generation, and let the background unfold with the story.

In response to the Adventure Background, you should ask PCs to send you any background information they have developed for their character, as well as their Character Thesis. If you created a character prompt, this should include their response to that. You can also ask for specific tidbits of background information, such as "Tell me a secret about your character that nobody knows." This can offer opportunities for side quests, destinies, or simply interesting character to character interactions should the secret come out.


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