12 to Midnight

Welcome to another edition of Class Notes. As has become the tradition around here, Class Notes Wednesday ended up on Friday instead. Sorry about that. The good news is that I can report the completion of the new Plot Point 7. Here’s the stats:

Plot Points Completed: 7 of 12
Pages:  32 of 42
PP word count:  1,929 of 22,341

You’ll notice from the word count that I blew past my 1,500 word goal. To make matters worse, the stats above don’t take into account the NPC and creature stats that I’ll add once I’ve finished the edits for all the plot points.

Just to recap, last week I reported that 7 was an all-new plot point to replace one that just wasn’t up to snuff. I had an outline for the new plot point and had started writing, but was less than halfway done. The truth is, even after posting the update something was still nagging me about the outline. Just when I needed it the most, I came across a post and video by Agent Kristen. In the video, she talks about the importance of nailing your plot catalyst in your novels. It’s not a long video and it’s definitely worth watching.

Granted, while RPGs share some things in common with novels, in many other ways they are their own unique beast. What Kristen calls the plot catalyst, Game Masters would probably refer to as “the hook”. What gets your heroes off their duffs and on with the adventure? Roleplaying games have their own tropes — mysterious employer waiting in the tavern, anyone?– but in essence adventure hooks come down to simple motivations such as greed (the promise of loot), heroics (rescue the kidnapped child), love (infrequently), mystery (whodunnit?), or GM fiat (“Look guys, take the bait or I’ve got no adventure for you tonight”). Game Masters have the advantage of knowing their players and learning what best motivates their characters. Game writers, on the other hand, are removed from the action and have to hope that the GM can adapt the scenario to hook  her players if what’s written doesn’t do the job.

That doesn’t mean that I get off easy. My job is to give you a rockin’ fun adventure that you can run with as little prep work as reasonable. That means delivering a plot catalyst that motivates the characters. It also means avoiding returning to the same old well for hooks. Writing plot points means not only coming up with 10-12 linked adventures, but creating hooks that feel natural and unique–all without knowing how the characters reacted in the previous plot points.

All of which is to say that Agent Kristen’s post made me face up to an ugly truth. My plot catalyst, such that it was, amounted to hoping the characters would be curious and follow up on something from the plot point before last. Ouch! I knew it was weak, hence the nagging feeling I mentioned up top. But it took watching the video to force me to think outside my outline and really reconsider the whole adventure. I knew what I wanted the characters to get out of it with regard to moving them through the greater plot arc. I also knew how the plot point ended. So step one was looking at how the ending could be the driving force (the plot catalyst!). You’d think that would go without saying, but it took a lot of inner struggle before I was ready to let go of the security of just following my original roadmap.

Then something funny happened. The NPCs started coming to life. In a thunderbolt of inspiration, I realized my rather vague, cardboard characters started their existence in an earlier plot point. Suddenly, they not only had a reason for being, but a meaningful reason for being in their current circumstances. The new hook adds way more depth and meaning to the adventure, while building upon the overall plot arc in a much less forced way. Each of the plot points so far have their own vibe and I love each one for different reasons, but I wrote to Ed before I’d even finished and told him that this was my favorite so far.

Looking ahead, plot point 8 is the only one in the Junior Year that isn’t a complete rewrite. Hopefully I can knock it out without too much headache and get back on track with Wednesday updates.