Coming up with Plots, Part 1

by Dewayne Agin

In this series of articles, I will go through the steps that I take in writing a new quest. I would like to go through the design process from the beginning, with each article devoted to a step in the process.

Along with the series of articles, I would like to desgn a quest, going through the design process as I write about it. I would encourage you to do the same. Hopefully by the time we are done there will have been several who have gone through the process and written a quest. Maybe we could publish them in the newsletter.

I realize that you may not use the same process and steps to write quests that I do. That is fine, there is nothing special or official about the way that I write quests; in fact I don't always follow all the steps that we will be discussing in the coming issues. These articles are going to give you a process for designing quests, nothing more. Follow it or not, the choice is yours. But I do hope you enjoy the articles.

This first article is about the very beginning of quest designing - coming up with a plot for the quest. For some, one of the hardest things about designing you own quest can be coming up with a plot. Not knowing what you want the Heroes to accomplish in the quest can kill off the desire to create one quicker than just about anything.

Luckily, there are several places that the quest author can go to for inspiration, including several that are online. One of the best places to go to for plot inspiration is the Net Book of Plots (http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/index.html). This is a huge online resource for the quest author. Quest and RPG module authors are asked to come up with plots to be shared with others. Sometimes the plots are simple one line answers to questions like 'on the way to ...'. Other plots are long and detailed, covering several pages. Each plot is tagged several different ways: length, genre, type, setting, and specific monsters.

There are other game webpages that you can go to get inspiration. There are Advanced HeroQuest, Warhammer Quest, and other games that have elements that can be used in your next quest. There are even some HeroQuest pages that give out quest ideas. My link page at http://www.yeoldeinn.com/agins-archive/links.html has links to all these and more.

What other places exist for you to get ideas from? Well, instead of looking on the web for game modules, how about your own game closet? Maybe there is something there you can use.

Where else can you look? How about your bookshelf. Next time you read a book, think about the plot. Don't get bogged down thinking of all the minor details and subplots. Just concentrate on the main plot. It should be short, maybe only a line or two, but at most a paragraph. Maybe you could use something similar for your next quest. Next time you watch a movie or a TV show, do the same thing. Maybe something from one of these will give you inspiration.

All of these should serve one purpose, to give you ideas for you quest. When you come up with your idea, condense it to a sentence or two. This is the basic plot for your quest.

I said I would be designing a quest as we went along, so I went to the Net Book Of Plots and did a little bit of poking. I read over several plots, and finally chose one - Map of the Magician's Lair. I took the basic plot idea from it. My condensed plot idea is this: The Heroes come across a map to an abandoned underground lair, once the home of a powerful Sorcerer.

Now that I have the basic plot, it is time to think about ways to fill in the plot. Is the Sorcerer alive or dead? What special monsters might be there? What special treasures might be there? This is what we will cover in the next article - Filling In the Plot.