12 for 12 #8

Talk about your typical approach to preparation for running an RPG. Is there a particular method you generally follow? What use do you make of published setting or adventure material, if any?

I'm going to discuss convention one-shots, because if I'm being completely honest with myself, that's really all I run these days. Fortunately, I've got things to say about that.

Most of my one-shots involve games based on media properties. I do this because there's usually a ready-made audience who's already familiar with the source material, which means I don't have to either run a bland, bog-standard genre adventure or spend a ton of time trying to explain backstory. Also, pitching a game set in a book, TV, or movie property has always been a hard sell with my local gamers.

If I'm writing an adventure from scratch, I generally follow a pretty simple formula: I figure out what my big climactic fight scene is going to look like, and them work backwards to figure out how the PCs get there. Along the way, I want them to have a couple of other combats of varying difficulty, a chance to use some non-combat skills, and at least one encounter that will require roleplaying and decision-making in a way that will affect the difficulty of the final encounter. Figuring out where each piece fits in the chain sometimes takes some doing, but I find if I include these elements in some order and link them together with enough story tissue, I get a satisfying one-shot.

Generally, the first encounter will be a fairly easy combat scene that I start in media res. I find that with most games, the combat rules are the best way to introduce the system to new players. This fight will often only be tangentially connected to the rest of the adventure (sort of a pre-credits sequence), but it will lead in some way to the info dump that gets things moving. For instance, in my Justice League Unlimited adventure, "The Return of Lex Luthor," the game starts with the heroes fighting Metallo and some mercenaries in a STAR Labs facility. It's a good little encounter to get the blood pumping, but the actual plot kicks in during the aftermath of the battle when Lois Lane asks them for a statement about Lex Luthor's return from wherever he went at the end of the Darkseid War.

So, that's the plot sorted, if I'm writing my own adventure. If I'm using a published one, I do a thorough read-through and make extensive notes breaking the whole thing down into beats and making sure if there's any information I need to guard when describing things that I know it. There's nothing worse than inadvertently revealing a plot point because you're just reading from someone else's text. Sometimes (okay, often) with pre-published stuff, I note scenes or encounters to cut for time constraints. For instance, the classic WEG Star Wars adventure "Tatooine Manhunt" is terrific and easily usable for a one-shot, but there's a seemingly endless litany of encounters in the deserts and things can get a little grindy, so I usually drop the bantha stampede when I run it. It's not that it's a bad encounter, it's just one too many and likely to make the game run overtime.

(This reminds me of another thing I try to do: have an encounter or scene I can cut without breaking anything if it looks like the game is going to run long. I firmly believe my players deserve an complete story and hate it when a GM has to cut things short at the end of the game. So I always make sure I've got something I can ditch if the players are having a hard time, so they can get to the finale in time.)

OK, so I've got the plot. I need characters. This will depend on the game and the IP. For a supers game set in Marvel or DC story, I'm going to make sure the PCs consist of prominent and recognizable heroes. This isn't an opportunity for me to show off my knowledge of obscure comics characters; it's a chance for the players to be The Flash or Daredevil. I once played in a Buffy game at a con that was set in Sunnydale, but with a completely different cast of characters. I honestly never saw the point of this other than to show off that the GM made up his own characters. If you want to run a Buffy game without B and the Slayerettes, that's cool But don't set it in Sunnydale, okay?

(And speaking of characters: if you are creating pre-gens for your game, make sure they're suitable to the adventure. I'm still not over that Savage Worlds "Star Trek: Enterprise" game last OwlCon, where the GM handed out characters she'd created for a Savage Worlds "Fallout" game, saddling me with an illiterate gun-bunny she declared would be the chief of security. Seriously.)

Once I've got the characters done mechanically, I try to present them in an aesthetically pleasing manner. They will definitely be produced on a computer (yes, I've been in convention games where the character sheets were hand-written; it's a pain to deal with), and will probably include an easy-to-read summary of the character's abilities. I'm a big believer in neat visuals, so there will be some kind of illustration of the character (another reason to use licensed properties: there's tons of easy-to-find visuals).

After that come the extra. I make sure there are reference sheets for every player to cover the major rules bits, as well as anything else they might need. For instance, if a character has some special knowledge, I'll put that in the same packet with their character and reference sheets. If the game is going to require tactical movement on a grid, I make my own cardboard standup figures or counters for the PCs and NPCs. I make table tents so I can remember who's playing what character. Finally, I usually make some custom GM screen inserts for my World's Greatest GM Screen. I've found that having a screen that looks like it belongs to the setting I'm running really helps set the mood. Okay, it helps set my mood, but if I'm excited, then hopefully I can get the players excited, too.

So that's my approach to one-shots. Hopefully in the next year I can get back to running something long-form.