One-shot adventures, pre-written scenarios, and pieced-together campaigns are great- that's how we all got started. But sometimes you're really jonesing for something epic- for your Song of Ice and Fire, your Marvel Cinematic Universe, your Lord of the Rings, your Nescafe Blend 43 ads.
This is what long-form storytelling is all about, a story over multiple campaigns, where effects flow on and plot hooks might not land for a very long time. With this process, you have a few things to worry about- your immediate game, your long-term game, and the far-off game, which all affect each other. If your players spare the Red Skull now, you've got the option of keeping him somewhere in a back pocket for later. If your plucky child wonder has to depend on the scarred mercenary with a heart of coal, that guy might be important for something in a while. It also requires a lot of keeping track of things- a pack of 3"x5" index cards can come in really handy, or a big binder of ideas to keep track of. Or a handy blog to steal ideas fom (hint, hint!). But it can be really rewarding to come back ten years and six campaigns down the track, and bring together all the elements you've been curating over time, to bring everything to the denouement- the bit where everything gets explained, where all the bits are woven together and suddenly your players' jaws drop and their eyes widen and they yell "It was HIM all along?". The above picture sparked my thoughts instantly due to the title- "Jeanne d'arc, first horseman of the apocalypse". Having one or more Horsemen of the Apocalypse as the end bad guys of a campaign works nicely, and your players will understand what they're in for when they hear about a second one. They'll feel the momentum moving slowly towards an Apocalypse, and feel almost a relief when things finally come to a head. You can also throw some curveballs at them, if a long-trusted figure betrays them, or the shadowy villain behind it all changes up the order on them. Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 16 May 2019. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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