RPGaDay: Scenario

It's that time of year again and I'm already late. Better get to it.  Here's how I write a scenario for Liminal:

The Concept

This can be anything really.  For Liminal scenarios I normally find it in history and geography, and it often shows up quite unexpectedly.  More than once I've been reading a wikipedia page about a location, and something has jumped out at me.

The Problem

Next is some kind of problem that the PCs are going to have to solve.  'Missing person' and 'missing item' are both solid options for Liminal; 'murder' if you want something a little darker.

The Structure

I use a combination of two structures.  One is the one recommended in the Liminal book: Background, Hook, First Location, Second Location.  I normally start by writing the background, and see what that suggests for the rest.  The other is the five room dungeon: Entrance with guardian, Skill/roleplay challenge, Setback, Climax, Reward/revelation.

The trick to combining them is to remember that they in no way have to happen in this order.  The first three rooms in particular are well suited to being shuffled around.  In a Liminal scenario, getting into a fairy realm or ghost realm is likely to fit the 'entrance with guardian' concept, so that room sits nicely at the point where you transition from the first location to the second location.

The NPCs

And now, name everyone, because some character being completely irrelevant to the plot does not mean that the PCs won't insist on talking to them.  And have stats ready, even if it's someone straight out of the book.  Page numbers by the name are a great idea.

And that's about it.  But there's also a pitfall to be aware of, which is set pieces.

So you've got this image in your head of some fantastic scene, that's awesome and dramatic and thematic, and you can't wait to narrate it and see the players' reactions.  But there's a problem, and that problem is the players.  Because they can, and will, mess it up.

You could try preventing the players from influencing things, and just have the NPCs do their thing.  The set piece happens - but now the players have no agency and are just along for the ride, and that's no fun for them.  So they need to be involved, and you need to be ready for them to do entirely unexpected things.  Just the other day I was playing a scenario where there was supposed to be a big car chase scene on the motorway - except one of the players* listened to the GM's explanation of what needed doing, and went to the narrow guage railway at a children's amusement park instead.  The resulting chase scene happened at around 7MPH.**

So one thing I always try to keep in mind is that the players have agency, and my scenario has to be robust enough to handle that.

* Me.  It was me.
** Kudos to the GM who handled this very well.