2 rules for scenario design

Prep better games + discount links

Jan 26, 2025

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First, a big thank you to everyone who voted for us at the Bloggies 2024. We won the Debut Blog category because of your support! We’re sooo chuffed. Oh, and stick around to the end for some sweet discount links to celebrate. Now let’s get cracking.

I’m using ‘scenario’ because I think this advice applies many adventure styles - politics, investigations, exploration, and dungeon crawls. Really, it applies to anything that focuses on dynamic problem solving - games where player skill and choice lead the way in a situation that reacts and evolves to player input in a logic driven fashion.

Rule 1: ABCD-ity

~pronounced “aybeeseedeeity”, you’re welcome~

All the content you create for a scenario should feature….

Activity: Stuff should be happening and it should be interactive for the players. Don’t hide it away unless it makes sense that it’s not easy to find. Players should have information to help them engage with activity, which should facilitate meaningful choices that lead to impacts on the scenario (see Chris McDowall’s ICI doctrine).

Believability: A believable scenario helps players interact with the scenario and increases their immersion. It helps them make better choices and process information because the situation is logically consistent and believable. This also helps you make better judgement calls as a GM.

Connectivity: The moving parts of a scenario should connect to each other (e.g., Jaquaysing the geography of a location, NPCs, everything really). Interconnectivity provides deeper cause and effect and a greater ability for a GM to simulate it. Players can exploit it, they might also fall victim to it.

Density: Scenarios should be densely packed with great stuff. If you are struggling to maintain density, it’s time to squeeze. If you have 30 ok-ish dungeon rooms, squeeze them into 15. If your mystery has 10 NPCs but only 7 are interesting, cut the other three. More detail = more information and choices for players to get stuck into.

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Rule 2: The 5 Ws

Answer these questions to generate the scenario.

Why does this matter?

Why are the PCs here? If there is no motivation, there is no engagement in the scenario. Strong motivation means they don’t back out if things get tough.

Where is this happening? Why here?

Describe the location, whether it’s a single room, a 300 room dungeon, or an entire hexcrawl. Design the layout and details of the environment(s). Why here and not elsewhere? What makes this place special?

Who else is here? Why are they here?

Describe relevant NPCs and factions. What is their situation, what resources do they have? What are their reasons for being here, what are their goals, what are they doing? What are their relationships and interactions with each other like?

What is happening? Why?

What has already happened (history), what events are occurring within the scenario now? What is causing them? There could be multiple events and causes. If needed, provide mechanical scaffolding to manage these events e.g. a weather table.

When will things change? Why?

Static scenarios are boring. Situations should evolve, otherwise what’s happening isn’t that important, and players can stall. Work out how it will change, why that change is happening and when it will happen. The ‘when’ might be variable e.g. based on a dice roll, and player actions might change the course of events.

Prep time

For the kinds of scenarios I’m aiming for, greater prep = a better game. Time is limited though, and the key to efficiency is knowing where to spend time.

Look at the 5 Ws and identify a priority order of detail. For a political scenario, focus on the Who first. For an exploration scenario, focus on the Where. For a mystery, focus on the What. Focus where the details matter most first, then move on to the next most important aspect.

That’s it

I’m using this set of principles to guide my scenario designs. Who knows, you might get some mileage out of them too.

To prep irl, I’m using Muji notebooks (absolutely, 100% THE BEST notebooks) with a Lamy pen for writing and Faber-Castell Pitt Pens for drawing/mapping. Sometimes I wack out the iso-paper too.

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Discounts (50% off)

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Core Rules

Gaelenvale (my cinematic sandbox module about a cosy little vale)

Nevermore (my cinematic dungeon crawl set in a nasty crypt)