Designing Adventures

When you roleplay, you are engaged in group storytelling. But how do you tell these stories? And what
kind of stories do you tell? Does it all happen spontaneously?
To answer the last question first, no, it doesnʼt. Every good roleplaying session began with an adventure
for the gamemaster to follow. An adventure is a guide to a story, complete with plot, setup, confrontations,
and possible resolutions. When you add players, their characters work within the framework of the adventure
to create the story. Every adventure tells a different story depending on the players who run through it.
An adventure must be more than a series of battles. You must come up with a storyline, complete with a
beginning, middle, and end; a goal for the playersʼ characters; and a cast of gamemasterʼs characters to help
or hinder the playersʼ characters.

TYPES OF ADVENTURES
When you roleplay, you have to decide what sort of game you are going to play. Two of the most common
are the episodic game and the series campaign.

THE EPISODIC GAME

The episodic game is one that revolves around individual adventures or stories that may or may not be con-
nected. Sometimes, each player has several different characters, but he or she uses a different one depending
on what type of adventure is being run.
Games based on single scenarios are a lot of fun for new players and groups that have several different
gamemasters. One person runs an adventure while everyone else plays and then, after the adventure is com-
pleted, someone else may gamemaster for a while. This gives everyone a chance not only to experiment with
gamemastering, but with playing lots of different types of characters.
The drawbacks to this type of game are not too serious. There is little or no continuity with the universe as
a whole. No one needs to worry about getting money or equipment together — beyond what they need for a
particular adventure. The characters are often less “real” than those in a campaign-driven game.
Episodic games are also good for people who desire to get involved in roleplaying but donʼt have a lot of
time. Groups that play single adventures often only need to play a few times a month to keep going.

AN EPISODIC GAME EXCERPT (MODERN)

Gamemaster: Tonight, your characters are hanging around in the bar, and they hear an argument. Some
big brute is pushing around a little weasely guy in the back of the bar. Everybody seems to be ignoring it
— pointedly — but itʼs caught your interest.
Player 1 (Mike): Well, Iʼm playing Gunther, a Mercenary tonight, so Iʼll wander over and hear whatʼs
going on. Maybe the little guyʼll hire me to protect him.
Player 2 (Rafi): Iʼm playing a Ex-Cop, so Iʼll just sit and watch — I know better than to stick my nose in
where Iʼm not wanted.
Gamemaster: All right. The guy is really big. Heʼs snarling and growling at the little guy, who is doing
his best not to cower in fear.
Suddenly, he leaps at the little guy, who just barely dodges out of the way. The brute crashes into a table
and breaks it, then gets up, snarling. He grabs for a weapon.
Mike: Iʼll pull my gun and try to intimidate the big guy. “Hey, ugly! Think it over!” Oh, and Iʼll watch and
see what the little guy does.
Rafi: Uh, oh! Iʼll pull my pistol, but Iʼm going to stay behind cover — Iʼll watch the little guy, and make
sure he doesnʼt take off.
Gamemaster: Okay. At the sight of Gunther and his big gun, the hulk snarls and spits at you, but holsters
his weapon. He backs out of the rear entrance slowly.
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 2

The little guy looked like he was going to run for the door, but now heʼs feeling much better. He walks up
to Gunther and says, “Nice work, buddy. Say, Iʼm looking for a couple guys to do a job for me …”
Player 1: Iʼm listening.
As you can see, the stress in an adventure game is to get the characters into the adventure quickly and with
only a little prep time. The gamemaster did not spend much time “setting the stage” — he just used the bar
scene as a way to get the two playersʼ characters on track. No one even asked “Whatʼs the name of the bar?”
or “What planet are we on?” That wasnʼt important at that stage.

THE SERIES CAMPAIGN

The series campaign usually differs from the episodic game in two major ways: frequency and “reality.”
Campaign gamers often get together at least once a week or at least every two. They play a game that
simulates “real life” in the universe of the game.The players worry about their charactersʼ lives beyond the
next adventure — they have to pay off their debts, they have friends and enemies, and they have homes or
favorite stomping grounds.
If an episodic game is like a movie or novel — a complete story in and of itself just waiting for a sequel
— a campaign game is like a continuing story or television show. Hopefully, what happens in one session or
adventure of the campaign affects things later on in the campaign. If a character meets someone interesting in
one adventure, that person should probably show up in subsequent adventures — barring change.
The drawbacks to the campaign game are obvious. The gamemaster and the players have to prepare more
— both in creating the adventures and stories, and in readying the characters for new challenges. Seldom can
a character just pick up and go on a new adventure — gamemaster and players need to prepare with warm-up
and down time.
This type of game, however, can be very rewarding. The characters — both gamemaster and player con-
trolled — grow and change over the course of the campaign. They get better at what they do, and they make
friends and enemies along the way. The universe becomes more “real” for them, and the gamemaster can set
up long-term plots and plans that are “background” until used.

A SERIES CAMPAIGN EXCERPT (SCIENCE FICTION)

Gamemaster: Lucius, you and Marrik are sitting in The Last Hope bar on Teraxiter. You came back here,
as always, after your last mission. Old “Silver Eye,” the cyborg bartender, is tending tonight. The crowd is
small, but there seems to be some tension.
Player 1 (Lucius): Iʼll look the place over. We still owe Silver Eye for getting us that last job — if some-
thingʼs going on, maybe we can pay him back by keeping it out of his bar.
Player 2 (Marrik): I donʼt know if I owe Silver much of anything — I lost my leg on that last mission!
Lucius: But he got you a replacement, right?
Marrik: Well …
Gamemaster: While you guys are arguing, you suddenly hear a commotion spring up near the rear en-
trance of the bar. Looking around, you see a huge bolter — it looks like one of those aliens Veraxi you saw
out near the asteroid belt last month. Theyʼre big and mean, but unaccustomed to cities. Looks like somebody
— a small Human-type — said or did something that made him mad. Heʼs growling and snarling, and the
Human seems to be trying to back away.
Lucius: Anybody doing anything?
Gamemaster: Silverʼs reaching under the bar — probably pulling out his little “argument settler,” but, for
some reason, he looks hesitant to use it.”
Marrik: Cover me; Iʼm going to sneak up to the other side of the bar and find out whatʼs going on.
Lucius: I pull my pistol and look questioningly at Silver. Does it look like he wants us to do anything?
Gamemaster: Lucius, Silver sends you a pleading look. Make a Knowledge roll. (The player succeeds at
his roll and the Gamemaster continues.) You remember that Silver has a silent partner in the Hope. One who
 DESIGNING ADVENTURES • PAGE 3

is hooked up with the local underworld. Veraxi make great leg-breakers for mobs and such. They may not
know cities, but they sure know pain.
Marrik: Terrific. So we stop the fight, and we end up facing down Boris “Screw-You-Pay-Me” again. And
Silver wants us to stop the fight?
Gamemaster: Well, now that youʼve gotten closer, you see that this Veraxi bears no resemblance to any
of the local leg-breakers … and the little guys certainly doesnʼt look like one of Borisʼ men. Silver probably
just isnʼt sure.
Marrik: Yeah. Just like he wasnʼt sure about the mine emplacements either.
Gamemaster: Well …
As you can see, in virtually the same situation, the players and the gamemaster both have much more in-
formation to draw on. This takes some keeping track, but is well worth it — it adds to the flavor of the game.
Gamemasterʼs characters like “Silver Eye” and “Boris the Crime Lord” make simple situations much more
complex and interesting.

DESIGNING AN ADVENTURE
One of the easiest ways to design an adventure is to follow the same pattern as a play. Think of it as a
dramatic arrangement of related events leading to a dramatic conclusion. The adventure is separated into a
number of acts (usually one to six), each divided into scenes, the exact number depending on how many you
need to get the characters to the next act. Each act has its own beginning, middle and end. It has a direction
determined by plot points, the place in each act you want the characters to get to. And it has interesting game-
masterʼs characters who serve as enemies, allies, and neutrals for the playersʼ characters to interact with.
But before we can go further, we need an idea for a story.
Where do you get ideas? They can come from a lot of different places. From published adventures, from
books, from movies, from TV shows, from your players — ideas can come from anywhere.
Once you have the idea, you have to build a plot around it. Then you need to break the plot into a sequence
of acts, each with its own minor problem that has to be solved in order to advance the plot toward the storyʼs
climax. Finally, you have to translate the problems you present into game terms so that you can resolve them
as they occur during a gaming session.
The following are recommended as steps for designing your own adventures and fleshing out existing
“adventure hooks.” This is a system you can use to get started. When you have gamemastered a few times,
you will probably create your own system that works better for you.

STEP ONE: CREATE THE PLOT LINE

The plot line is the basic story you plan out for an adventure. It is much like the plot line of a story, novel
or movie, though not quite as linear or rigid. Instead, it is an idea of where you believe the adventure (and
the story) will go.
Your players, of course, will have different ideas. Theyʼll wander around, missing clues you thought were
obvious and coming up with solutions youʼd never considered. Thatʼs fine. Thatʼs why your basic storyline is
flexible and mobile, a living plot line.
If it helps, think of your living plot line as a river. The characters may flow down the stream of the plot
line for a while, but theyʼll undoubtedly “fork off” onto a tributary or side stream occasionally, and they will
undoubtedly take time out on the banks of the river as well. Who knows — they may strike out overland,
abandoning the plot line altogether in favor of unexplored territory.
This is the sort of thing you have to be prepared for. Donʼt construct a plot line with such rigid guidelines and
requirements that you are telling the players the story of their characters. Instead, allow them to shape the plot
as well. Make the river wide and deep, so they have plenty of choices to make that keep the plot flowing.
The best way to do this is to map out the plot line — either as a real line with points marked along a map,
or as a story, with each point marked with scene or act changes.
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 4

TYPES OF STORIES
You can design just about any type of stories with the D6 System? To help you narrow your focus, this
section describes a few of the many broad story settings.

EXPLORATION
Exploration adventures follow in the action/adventure tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Arthur Conan
Doyle — stories about lost worlds or regions, strange or prehistoric creatures, and the arrival of more “civi-
lized” explorers. This genre is often filled with straightforward action encounters. Characters are presented
with tasks (finding the lost colony planet, exploring the primitive settlement, capturing the strange beast),
then confronted by obstacles they must overcome to complete the task (natural disasters like earthquakes or
space anomalies, natural obstacles like waterfalls and mountains, wild creatures, evil enemies). Exploration,
tracking and survival are central to these stories, and opportunities abound for characters to use their combat
skills here.

FANTASY
The most well-known type of fantasy stories have noble warriors, beautiful princesses, and evil dragons.
They exist fantastic world of unmapped regions and powerful creatures, of magic swords and skillful sorcery.
Monsters and fantastic beings abound, as do unknown lands and dark dungeons. Magic items and treasure
exist for the taking, if one knows where to look. Political intrigue is a way of life. And epic battles are com-
monplace; indeed, everything in this genre should have a grand feel to it.

NEAR-FUTURE ESPIONAGE
Near-future espionage stories exist in worlds similar to ours, but with better technology though not so
much that itʼs beyond most peopleʼs comprehension. It is a world of great corporations, cloak-and-dagger
deeds, spys with high-tech gear, wealthy and power-hungry madmen, and scheming governments. Tasks
require intricate and clever plans to succeed; stealth is more useful than bloodshed. Grim, efficient enemies
lurk behind every corner, and betrayal is commonplace.

PULP ACTION
The pulp adventures showcase stories similar to those from 1930s and 1940s movie serials, old pulp maga-
zines, and early comic books. Similar to exploration stories, they also include implausible science, flashy
magic, and strange religions. Weird science governs technology, the soldiers of a conquest-crazed dictator
march in the streets, stalwart heroes battle crime, perfidious villains plan schemes, and dark and ancient gods
brood in their hidden temples. These tales are of good versus evil, with highly motivated heroes and villains,
lots of high-speed action, and a touch of humor and melodrama.
Tasks here range from recovering lost artifacts, to stopping dangerous cults, to thwarting the plots of arch-
villains and their minions. Obstacles include dastardly traps, ancient curses, jackbooted soldiers, and awful
supernatural creatures.

SCIENCE FICTION
Science fiction stories take any of the other stories and propel them far into the far, with technology (or at
least some of it) far beyond that modern humanity. Some science fiction adventures stick to one planet, while
others allow their characters to hop in ships and roam the galaxy.

COMMON ADVENTURE THEMES

After deciding on a genre, you next need to pick a theme for your adventure. Here are a few common ones.
You can stick with one, or combine them for something really different.
 DESIGNING ADVENTURES • PAGE 5

ACTION
Action adventures are loaded with things to do and see. Though most obviously physically oriented, hav-
ing scenes involving mental puzzles or character interaction can prevent players from getting burnt out on
these types of adventures too quickly.

COMEDY
Sometimes a humorous story is just the ticket for a change of pace. It is fun for funʼs sake, light enter-
tainment with little true danger. Itʼs characterized by plans that go completely astray, witty dialogue, weird
encounters, strange gamemasterʼs characters, amusing villains, bumbling henchmen, and peculiar goals.

HORROR
The horror stories involve tales of terror, designed to scare both the characters and players. Old, dark
settings, deep shadows, the supernatural invading the natural, things lurking just beyond oneʼs vision, ter-
rified gamemasterʼs characters, strange weather — these are characteristics of the horror story. Monsters
lurk here, hiding just out of sight. Around the next corner, perhaps. Or out in the jungle, or lying, cold and
clammy, in their coffins with preternatural patience, waiting for night. And whatever you do, donʼt go down
in the basement!

ROMANCE
Romances revolve around the interplay between one or more characters (whether they are playersʼ or
gamemasterʼs). Because they generally focus on a single major relationship, romances can be difficult to pull
off with groups larger than a few people. Generally, this theme works well when combined with other themes
of interest to the other characters.

COMMON ADVENTURE PLOTS

Here is a selection of broad outlines for adventures. After deciding on a setting and theme, pick one or
more of these to use as the basis of your adventure.

CONTEST
In the contest, the characters must accomplish a predetermined goal more quickly or more efficiently than
everyone else involved. The characters may become involved in the contest in a variety of ways. They might
learn of it in advance and travel scores of miles (or hundreds of light years) to reach the appointed location
of the competition. They might happen upon a village just before the contest begins. Or they might even try
to win as a favor for a friend who needs the monetary award (turning the adventure into a combination of
contest and favor).

ESCAPE
In adventures with this theme, the characters need to escape from a situation that could cause some type of
harm to the characters or their allies. Sooner or later, they find themselves up against a wall, whether it be a
literal barrier or a more metaphysical constraint like a deadline.

FAVOR
In this adventure, a friend or benefactor requests a favor in return for gratitude or other type of remuneration
The playersʼ characters agree to perform some service, whether it be to slay a dragon that has been attacking
a village or to smuggle advanced biological weapons into a city-state where such armament is banned. Upon
completion of their mission, the characters receive (usually) the agreed upon compensation.
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 6

GATHERING
In this type of plot, the playersʼ characters must go from place to place and accumulate elements to be used
to complete their goal. They may be forced to roam through various parts of their world in their travels, or the
entire adventure might take place in a single setting. They may be gathering anything from clues, to pieces of
a powerful relic, to hard evidence, or even allies to help fight against a terrible threat.

GAUNTLET
This dramatic type of plot also involves a quest of sorts, but the path to the goal is deadly. Along the route
to the specific goal, the playersʼ characters must “run the gauntlet.” In other words, they must make their way
through obstacle after obstacle, through villain after villain, in order to achieve their destination. Each step of
the gauntlet has a distinctive personality, and each step wears down the heroes — perhaps even killing a few
— so that by the time they reach the final goal, they have no doubt that one side or the other will be utterly
destroyed in the final conflict.

MYSTERY
The mystery presents playersʼ characters with a puzzle to solve. Often, this puzzle takes the form of a
murder or some other crime. This is a thinking adventure, not usually a combat-oriented one, requiring lots
of interaction with gamemasterʼs characters and plenty of roleplaying.

QUEST/TREASURE HUNT
In the quest, the characters must locate and retrieve an object or person at the behest of another. While the
goal might be quite straight-forward, the path leading up to that goal must be fraught with danger, intrigue,
false clues, and deceptive omens. This theme is typically associated with the fantasy genre: King Arthur
searching for the Holy Grail; the brave warrior hunting down the nefarious dragon; the valiant warrior rescu-
ing the princess. However, it works equally well for any genre — finding a rare plant in an African jungle for
use in a cure, locating a lost symbol of political power for a planetary monarch, and so on.

REVENGE
Revenge is a grim adventure theme characterized by violence and strong emotions. Someone has done
something terrible to the playersʼ characters or to someone they love. It could be a dastardly crime (murder
of a loved one), a grave insult, or a blood feud that inspires the course of the story.

ACTS
Each act should be interesting in its own right, including all the same ingredients that make the entire story
exciting. Each act is a block of dramatic action that has its own beginning, middle and end. An individual act
should also have its own tone, based upon where it is set.
Act One is the setup. It presents the playersʼ characters with a situation, defines the major problem that cur-
rently faces them (or that they believe is ahead), and gets them started toward the climax. Near the conclusion
of the act, a plot point is presented. A plot point is an incident or event that the act builds toward. It gives the
act its payoff and leads to the next act.
Act Two (and subsequent acts other than the last act) contains one or more confrontations. The basis of all
drama is conflict, whether physical or interactive, and this act is filled with incidental conflicts leading toward
the major conflict. Another plot point should be planned to give each act a payoff and send the characters onto
the rest of the adventure.
The last act is the climax and resolution. Here, all the major threads of the story join together for the
ultimate climax, coming together in a strong ending that anchors your strong story.
As you plot each act, think about your playersʼ characters. Keep in mind all of their strong points and
weaknesses, and try to picture what each will be able to do in a scene. In this way, youʼll be able to plan
 DESIGNING ADVENTURES • PAGE 7

scenes where each character has a chance to shine and show off. The players will feel that they were involved
in the story — and thatʼs the purpose and attraction of roleplaying.
Additionally, you may wish to award players at the end each act, especially if the acts required significant
expenditure of Character or Fate Points.

SCENES
Scenes are discrete units of action within each act. The purpose of every scene is to move the act forward
toward its plot point. Each scene is made up of a setting, gamemasterʼs characters, events, and goal. Scenes
can be used to provide information or to set an action sequence — be it combat, a chase, interaction, or prob-
lem-solving. Use as many scenes as necessary to move the act to its conclusion.
Within each scene, you need to decide what events you want to occur based on what type of scene it is.
This section provides examples of some of the most common scene themes.
You should also include two other types of sections in your designing: variable scenes and flag events.
Variable scenes plan for alternate directions in the storyline. They are not designed to cover every pos-
sibility, but they can give you some guidelines if the players decide to stray. Though youʼll want to spend the
greatest amount of time on events that you think are most likely to occur, you should jot down a few notes
on what happens if the players decide they donʼt want their characters to go through the scene or if the scene
doesnʼt play out as you expect.

Example: In the set-up scene, you decide that the playersʼ characters will meet with a television producer
about a potential job. You design the scene based on the idea that the playersʼ characters will accept the offer.
However, not taking the job is a probable variable and one that should be planned for. What do you do if they
take this course? You could have the producer offer more incentives, but you never want to give too much
up front. Or you could have the characters run into someone after the meeting, who informs them that the
producer is actually a big game hunter. This might convince the playersʼ characters to play along with him,
to find out what he is up to.

Plan for two or three variables that are most likely to arise during play. If something you werenʼt expecting
occurs, your variable scenes at least will give you a place to start in getting the players and their characters
back to the main storyline.
Flags are conditional events that the playersʼ charactersʼ actions activated. They are not necessarily con-
nected to a specific setting. In fact, a flag may not even occur, depending on what the playersʼ characters wind
up doing during the adventure.
Design flags that add new twists, new menaces, or new information to the adventure when they are acti-
vated. They should present events to get the characters back into the storyline.
Here are two examples of flags.

Flag One: If the playersʼ characters decide not to take a job offer to protect a news team going into the
jungle, a flag is activated. A Human rights group asks the Storm Knights to lead them into a jungle (the same
jungle that the producer wanted them to go into) to meet with a primitive tribe. If they accept, it will be easy
enough to retrofit the rest of the adventure to this new plot; most of the intermediate acts can be used virtu-
ally as is. And if the playersʼ characters reach the tribe at the same time as the news team (who are actually
hunting the tribe), the climax will remain almost exactly the same, as well.
Flag Two: If the playersʼ characters are having too easy a time while in the jungle, a menace flag is acti-
vated. This triggers an event that introduces a tribe of warriors roaming the area, on the hunt for outsiders.

THE SETUP
Often youʼll begin an adventure with a setup scene, though if you start in the middle of the action, this
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 8

scene might happen later. The setup scene allows you to convey several pieces of information to the players
right away: what the adventure is about, where it will take place, who will be involved, and what constitutes
success (or at least what they appear to be at first). The characters often (but not always) have the opportunity
to ask questions of the person who is directing them to the adventure.

DEDUCTION/LOGIC PUZZLES
Scenes of this nature can include anything from a secret door to a riddle. Often the characters receive clues
to solve the puzzle, but must make some sort of deductive leap to discover the answer. Once they bypass the
obstacle, they move one step closer to the goal of the adventure.

ROLEPLAYING
Roleplaying scenes can cover almost any kind of non-combat encounter involving Gamemasterʼs characters.
In such scenes, the playersʼ characters converse with Gamemasterʼs characters in an attempt to persuade them
to do something. For example, they might have to convince an old hermit to tell them where Tim lives.

INFORMATION GATHERING
The charactersʼ goal in this type of scene is to discover some important piece of information, whether it be
evidence, the answer to a riddle, or a piece of a map that will lead them to the rebel outpost in Ulim sector. To
find this knowledge the characters might have to visit a library, search through a murder victimʼs apartment,
or tear apart the ancient temple of an evil goddess.
Just make sure that the information the characters seek is attainable and in some way helps them toward the
ultimate goal of the adventure. That doesnʼt mean you shouldnʼt throw in a red herring once in a while. Just
be careful not to force the playersʼ characters to go through an enormous amount of trouble based on clues
and hints youʼve given them only to find that their efforts were wasted.

CHASES
In a chase scene, the characters either pursue or flee from a Gamemasterʼs character (like the black knight),
a creature (like a tyrannosaurus rex), or an object (like a huge, rolling boulder). Above all, make sure these
encounters play out dramatically by loading them with near misses and exciting events.
The simplest way to set up a chase scene is to create a list of the various obstacles the characters must
overcome, especially if you can couple it with a map of the area. You can have location-based and time-based
events. List each occurrence by either when it occurs (in combat rounds) or where it occurs.
Hereʼs a science fiction example in which the playersʼ characters must pursue a group of thieves on hover-
bikes through an underground cavern complex.

Round One: Both groups begin in a large cave that boasts a small hovercraft docking facility. Two tun-
nels lead off into the rest of the complex. The thieves choose the one on the right. All characters must make
vehicle operation checks against an Easy difficulty to avoid hitting the sides of the tunnelʼs mouth as they
enter. Anyone who fails the roll suffers 2D damage to himself and 5D damage to his hoverbike.
Tunnel Exit: When the two groups reach the first tunnelʼs exit, they find that it opens into another tunnel
which immediately curves downward. Everyone must make vehicle operation checks against a Moderate
difficulty to avoid smashing into the far wall. Those who fail the roll take 4D damage and their bikes take
6D damage, and they must immediately make Agility rolls against an Easy difficulty to stay mounted. Failure
means that they plummet 10 meters to the tunnel floor and take 10D damage (the bikes are destroyed in the
collision).
Round Five: Wherever the characters are at this point, one of the thievesʼ hoverbikes suddenly overheats
and explodes. All playersʼ characters must make vehicle operation rolls against a Difficult difficulty. Failure
means they crash into the fiery shrapnel and suffer 8D damage.
 DESIGNING ADVENTURES • PAGE 9

The only other element to incorporate into a chase is the distance between the characters involved so that
you can determine combat range. See the “Movement” chapter of any of the D6 genre rulebooks for infor-
mation on how far characters can move in a given time period. You may want to use a sheet of graph paper
with one-inch squares (2.5-centimeter squares) and 25mm miniatures (or other tokens) to keep track of the
distances between the various characters and vehicles taking part in the chase.

COMBAT
Sometimes the characters will become involved in a situation that erupts into violence. It may end when
one or more of the participants are dead, or it could stop much sooner, when a participant is knocked out,
injured, or runs away.

CUT TO …
The final section of an act is the lead-in to the next one. It is brief, giving simple directions on how to
shift from the current act to the next one. You can add it on the fly or skip it altogether in your home-grown
adventures.

STEP TWO: SETTING THE STAGE

Now that the plot has been outlined, you need to set everything up. Like a movie or a play, every prop
has to be ready to use, and every gamemasterʼs character has to have his or her lines ready. Also, you have
to know enough about the setting so that, when the playersʼ characters stray from whatʼs on paper, youʼre
ready.

OUTLINE THE LOCATIONS

Look at the outline of the adventure and list all the locations it uses. What are the different settings like?
What are some of the interesting characteristics? How will you describe them to the players?
Good, detailed settings are important to an adventure. Let the players know where their characters are and
what other people seem to be doing. Nothing “flattens” the tone of an adventure than terse, uninteresting
descriptions of settings.
Also, make notes on things found in the various settings. You may include an area in the adventure as a
“walk-through.” The characters are there to do something specific, or merely to pass through, but the play-
ers may decide to do something you hadnʼt planned. For example, you may have an adventure that includes
having the characters walk through a busy section of a city. In the adventure outline, all they are supposed to
do is walk through and get to the next sceneʼs action. However, the players may decide their characters want
to “look around.” Maybe one character wants to buy a new gun — is there a gun shop on the street? Another
wants to take time out for roleplaying — she wants to try bargaining with a merchant for some interesting
trinkets — what are the merchants like on the street? What are they selling? What would they like to buy?
As stated above, always know more about your settings than you intend to use. You may design a particu-
larly interesting area that the playersʼ characters will only spend a few moments of game time in. Thatʼs all
right. If you really wanted to use it all, they might come back later — or you can transplant it into another
adventure. On the other hand, the playersʼ characters might become fixated on a particular setting you in-
cluded as a throw-away — if you have some back up information about the area, you can enhance it as you
go along.

MAPS
By drawing simple maps for the players, you help them visualize what is going on and where they are in
a particular act or scene. Most of the maps youʼll want to sketch are those areas where combat is likely to
occur. But you might also want to draw simple maps of buildings, towns or cities, in case someone asks for
details.
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 10

It is sometimes useful to prepare two versions of the same map — one for your reference with all the perti-
nent details in place, and one for the players showing them only what their characters could know or believe.

SCRIPTS AND HANDOUTS

Anything you feel inspired to prepare for the adventure will only make the story that much more memo-
rable and exciting. A good script to open the adventure in media res, clue-filled handouts such as newspaper
clippings or computer screen printouts, and other types of props all work together to make the adventure more
visual — and, therefore, more real. Remember, all scripts and handouts should serve the following purposes:
to impart information, to help visualize a scene, to give the players something to examine and refer to.

OUTLINE THE CHARACTERS

One of the great joys of gamemastering is playing all the allies, neutrals, creatures, and villains that exist in
an adventure to help, hinder, and oppose the playersʼ characters. These are the gamemasterʼs characters, and
if they are designed right, they can enliven an adventure. Even a combat-oriented scene can be jazzed up by
creating an opponent who has a few unusual skills or a trick or two to use against the playersʼ characters.
What makes a gamemasterʼs character interesting?
• Distinctive Appearance. Jot down an adjective or two to use when you describe the characterʼs appear-
ance to the players — bald, ugly, beautiful, thin, tall, bulky, short, dark, fair, or something similar. This gives
the players a tag with which to visualize the character.
• Distinctive Speech. Different characters should talk in different ways. A street thug, for example, speaks
much differently from a college professor, and an Elvish hunter differently from a pulp villain. Vary different
charactersʼ accents, vocabularies, and figures of speech.
• Definite Objective. Every gamemasterʼs character, from a lowly cannon fodder to a master villain,
should be given a definite objective. The character should want to get something out of his encounter with
the playersʼ characters, be it information, help, power, or a few laughs. If you know what the character wants,
it will be much easier to portray him.
• Skills. You do not need to design every gamemasterʼs character with a complete set of skills and at-
tributes, but you should note those you expect the character to use during an encounter. There are several
examples of gamemasterʼs characters in the D6 System genre rulebooks, and they can be adapted to suit the
needs of your adventure. You can also refer to the character creation and character options chapters for inspi-
ration. The best thing about gamemasterʼs characters is that they donʼt have to add up!

Example:
Name: Alexander Becker
Career: Big Game Hunter (disguised as TV news producer)
Appearance: 6 feet tall, blonde hair, chiseled features
Speech: Hollywood mogul style — “Letʼs feel the vibes on this shot. Work with me baby, work with
me.”
Objective: To trick the playersʼ characters into believing he is a producer; to wipe out the native jungle
tribe.
Values: Reflexes 3D+2, brawling 4D, dodge 4D+1, Coordination 3D, marksmanship 4D, Physique 3D+1,
Knowledge 3D, Perception 3D, Presence 2D.
Character Points: 9

In addition, when creating gamemasterʼs characters, spend some time thinking about the role they will play
in your plot. Types of roles include:
• Motivation. The characterʼs purpose is to motivate the playersʼ characters toward a specific series of ac-
tion. This character helps direct the course of the adventure.
 DESIGNING ADVENTURES • PAGE 11

• Information Source. This character is used to provide information and clues to the playersʼ characters.
• Obstacle. Whether through combat, uncooperativeness, or some other means, this character is designed
to impede the playersʼ charactersʼ progress through the adventure. Many obstacle characters are minor hench-
men and lieutenants of the major villain of the adventure and are actively working against the characters,
though others — officious customs officials, punks, highwaymen, missionaries, wild dogs — are merely in
the way.
• Major Villain. No adventure is complete without a hateful major villain to serve as an antagonist. The
major villain must be powerful enough to stand up against a group of playersʼ characters, clever enough to be
behind the evil plans, and interesting enough to warrant a major role in the story.
In some adventures, the major villain is a shadowy figure who manipulates events from behind the scenes,
never actually showing himself at all — or only in the last scene of the last act.
• Comic Relief. This bumbling, funny, or otherwise amusing character is designed to lighten up portions
of an adventure.
• Mood-Setting Device. Any characters designed to work with and reflect a particular setting help set the
mood and tone of an act or whole adventure. For example, a fly-eating madman named Igor met at the start
of a story will certainly set the horror mood.

STEP THREE: PROVIDING THE MOTIVATION

In order to make an adventure exciting and interesting, the playersʼ characters have to have some sort of
factor that drives them to “play along” with the basic thread of the plot line. Motivation is the key to getting
the players and their characters interested. Just sitting down and saying, “Well, I have this adventure to run
and thatʼs it,” is not a motivating factor.
The best way to establish a motivation is to look over each playerʼs character sheet. Their backgrounds
and character options should suggest some ideas, and your knowledge of the players themselves should
provide a few more. Certain players, for example, enjoy playing certain types of adventures — regardless of
the characters they play. A puzzle-solver will leap at an adventure that sounds like a good mystery, whereas
a “shoot-anʼ-scoot” player wants a good gunfight early on.
Try to come up with at least a minor motivation for every playerʼs character. You wonʼt be able to convince
every character that this adventure is the most important thing that ever happened to them (and you shouldnʼt
try), but you should try to supply some interesting “carrot” to dangle in front of them.

SAMPLE MOTIVATIONS AND HOW TO USE THEM

Look at the movies youʼve seen and the books youʼve read one more time. How did the main characters get
involved in the plot? A lot of the time, itʼs an accident. Other times, the main characters are tricked into the
plot — they were offered one thing and it turned out to be another. The most common occurrence, however,
is that the plot has been building around them and now they are caught up in it.
The least dramatic, though generally the easiest, solution is to have a gamemasterʼs character hire the play-
ersʼ characters. Promising the characters goods, services, or cold, hard credits is a good way to get them to go
along — but not a really good motivator. How seriously can a fictional character controlled by a real person
take an offer of fictional money?
Whatʼs better is to offer the characters some sort of advantage — either in roleplaying or in story develop-
ment. If the players think that their characters are going to grow in power, prestige, and/or fame, they will
probably go along. Of course, offering them other stuff as well works, too.
Another motivating factor is the threat of death (or worse). This is one you should strongly avoid — un-
less it is backed up by something interesting to the players as well. “Negative motivation” will not usually
inspire players to good roleplaying — unless it is used only on occasion or is combined with a really interest-
ing scenario. Too often, players decide their characters “arenʼt afraid of death” and “would rather die” than
cooperate.
 WEST END GAMES • PAGE 12

Realistic or not, game players donʼt like to have their characters pushed around by threats. They will often
become obstinate if the “illusion” of free will is taken out of the game. Better to come up with reasonable, but
interesting, motivations rather than threats.

STEP FOUR: DEFINE INTRODUCTION

Remember, at this point, you are still designing the adventure. Youʼve mapped out most of the plot line
and the basics, and you have characters ready. Now, how are you going to get the characters involved in the
adventure? The easiest, but least interesting, way is to say something like, “Youʼre all sitting around in a
bar/lounge/restaurant and a person comes up to you. He, she, or it says, ʻWant a job?ʼ”
There are better ways to get characters involved in an adventure — but they require more preparation and
roleplaying. If you are interested in roleplaying an introduction to an adventure, keep the following points
in mind:
1. Every character is an individual. While playersʼ characters usually do most of their adventuring in a
group, it is important for the gamemaster, and the players, to remember that their characters are individuals
who happen to be part of a group.
This means that each playerʼs character, especially at the beginning of an adventure, should be treated as
an individual with a life that extends, at least partly, outside the adventuring group. Instead of introducing the
adventure to everyone at once, introduce it to the individuals as you feel it would be most interesting (or, by
default, most logical) to do. Let every character react to the introduction as they see fit and roleplay it out.
This could mean you spend an entire roleplaying session getting the group together and “into” the adventure,
but you can have a lot of fun doing it.
2. Gamemasterʼs characters are people, too. It is very easy for players to forget that all the people you
are acting for — the gamemasterʼs characters — are people as well. It is especially hard for you to treat most
of your characters as individuals with separate personalities (especially those characters you create quickly
to fulfill very narrow purposes), but in introducing an adventure, you can go a long way toward establishing
this point. Donʼt let your players negotiate the pants off the guy whoʼs hiring them just because you want to
get the adventure started. Donʼt let them take advantage of their contacts or of the overall introduction to take
total control of whatʼs happening. But, also, allow your gamemasterʼs characters to react and be flexible to
good roleplaying.

STEP FIVE: THE CLIMAX

In addition to everything else, the climax should present the playersʼ characters with plenty of opportuni-
ties to accomplish amazing feats. Never design an adventure where the playersʼ characters take a back seat to
a gamemasterʼs character. They should be totally involved and completely instrumental in the climatic events
and resolutions of the adventure. After all, they didnʼt play through the entire thing just to sit and watch the
conclusion happen to someone else!
Some types of climaxes include the classic fight-to-the-finish with the major villain, the timely arrival to
prevent the villainʼs goal and save the day, the chase to the villainʼs last refuge, and the bloody clash of major
forces while the heroes confront the bad guy. It doesnʼt matter which climax you use, just as long as the play-
ersʼ characters play a major role in the outcome.

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West End Games, and WEG are trademarks of Purgatory Publishing, Inc.
Copyright 2004 Purgatory Publishing Inc., www.westendgames.com.