"Adventure Toolkit"

[robject]

I was putting together a bunch of patron encounters, when the concept sort of morphed.

See, the encounters were, more often as not, becoming something more like Amber Zones. Patron encounters are quite short; many of these are not.

So I'm looking at something more like a "toolkit", with Casual Encounters, Amber Zones, and Patron Encounters.

But if it's a real toolkit, I suspect there's more that's needed. Anyone have thoughts on that? Think of 76 Patrons, but then also think of Amber Zones and Casual Encounters. Think of adventure outlines that aren't as bare-bones skeletal as Amber Zones. What might be needed to make this sort of thing useful to a garden-variety referee like me?

 

[robject]

Okay, here's some ideas I was thinking of.

Portray the world vividly. I think this means to have just enough Library Data to fire up peoples' imaginations.

Describe the supporting cast and antagonists with enthusiasm. Separate from Library Data and even adventures are memorable NPCs that spin the setting around. Give them names, motivations, and ambitions, show their personalities, and have them play to win.

Situations, not plots. This is where EDITING comes into play. The encounters I've currently got should be purged of plot, and instead present the situation. Plot should (for example) be moved into the NPCs themselves!

Confront the players with interesting obstacles and meaningful conflicts. Some of these are amber zones, and some are patron encounters.

The useful part of separating these concerns is that any one of them can be safely ignored without removing another element from the game. For example, Okloe Valtra, flamboyant Vargr pirate queen, should be outlined separately from the Corsair Kingdom, and both of those separate from a Pirate Menace obstacle/amber zone/patron encounter. All three can be used together, or any pair can be combined, or only one can be used.

 

[mike wightman]

I use the random encounter tables a lot to generate an evening's play, here is the example I have posted before:

Easiest way is with an example (note that this is using the 81 version of LBB3 – Starter Edition and The Traveller Book actually have much more comprehensive tables)
I roll on the patron table and get:
rumour, avenger, army
next I roll on random person encounter
workers, animal encounter (a roll of 6,n I take as animal or alien) and ambushing brigands.
I pick the starting encounter:
Let’s say the players encounter some workers who are obviously agitated, discussion with them reveals that the industrial plant they have been operating has been closed due to rumours of some violent native beast, and that some hotheads are thinking of going to hunt the animals down. There is a rumour that the animals in question have highly valuable (insert whatever you want here – anagathic glands, valuable fur, expensive blubber – whatever).
Players may or may not join the hunt, but they have been seen talking to the workers.
Next encounter depends – if they go on the animal hunt then they may encounter the ambushing brigands who are also after the animals, or they may encounter the army patrol guarding the industrial site and containing the animals.
If they don’t go on the hunt they are approached by the avenger who has lost (family member, best friend, whatever will pull players in) and offers to guide the players past the workers/army guards to get to the animals.
If they went along with the workers they may still encounter the avenger being attacked by the brigands/army patrol.
It’s fairly organic – I may decide to change the encounter order in response to player actions, and reaction rolls may make things more tense than they need to be.
And at some point I have to generate the animal stats…

So do you mean something along those lines only with more background details?

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

I use the Mongoose Campaign Guide book to get some ideas. Nothing more than hooks though that NPCs might throw out. I don't use plots at all in my games. Never have. I don't run adventure games, like I am a computer, for tabletop players.

Characters have something to do. Whatever plot there is, happens when the characters encounter other characters. At the end of a game session, the players remember their characters being in a story. A story that didn't exist before the session started.