Nouns & Scenario Design

 “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

I’m enjoying a spate of adventure design and writing as I prepare a Pulp Egypt scenario for an upcoming convention game. I haven’t run a roleplaying game session in a while; it’s been a few years since I penned one (and that’s still not seen publication). But I’ve wanted to run a new Pulp Egypt adventure for a while and this idea had been percolating in the back of my head for a while. I’d thought of writing it as a D6 System solitaire adventure (much like Trapped in the Museum, but a bit longer), with the character pursuing a mystery around notable locations in Cairo, but I wasn’t ready for another fully involved programmed adventure. So when friends asked me to run something at this upcoming convention, I started putting ideas on the page. It all proved an opportunity to try something different with my scenario design and writing process.

I wanted to move away from the episodic format many of West End Games’ D6 System lines used based on cinematic styles that dominated the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. I’m aware they’re rather linear (some might use the term “railroading”) without much regard for character agency...and rather stuck in the design mindset of the late 20th century, especially when viewed across all the roleplaying scenario developments in the first quarter of the 21st century. I’ve occasionally spent some time over the past few years exploring other adventure formats, trying to understand them, playing around with them, and (usually unsuccessfully) trying to emulate elements I comprehended and admired. But I’ve not had reason to really hone them since most of my recent game activity comes in the realm of wargames of various kinds (aside from not having enough time or focus).

I settled on a very basic, some might even say juvenile framework to help organize and present material for a scenario: using nouns as organizational tool as well as a focus method. I was inspired

I remembered the Schoolhouse Rock! cartoons familiar to Americans of my generation, the cartoons that aired interspersed with Saturday morning cartoons, educational shorts with catchy tunes and memorable lyrics. And I recalled “A Noun Is A Person, Place, or Thing.” Silly, really, but I considered it in the context of scenario elements. From a more literary perspective one might call it “character, setting, or prop,” all applicable to roleplaying game adventure design. So I started considering, and ordering, my scenario elements along these lines, elements that interact with each other and the players’ characters to help them explore the setting and tell an interactive story.

To start I decided to give each element a page of its own, at first to jot down notes and ideas, later to refine everything for orienting and reminding gamemastesr. Each page has a header with the proper name and its designation in parentheses (person, place, thing). Then I list two related elements as subheads, making sure they cover the rest of the triad. For instance, after a brief introduction to set the stage for the adventure, the first page reads:

Marianne Wagner (person)

Mena House Hotel (place)       Baedeker’s Guide (thing)

Mena House Hotel, 1920s.

The page covers the main header subject, with reference to the secondary headers; all three figure into the initial encounter that gets the action moving. The page covers interactions with Wagner along with notes about her motivation and a range of future potential actions as the scenario progresses. Elements from other pages mentioned here appear in the text in bold for easier reference throughout. I treat each page as a source material article focusing on the main element and its relation to the others. What’s the significance of each element to the scenario? How might characters interact with those elements...or gamemaster characters interact with them? This leaves plenty of room to develop motivations, timelines of planned activity, locations, and items necessary to advance or hinder a plan. At the bottom of each page I provide a heading of “Next?” with keyword suggestions for subsequent pages...both a recommendation of what gamemasters should read next as they prepare and what characters might explore next, without explicit “railroading” instructions. In the case of this first page, the “Next?” category includes “Baedeker’s Guide” and “The Authorities,” both of which have their own pages with related keywords.

Not every element gets a page: some simply set the stage to put the others in context. For instance, rhe next page features “Baedeker’s Guide (thing)” as the main header, with the subheads “Mena House Hotel (place)” and “Professor Aubrey (person).” The latter two don’t get their own pages — I mention them in the scenario introduction — but serve as touchpoints to put other information in context (though gamemasters are free to fill in those areas beyond what information I offer in the text...and I might feel inspired to add background material on them).

I started limiting myself to one page for each key scenario element. Alas, that format only allowed about 425 words per page in my 12-point typeface. While this forced me to hone my focus, condense my ideas, and tighten my writing, it didn’t offer much room for bits like illustrations, maps, diagrams, and sidebars of which I’m terribly fond...and which I find enhance the overall experience with a bit of contextual source material. Although preparing notes to run the adventure at a convention remains my immediate objective, I’ inclined to refine it further to publish as one of the free/pay-what-you-want scenarios I offer as enticing samples of what Pulp Egypt offers for gamers. For this I’d probably go with a two-column format (or offset-column format like Pulp Egypt itself), expand each element from one page to a two-page spread, and fill the space with useful and relevant source material as mentioned above.

At this point I’m only six pages in, but this method has helped me focus on essential scenario elements and how they might interact with each other and the characters. I’m eager to see if this format sustains my interest and enthusiasm...and if it offers an effective organizational framework to plot out and share adventure details. It’s all meant to help me navigate the adventure possibilities during the game (beyond my need to write everything down as I design the scenario).

I know there are far more sophisticated, elegant, and nuanced ways to go about adventure design and writing, but I’m pursuing what works for me at this time, leavened with some of the knowledge I’ve picked up reading other scenarios and examining other methods. I have explored other techniques of adventure design and writing, and even tried my hand at them...none with any real degree of success. I’m trying to incorporate some of my observations from other methods as I stumble through this one. I think my enjoyment comes from the narrative sourcebook-style approach, each page (or possibly spread) focusing on a particular aspect of the scenario (person. place, or thing) and how it relates ot others...and where interactions with the characters leads them.

A good deal of my satisfaction with this side-project comes from my distraction from other stressors: my frustrating recovery from knee surgery, my discouraging job search, the usual strain from everyday life’s pressures, and the pall of tension from all this <waves hand at the news and state of the world>. In a nod to “preparation as play,” my consideration of game design elements and immersion hammering out details on the page help offer a weak little sanctuary where I can exercise and recharge my creative batteries and find some spiritual contentment in my game-related endeavors.

“The triumph of anything is a matter of organization.”

— Kurt Vonnegut