The Points of Plots

The Points of Plots (In Simple Adventures)

Although you can argue whether a given scene counts as an essential plot point without which the
adventure or campaign wouldn’t be the same, plot points in RPGs generally fall into one of three
different types.

First of all, an objective can be a plot point. An objective is a specific goal that the protagonists
have to accomplish to move the plot along toward its resolution. In fact, objectives are the most
common plot points. For example, locating the four keys and entering the central crypt in the tomb
of the lich king are all objective plot points. Objectives serve as nice plot points because they
provide a feeling of agency and of accomplishment. And moreover, they work a little bit like bread
crumbs. They guide the party through the adventure but they leave the party feeling in control of the
plot. They also break the adventure down into manageable chunks. Acquire the first key, acquire
the second key, acquire the third key, acquire the fourth key, open the central crypt, defeat the lich
king. It’s a step-by-step process the players can follow.

Objective plot points can be handled in a linear fashion (find the tomb, locate the central crypt,
defeat the lich king) or they can be branching or open (find each of the four keys). They can provide
freedom for the players to decide how to engage with them (fight the undead in the tomb OR sneak
around using magic and stealth, etc.) or they can be straightforward (find the key to open the crypt).

Second of all, an event can be a plot point. An event is something that happens in the game that
the protagonists have to deal with. The protagonists generally don’t have any agency over the event
itself. They just have to deal with the event. Usually, an event happens at a specified time or when a
certain condition is met. Sometimes, when the players deal with an event, it will provide them with a
way to move toward the resolution they want. Most of the time, however, the party is trying to deal
with an event to avoid the plot advancing toward an unfavorable resolution. Consider, for example,
when the zombies attack the players at the start of the adventure. If the players succeed at
defeating the zombies, they are now motivated toward protecting Fluffy Bunnington. That advances
the plot. But also consider the sudden appearance of the death knight that covers the lich king’s
escape. If the party succeeds in the best way possible, they avoid being slowed up. That’s all. But if
they fail, they move firmly toward the undesirable resolution of the heroes being dead.

The point is, unlike objective plot points which pretty much always advance the party toward the
desired resolution, event plot points can either advance the party toward the desired resolution OR
toward an undesired resolution. And that brings us to the third type of plot point.

Third of all, a villainous plan can provide a plot point. These are the rarest of the three types of plot
points, but they are actually extremely useful. The easiest way to understand a villainous plot point
is to imagine that an adventure’s villain is the hero of his own story and he is trying to advance his
own plot toward a particular resolution. That is, the villain is working toward whatever resolution the
players DON’T want to happen. A villainous plot point is basically an objective plot point from the
perspective of the villain. A step they need to accomplish to advance the plot in the direction THEY
want.

To the heroes, though, a villainous plot point looks just an event plot point. It is something that
happens outside of their control that they have to deal with to avoid the plot advancing toward the
undesirable resolution. The difference is that event plot points are usually objective. They will
happen at a specific time or based on specific conditions unless prevented. But they can advance
the plot toward any resolution. Villainous plot points, though, tend to be more dynamic. The GM
invokes them as part of playing the villain. And the GM can often invent and modify villainous plot
points on the fly. I discussed this s$&% at length when I talked about the villain as a plot device.

Villainous plot points are often forgotten, and that’s a problem, because they are usually the plot
points that help define when the adventure is lost. And a lot of GMs have a problem when it comes
to defining WHEN the adventure is lost. In the lich king adventure, for example, the villainous plot
point is when the lich king’s hordes make their final attack on Fluffy Bunnington’s capital of Sunny
Meadows. If the heroes haven’t defeated the lich king before that attack OR they don’t help protect
Sunny Meadows somehow, the adventure is lost.

And this illustrates another point: what keeps the lich king from just attacking RIGHT F$&%ING
NOW AND WINNING THE ADVENTURE? There’s got to be a reason right? Well, that reason might
help define further villainous plot points or event plot points. For example, the lich king might be
biding his time and building his forces. He wants to make sure that once he attacks Fluffy
Bunnington, his army is strong enough to defend him from the rest of the world’s armies. After all,
he’ll be announcing his presence to the world. So, maybe he’s conducting a secret ritual that will
open the gates of the Land of the Dead Bunnies. It will be completed at such-and-such a time or it
requires X components and so on. Or maybe he’s biding his time, but when he realizes heroes are
poking around in his dungeon, he’ll decide he has to attack now. So, once the heroes “raise the
alarm” somehow in the tomb, they have a time limit (whether they know it or not) before the lich
king’s armies reach Sunny Meadows and begin razing it. And they might only discover they were
too late when they get back. Because that would be f$&%ing hilarious.

But thinking through that brings us around to…

By The Power of Plot (In Complicated Adventures)

So now we come down to how to actually plot out one or more plots for BIG stories. Stories like
complex, multi-part adventures or like campaigns.

It’s simple enough to imagine how you might plot out an adventure as a mix of objectives and
events. The simplest structure is “an event to get things starting, an objective to finish things off.”
That’s actually most adventures. Most adventures are just an inciting incident that establishes a
goal and a motivation and then a bunch of adventure between the heroes and a distant objective.
Various events or objectives might happen on the way as well as the sort of normal adventure filler
that actually makes the adventure fun and challenging. Some adventures are actually just two plot
points (inciting event and climax which leads to objective) with fun adventure filler in between. And
you know what? That’s totally f$&%ing fine. Those are fun. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all.

But when you are plotting out a big story, things get a little more complicated.

For example, take a look again at the lich king story. Once we add the bit about the lich king
destroying Sunny Meadows, the plot becomes complicated. Because there’s actually two different
plot threads going on. Let’s assume that we decided to go with the most complicated story: that
the lich king needs to do several things to open the gates to the Land of the Dead Bunnies. Let’s
say he needs to secure the Carrot of the Dead, he needs to kidnap a pure soul to sacrifice, and he
needs to conduct the sacrifice by the dark of the new moon. Now, let’s look at our adventure.

The heroes are attacked by zombies. Then, they learn the zombies serve the lich king who resides
in a nearby tomb. To defeat the lich king, they must penetrate the tomb. Then, they must locate the
four keys to the central crypt. Then, they must defeat the lich king’s death knight. Then they have to
defeat the lich king. That leads to the favorable resolution: the lich king defeated.

Meanwhile, the lich king wants to destroy Sunny Meadows. He sends agents out to steal the Carrot
of the Dead. He also sends agents out to kidnap Bunnyanna, the purest soul in the land. Then he
waits. When the new moon rises, he conducts the ritual and throws open the gates to the Land of
Dead Bunnies. He then leads the Dead Bunny army to raze Sunny Meadows. That leads to the
unfavorable resolution: Sunny Meadows destroyed.

Now, the lich king’s plan only serves as a timer on the adventure, right? Well, technically, yes. But
what if the party somehow LEARNED of the lich king’s plans. Say, while wandering around in the
tomb, they have the opportunity to reach the lich king’s diary. Then, they have several different
opportunities to disrupt those plans. They could stop the agents from stealing the Carrot of the
Dead. They could stop the kidnapping. If they are too late to stop the kidnapping, they could free
Bunnyanna before the ritual. And if all of that goes down before the party finds the central tomb,
they can hurry to Sunny Meadows and try to fight off the army of Dead Bunnies. Or, the party could
simply try to defeat the lich king BEFORE he finishes his plans by invading the tomb, finding the
keys, etc. They can decide whether to slow up his plans to buy themselves time or just go for the
quick kill. Or, when it looks like time is running out, they can come up with an alternative.

That’s a really complicated adventure, isn’t it? Except it isn’t THAT complicated to run. It just has a
lot of different ways to play out. A lot of different outcomes. What do you really need to run that
adventure? Well, you need the initial zombie attack. A scene where the players learn about the lich
king. You need the lich king’s tomb. You need sets of stats for the lich king’s agents. You need the
resting place of the Carrot of the Dead. And you need Bunnyanna. There’s really only three extra
things you need to prepare THAT adventure over the simpler dungeon crawl. But suddenly, your
adventure has a lot more possibilities.

And THAT is the magic of plotting the plot. By highlighting the key plot points in the story that lead
from the motivation to the resolution and more important to EACH resolution you identify the
from the motivation to the resolution – and more important to EACH resolution – you identify the
minimum amount of stuff you need. More importantly, you have an outline that lets you run the
adventure dynamically, responding to character choices, without having to spell out every
goddamned detail. And you can adapt. For example, if the heroes manage to capture the Carrot of
the Dead, now you know the agents of the lich king have to hunt down the heroes and steal it back.
You have their stats already. You can handle that on the fly.

And it doesn’t even have to be villainous plots, though they do provide the most dynamic of
dynamic plot threads. You could do several threads involving strings of objectives and events, or a
string of objectives alongside a series of unfortunate events. Whatever.

The key is just to spell out the major objectives, events, and villainous plans that lead from the start
of the adventure to each resolution. Figure out what you need for each plot point to play out. Then
fill in the space in between with whatever fun adventure bits you think you need (or none at all if you
want to keep things simple and straightforward).