Storyteller Blog #5 - Writing Plot

Writing plot for a LARP can be it seems very tricky. I’ve learned a few things about writing plot that I use in any game I intend to run or Game Master, which I thought I would share here.

The most common problems I’ve found or seen in the running of a game (specifically a LARP but most any game) are:

1) The Plot Train – the plot literally becomes a train. Which means no matter what actions you take as a player in the game, you’re still going where the plot goes because that is where the story goes and that is that, so strap in and enjoy the ride or jump off.
2) The Dungeon Crawl/Monster of the Week – This works ok in a D&D setting, but is in general terrible for LARPs if used on a regular basis.
3) Plot Confusion – Your plot is too complex for your players to figure out.

In creating a plot for a LARP Chronicle, the first thing that should be done is creating the world in which your game is going to take place. A well created world is the first key to solving the above issues, which I’ve talked about in my other blogs and I’m sure we’ll come back to again.

So you’ve got your world, its well created, its got depth and all kinds of interesting people populating it who are going to be your NPC’s. What now? To avoid the above issues, start out by thinking of the type of story you are going to tell. It needs to be a story that fits into the genre in which you will be Story Telling. Think in broad terms for the moment. In this example we will use the Vampire Venue from White Wolf. Let’s pick a core theme; this is a story about humanity.

You take that core and you refer back to it often. You line your NPC’s up around that idea, each story is a story of the struggle for humanity or the losing of it. Now over that we can layer an epic struggle between the forces of good and evil. The Player Characters are just your pawns now and you can manipulate them to do what you want right? No!

This is a common point where we run into Storyteller Ego. It becomes more about your story then your players. Watch for that and avoid it! The Player Characters are the stars of this show! So that in mind, we now have developed an epic plot themed on Humanity, in a world that is rich with detail and well thought out. You’re ready to let the players loose in your playground. They enter stage left, at which point every one of your plans blows up, NPC’s which were integral to your plot die, others are corrupted, and the main bad guy gets found out in the second game session.

The problem was rigid plot. Don’t just create plot, create the NPC’s that are behind the plot. Create them in such detailed ways that you know their favorite color and their opinion on who should win American Idol this season. Why? They are the plot!

If you have well detailed NPC’s, fully fleshed out with personal motivations and goals you have one of the great keys to a game that is reactive. When the players go left when you knew that they would go right, that’s okay, the plot is not broken, it has suddenly become cooperative! The Players do something surprising, then think like their NPC foil. What would that NPC reaction be to that? How will that affect the story, what new avenues are now open before you that you didn’t see before?

Creating the world, the NPC’s and keeping your focus on the bigger meta-plot is key to letting the players be able to run free. The other big key here to note (the one that fights all three downfalls) is that their actions change the world, which they should! The PC’s are always the star of the show. Everything else is supporting actors at best, or at worst the Stage Grip you never see or know the name of but without whom the show would not happen, the focus is on the Players.

In our game, we populated our City with a host of NPC’s all of whom were designed to aid the PC’s when asked. They still had all the details above, but their main goal was to play the role of mentors to the players when they needed it, to be a resource for them to draw on (note, not abuse, draw on) to help figure out the plot if it was too complex or to find the plot if they got lost along the way. These PC’s help us guide the players and aid them without ever breaking the escapist reality of our world, so this is another vital point to creating the plot for your world. Have PC’s who are the Gandalf of your world, they are powerful but they are there to help.

Let’s summarize with some bullet points.

1) Create a richly detailed world that is made to be reactive to your Players.
2) Create NPC’s who have their own goals, motivations, and desires.
3) Decide upon a “theme” for the game.
4) Create an over arching story that develops out of the NPC goals/motivations
5) Turn the Players loose in the world
6) React to what they do as the NPC’s would by assuming their roles, changing the game as the Players change it.
7) Have NPC’s who are there to help.

And that is how to approach the plot of your game.