The BEST Adventure Method - GM Tips
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ต.ค. 2020
- What is the best adventure method? The 121 or the 5 method, or no method at all! We take a look at these two methods and which one is better for you for telling a great story in your tabletop roleplaying games, and whether you may find it useful for you in your adventure design!
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I love this channel. I don’t try and plot out a structure anymore. I just create places, stakes, characters and their motivations and let it go.
My players go off the rails so often and so quickly I basically don't plan any more than what's absolutely necessary. I come up with a list of NPCs I want them to meet and a rough area of where they can be found, I have a Thing I Want Them To Do, and then I pretty much just let 'em run wild. They're gonna do it anyway. If they happen to blunder across what I want them to do, I'm ready. If they don't, fortunately I'm good at making shit up on the spot, so I can still have fun.
Pretty much me all over. My ongoing campaign has been pretty much 80-90% sandbox, with my players free to roam the ever-expanding setting I've unleashed them in. There's an underlying plot, a mysterious McGuffin, a shadowy conspiracy and a looming, world-endangering threat that I keep dropping hints about, and many of the NPCs and factions in the setting have some kind of stake in that, but it's up to the players to poke around in the dark corners and figure out what that is. Every now and then I'll nudge them in a particular direction or drop some breadcrumbs for them to follow, the rest of the time they just do what they want (or think they need) to do. My philosophy is that I set the stage, and they improv the script. Most of the fun for me comes from finding out what ungodly mess they're going to step in next.
I love John Four's 5-room Dungeon, that's Loose but structured, a lot of room to improvise, and it doesn't have to be so linear.
This video make me take a look back on my adventures and its weird tbh.... I use a 1-0-1 scheme:)). As in, i make the introduction like the 121 and the final showdown. Anything that happens in the middle, is directed by players. Ex: a town is being attack by raiders and no matter how many they kill, there are always more. The end is the party kills the cleric that resurrects the fallen bandits every time they fall. How they get from A to B its up to them, i never try to find solutions for their problems, as i saw that if i do that, i kinda push them in the directions i think they should take, not what they would do. The problem with this is that at the start of any new arc, they take like an hour to debate what they know and what might work moving forward. But that PC interaction so that works for me. Even the campaign as a whole was build like this. I planned the first act, with heavy cinematics and set up about 20 plot points and then let them loose. I know where the campaign will end, but i am always surprised on the path they chose to go on.
I use fronts from Dungeon World quite a bit. I also use 5-room dungeon philosophy. A good relationship map never hurts either. Many adventures are 1 page, with some social encounters, some fleshed out combat encounters (one small and one big) and a puzzle / trick / exploration. It is based on a situation, there are forces moving about trying to do something / get something and events will happen unless the PC's intervene. I try to think big possibilities first (campaign level events) then narrow down on the nitty-gritty workings on the small, personal scale.
Yes, I improv heaps and try to tie things to the characters backgrounds, past and goals. Various players have described my games as very narrative focused.
when I am making my own adventures (or campaign) I divide the story in 4 main pieces, in a cross. each box shaped by the cross is also divided in 4 with another cross. you end up with 16 boxes (you can do more if you are brave). top left is the start, bottom right is the finish. players can start in top left and move to the next section (one box right or down) until they reach the end (bottom right). this is a bit of an unorthodox way of doing things but it allows the players to reach the same goal by many different ways as well as skip or choose sections. it's also difficult to do right, as it takes a TON of time and also works better in a big campaign and not a small adventure.
I can kind of see that. I use a trick that is a tic tac toe board, with a tic tac board in eqch square.
I love your videos. You really de-mystify the process to write adventures. The whole process makes my head hurt.
Love this guy. He calls out bullshit all the time and it's great.
Thanks for so eloquently presenting these methods.
Great stuff! Your channel is one of the greatest inspirations to start my own channel and to write my own ruleset and to home brew world.
I usually only write down notes as in: PCs arrive in town, *something*, most likely the PCs themselves send them to the tavern, the tavern get's assaulted by thugs who want the barkeep's money and burned down several buildings.
Then I watch what the players do and build upon that for the next session. I only made notes on a few major events I wanted to happen: The town is being attacked by the bandits, the PCs learn that the bandits have sort of a fortress hideout in the woods and that they are hired by some rich woman and somehow need to defeat the bandits ... or just leave the area.
That was all my plot prep for the adventure. I feel like it's redundant to plot out everything, mostly because the PCs will go willy nilly everywhere they want to anyway and forcing them to walk the way you prepared isn't fun for anyone. I eventually got bored by the adventure because I ran it partially boring, fucked up here and there, didn't provide enough solutions to my players to solve the problem, which made them disinterested, etc.
Was quite happy that it was then resolved by the PCs spreading some rumors that the bandits where about to assassinate the woman and therefore where promptly killed by a whole bunch of mercenaries, hired the woman
Dan Harmon's story circle might be a useful model too.
Thank you so much for this video! It really helps to watch someone create the structure for a game while explaining the templates, huge help!
I definitely struggle with moving the story along especially since my players love rp which is great but can slow things down. I wonder if the 5 step method would help with that. Working to get better at improvising inciting moments to push the story forward when things start to drag.
I recently bought your book. It was very interesting. The templates are helping me quite a bit. Thank you thank you very much for doing this. I especially like the NPC templates. They really aid in adding quite a lot of depth to the game.
Have you ever used the Lazy DM's 8 steps? If so how do you feel about them?
I think a good way of combining 5 room dungeons, 121, and Lazy DM's, is to treat them like filters for your drafts. The 5 rooms as your initial idea, Lazy DM to expand on the idea, and 121 to ask the questions. Why does the villain want something badly, why are they having trouble getting it, what do we expect, what do you seed, etc.
This is exactly why I love Guy's channel. I also have been playing D&D, and GMing various games for (dare I say) even longer than Guy! However, Guy's background gives a perspective that provides a path for improving adventure design, planning, and execution, very much separate from my general experience. Making game play even better is something I do try to strive for. If it's not fun, your doing something wrong!
Wow top ,one of my favorite Video's now!!!1000 thanks Guy!!! A thing I didn't know is that I could put the numbers however I want in the templates !I mostly use the 5 steps for my campaign but maybe now that i know more to try it out!!!You are awesome ,keep going ❤
Awesome, thank you!
Great advice thanks. I personally like the five room dungeon.
One sort of adventure that is often missed is the timeline format. An adventure that leads up to some big event. Events occur at times and the PCs must react to them as they occur, trying to (1) find the pattern, and (2) stop the next occurrence before the unraveling event. I usually use a three or four act structure, but each act is a game session. I then break it into chapters.
In the case of timeline formats, I will devise each timed event along the three/four act structure.
Great video, as always. It would be good to watch how you create adventure for at least one point from the each master plot phase though. It would clarify whole creation process.
Interesting video! I use different methods, for our Blades in the Dark campaign I have a list of NPCs and what they want in the world, some events going on in the background and then I see where the PCs want to go and draw from my list and make it up as I go.
For 5e I'm working on a homebrew setting, which is a lot more planned out.
Where is Guy’s 5 step process where explains more in depth before this video? Love the channel
I usually work with a three acts method, but with one major change: I start with some idea of the story, who is the villain, what does he want, how does he want to achieve his goal and how can the players stop him. But while the game is going on I constantly adapt to what the players are doing (as would the villain) planning about 1.5 game nights ahead. So in about 75% of our adventures the finale is complely different from my original idea.
@how to be a great game master
I have taken your 1-2-1 and expended it for my personal taste into a 1-4-1
1 for the beginning / opening of the story
4 for the bulk of the story
1 for the ending of the story
I am currently writing a 7 part campaign that is part 1 of a longer campaign which includes an epilogue as well, and so far it is working out nice.
I always started though with your 1-2-1 for my campaigns and 5 step for one-shots
Plan beats plot for me, but excellent resource and inspiration as always!
I create a very rough outline, with perhaps a few names and places set out. Maybe an event or two. Then I create the inciting event, a short adventure around that, then see where the players go. Rarely do they ever act as expected or planned, so I evolve the adventure around their decisions, actions, and the repercussions of those. I sprinkle in parts of their backgrounds based on where it might be convenient to the plot, and basically improv everything else. I would say it's a 20/80 plan/improv layout. Some sessions are 100% improv because of player chaos, but that's the way it goes.
That voice is perfect 😆😆😆👍
27 years of TTRPGs? Rookie!
41 years and counting for me and still loving it.
Just discovered your youtube channel and having a lot of fun binge-watching your content. Excellent stuff. I will definitely send a few somewhat inexperienced GMs your way. You have great advice and I believe they can learn a lot from watching your videos.
my method is to create a world with a bunch of hooks and ideas for story in it. this requires a lot more improvising, as you only have parts of adventures to work with. but it does have the advantages of making the world seem more full and also giving you backup stories you can fall on if the pcs mess something up or to add them onto other stories if your short on ideas.
I start out by providing the general world that the players will be in. I have everyone start at lv 5, and I have them draw lots for starting class (multi-class is always open for them, but they have to take at least one level in the class they draw). Then I task them to create their characters and provide a backstory and an end goal for their characters. Once I have the stories and goals, I create a 5 step for each character quest. I spread these out and find places to connect them, and weave them into a 1-2-1. Each 1-2-1 is comprised of one part of a character's 5-step. And at the end, the goals of the characters individually give them a means to take on the final 5-step that leads to the endgame. Everyone's stories are explored, every character has their time to shine, and their goals all have some impact on how they can take on the final big-bad.
As mentioned elsewhere I have successfully used the seven point story structure and an appropriate template for that.
Hook
Plot turn 1
Pinch point 1
Midpoint
Pinch point 2
Plot turn 2
Resolution
More rigid and leaves less room for deviation but great because basically all the seven "points" are story triggers, things that happen that trigger the PCs into action
I love the 5 step method. I love watching TV shows that use the 5 step method. I’m reasonably certain I can run a game with the 5 step method. But I don’t even understand how the 1-2-1 is a “method.” It looks to me like you’re basically saying, “Just tell an interesting story in 3 parts.” 🤷♂️ If I knew how to do that, I wouldn’t be watching all of your videos to try to figure out how to tell a good story. I’m going to go back and find the video where you explained the 1-2-1 method again and try to get a better understanding of it, but I really don’t have the slightest clue how to use it at this point. Thank you for all of these videos though. You’ve done a lot to help me prepare to run a game.
I found the 1-2-1 videos:
Introduction to 1-2-1 (or 2)
th-cam.com/video/tquo1wsrb14/w-d-xo.html
Explaining 1-2-1 (or 2)
th-cam.com/video/TbFP7zGyfUs/w-d-xo.html
I still don’t see how this helps with creating a story though. If you add in the love interest, it becomes more of a 1-3-1 than a 1-2-2. So it’s somewhere between a typical 3 act movie and the outline of a 5 paragraph essay. The 5-part method is pure gold though. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.
Thank you for this. I've found tour Channel the last week and have been watching everything. As I am begining a group now and creating a campaign following your campaign creation series, How to best cope with newbies who never played before and are unsure about creating their chars?
First I'll note - I think it'd be better to relabel combat as skill challenges more generally. While back I held a chase sequence I think based off one of your vids. It was the best session we had and filled the role of combat with no attack roll made. (Multiple checks each with a narrative purpose). I actually find skill check sequences (I.e. not how the dnd 5e DMG does it) more interesting than combat, especially for low level fighters
As a new DM and someone who took a 5-10 year break from reading fiction, this has been very helpful for designing the plots. Thanks! Still challenging to have creative answers, but it's a format that helps keep ideation structured to being productive 👍
I think every box I your 5-Step worksheet should have a C and an S that you circle to indicate if the boxis Social or Combat, it's awkward when you want the combat to be first, and it would probably be more intuitive if the boxes could be in either order.
This would also give you the possibility of double combat or double social, for a change of pace.
this would work fine for low level adventures, i'm curious if you could do some videos on planning high level adventures, when the pc's can planeshift or teleport basically anywhere they want. I run for a table of 7x level 16-17. in my last 3 sessions they faced off against the leader of a drow house in the underdark, basically an avatar of lolth.., teleported back to the capitol city, did some research.. went to a magic caravan at the caravan they learned that Tiamat was making a power move in Avernus and taking over the archduke after Zariel abandoned avernus and went back to being an angel... so they teleported to avernus and spent 1.5 sessions raiding and fighting tiamat because they dont want a chromatic dragon god leading avernus... killed 3 adult dragons a bunch of abishai and even downed the avatar of tiamat herself without a TPK. Awesome, but 3 sessions ago i would have had no idea that's where the pc's would be in a couple sessions lol. I give a sandbox, throw out ideas and improvise on the fly when the pc's decide to follow up on stuff i throw out there. they have a blast and collect tonnes of magic items, i have a blast making insane encounters and seeing if i tpk them (which i havn't yet) but i'd like to figure out how to have a plan at these levels. I mean i know what my big bads goals are but the pc's are so powerful at this point when i mention a hook they just do a little research to find out where they need to go, they go, they murder hobo and collect their loot. lol
I'm going to try out the 121 method. Thanks for the tip.
Most of my adventures are made up on the fly...
I keep coming back to this video everytime some abstract adventure idea comes up. Your didactic is really good!
When Guy gets annoyed or angry - thats the best videos!
I usually only set up the situation, the villains and the goal and let it flow from there. Often times I have certain ideas what might happen down the road, but if the whole story goes down a different path, I am fine with that. I recently added a dilemma in my stories, a situation where the players basically have to choose between two bad options weighing pros and cons.
Nice, I do scenes as well, but it's more scene beats broken down into 2 'and/but' changes. Usually these changes anticipate the heroes' (re)actions. Personally, I like when the players find a change I didn't foresee, and I must then adapt, use it to enhance the story...
Also... each on your main template steps can be another template :) That's more how I tend to build my stuff the adventure inside the adventure. (even if I think I improvise more than I plan).
I really would prefer the 5 Step bacause I'm more of an organized person, however, for whatever reason that is not how I prefer to DM. I primarily improvise my adventures I actually use the 121/122.
Only when I plan a big over all story (campaign) do I really plan.
When it comes to maps etc. I just like to make them so I have a "little" collection and use what fits.
Those templates for adventures you have at the 2:30 mark are really neat. Is there a fillable PDF of those by chance anywhere?
Never mind, like any true TTRPG player I don't know how to read. It's in the video description.
I really like the 5 step method
I have been running games for so long, I do not plan adventures in detail. I use something like the 121 method. I sketch out the general plan for my overarching campaign and then the general plan for only the next mission the players are planning. I leave it up to the players what direction they are going in and tie whatever they do to the final plot. For instance, I knew that there were traitors scattered throughout the nation so I gave a couple different clues. Whichever one the players picked up on is the next session I planned out. They went from location to location following clues until they found a leader... torture... blah blah... betrayal, uprising, war.
Due to me rarely knowing what my players want to do before a game session I usually have to come up with what's happening in a particular session as it happens. The structure I use depends entirely on what I want the tone of the session to be, and I often open up with seeding a few more concepts and characters than I will need just so I can use them as bailouts/ foreshadowing for later.
Also, I like that combat scenes are not mandatory for the plot to progress.
I've got an adventure template for ya. It's part of my own creation I built 30yrs ago called CONTINGENCY. You'd really enjoy it.
No template is the best template, I find after 40 years of gm-ing. Let the players roll the random table dice and only interfere (maybe) if they're about to get themselves killed. As a GM you're the ultimate meta-player in the game, so you always win. Hopefully by creating a good time for your players and yourself.
@How to be a Great GM Why was the 5 step method template removed from the downloads file?
Wait where did the 5 step method first appear?
Interesting but I never met that would even for the storage heater if you push your face into it
What I am wondering about is about the freedom of your players to find a solution to the problem. When I write adventures i normally formulate goals like the PCs need to get some information from NPC A, who is in prison. Then I come up with some ways to do that and how viable they are. So the PCs might try to fight their way in, sneak, bribe or talk past the guards. That way the player have freedom of choice and as the GM i am prepared for most ideas.
There is no required combat scene, if the PCs choose a social option at every turn.
Oh! What did you do in TV?
3:51
5 steps = 10 beats = 10 scenes = 10 hours
1-2-1 = 8 beats = 8 scenes = 8 hours
Where are the templates on the website? The link in the video does not work, at least it did not work for me.
Heck I missed the master plot video. I have no idea what "testing phase" means
Great video! I typically start by imagining what happens if the PCs don’t get involved. Where things would go and what happens. I find this lets me better react later when the PCs inevitably go off in the wrong direction. I then establish what scenes I really want to see happen (whether combat or social). Then I figure out what the hook for getting the PCs involved is. After that things get a lot more free form and I usually just end up making stuff up in session to fill out the holes and deal with the wild hairs my PCs get.
Hi Guy, thank you for the great videos. For me story telling is the main aspect for pen and paper rpg. May I ask about your favorite systems and why? Have a great day.
Do you have these in a fillable PDF!?!?!? I need these in my life a year ago!!!!!!
www.greatgamemaster.com/dm/great-gm-bag-of-holding/
@@HowtobeaGreatGM you are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
im confused so if it takes roughly 8 hours then the adventure starts session 1 and ends session 2?
The adventures he proposed here would amount to one-shots. For longer campaigns, you treat it like a matryoshka doll, where each beat becomes a story of its own.
Look at LotR: end goal is destroy the Ring. Act 1 is finding it, deciding what to do, and setting out. Act 2 is the journey, with the setback of the party split after Moria/Lorien but finding Gollum. Act 3 is they made it to Mordor, but Frodo keeps the Ring! Then Gollum jumps him, and dies falling into the lava with the Ring. The hobbits are saved, and everyone goes home happy.
But just to look at Act 1, you have the story beats of introducing the Ring when Frodo inherits it, then he has to set out to the elves (we know, he doesn't). End Act 1. Then he's attacked by Nazgul in Bree and saved by Strider, and their quest to Weathertop concludes Act 2. The Weathertop fight and the ensuing chase is the climax of Act 3, and then all is well because they made it to Rivendell and huzzah! Gandalf is here! Then you introduce the hook into the next Act, the Council meeting, showing that the story isn't *actually* finished.
Having a stacking structure like this keeps any one plot element from dragging on and becoming boring or stale. Lots of little setbacks and climaxes, all hooking together into a grander narrative with bigger setbacks and more rewarding climaxes.
tl;dr
I've been learning to be a (Great) Game Master lately and your videos have given me a lot - thank you!
Just recently I was wondering how it actually is with these schemes of writing adventures that you told us about (both 121 and 5 step) :D
I started with a 121, but it did average, and jumped into scene planning for a while based on Heroes Journey. I know it would be more suited to the campaign, but I also had a good time planning on such a framework.
However, I noticed that I have a problem with improvisation, especially when it comes to coming up with "giant banana fights". Recently I switched to 5th step because it forced me to come up with combats in advance ;) It pays!
Your D&D channel (or gaming for others) is the only one I find helpful. Lots of chaffe in youtube.
A problem I see with a lot of my adventures seems to be that if the players succeed, the villain/master plot can't advance. So the only way for the master plot to advance is if the players fail. Is it supposed to be like this or am I designing my adventures wrong?
My understanding is that if it cant advance then you've given the pcs too much power to stop it too soon. I like to think of it like a machine. Your pcs are removing screws one by one. The first one has almost no effect the second is noticable but minor again the machine runs. After enough screws are removed a chuck of the machine fails and the villians have to improvise and at that point its usually close to or at the climax. It seems like you're giving your players chances to remove chunks of the master plot rather than screws.
Said another way, the pcs shouldn't know about anything they can affect until your ready for it to be affected. Because once it's there, and known its fair game. That way their success doesnt stop the master plot but advances with it.
This is rad. But forgive me, I’m an idiot. In the 121. Does the two mean double reversals?
The 2 means twice as long as the 1s. So if the 1 takes two hours, the 2 section should take 4 hours.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Thx!
I think a Xorn might be the combat you're looking for in the mine. They eat gems and the miners are harvesting all the crystals. They don't appreciate having their food source go missing.
EDIT: The direct link www.greatgamemaster.com/dm/great-gm-bag-of-holding/ provided in the thread does give me the templates, thank you.
www.greatgamemaster.com/greatlibrary ==> "Error establishing a database connection". If I go to www.greatgamemaster.com/ and then navigate into the guides section of the Great Library, I click thru the various panes and I don't see an obvious entry for the adventure templates.
www.greatgamemaster.com/dm/great-gm-bag-of-holding/
@@HowtobeaGreatGM The templates are no longer there. Looked under all four folders.
error
Whenever you're stuck ask yourself "what does the party need to do" and then come up with an answer for "why can't they do it". Then at the end ask the question "will the party..?". Will the party defeat the dragon? Will the party find the artifact? Will the party escape hell? If you're not excited about it and it's boring to write, it will probably be boring for the players too. In that case, your "will the party" question is probably not that good. Fine, all you need to do now is add something exciting to it.
For example: The party needs to stop the goblin king but they can't. They can't do it because the goblin king has many goblins working for him. Will the party stop the goblins? Meh, it's very hard to see what the party will actually do. So... instead of giving the goblin king an army let's give him a massive dragon. Will the party defeat the dragon? Now, how did the dragon get there, why, or when? I don't care. I'll let the players figure that out, usually they come up with better answers than me.
Plot planning like that is for demos/one shots in conventions and authoring stories. They remove the actual game element or the control of the players (aka advocacy) which in many circles is considered the antithesis of what is desired in a game.
Did I miss something? The English language has been so overtaken with rules and silliness that might apply to business, but is increasingly applied to general writing, as with Torg Eternity's recommendations on how to write. By the same token it seems we're being told now how to develop adventures, or at least some tools that are available. I'm just wondering if we should be writing our own stories and adventures and let others do what they're going to do, their way. Good Lord.
He’s not saying you have to do this. He’s giving his opinion on why he thinks this is the best
First
27 years? Get off my lawn!!
These dang kids today.....