Plot vs. Story, Part 3: More Lost Plot

Phil Nicholls blogs at Tales of a GM, where he writes about narrative gaming, faster prep and more story. He is currently running a HeroQuest Glorantha campaign in a home-brew setting. Phil has written for Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter and produced a selection of self-published pdfs.

This essay is taken from the archives at Tales of a GM.

http://talesofagm.com/

For the past two weeks I discussed the competing terms “plot” and “story”. For my essay this week, I conclude the mini-series. The topic for today is the GM-focused options for when the Players simply ignore a GM’s carefully crafted plot.

Possible Causes

As noted last week, I see five options for dealing with the problem of Players who refuse to engage with the presen...

Plot vs. Story, Part 2: Losing the Plot

Phil Nicholls blogs at Tales of a GM, where he writes about narrative gaming, faster prep and more story. He is currently running a HeroQuest Glorantha campaign in a home-brew setting. Phil has written for Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter and produced a selection of self-published pdfs.

This essay is taken from the archives at Tales of a GM.

http://talesofagm.com/

Last week I began a discussion of the competing terms “plot” and “story”. The topic for today explores what happens if the Players simply ignore a GM’s carefully crafted plot. There can be many reasons for this, both Player-focused and plot-focused.

The temptation for some GMs might be to railroad the story back to their chosen plot...

Plot vs. Story, Part 1 : Narrative Responsibilities

Phil Nicholls blogs at Tales of a GM, where he writes about narrative gaming, faster prep and more story. He is currently running a HeroQuest Glorantha campaign in a home-brew setting. Phil has written for Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter and produced a selection of self-published pdfs.

This essay is taken from the archives at Tales of a GM.

http://talesofagm.com/

Any discussion of roleplaying often uses the terms “plot” and “story”, sometimes interchangeably. As a narrative GM, I value these principles highly. Yet, it strikes me that people often mean different things by these labels. Quibbling over the meaning of labels fuels many heated debate on the forums...

Mapping a Story: The Five Scene Plot

Phil Nicholls blogs at Tales of a GM, where he writes about narrative gaming, faster prep and more story. He is currently running a HeroQuest Glorantha campaign in a home-brew setting. Phil has written for Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter and has a selection of self-published pdfs.

This essay is taken from the archives at Tales of a GM.

http://talesofagm.com/

My favourite method for structuring an RPG plot is the Five Room Dungeon (5RD). This brilliant tool came from Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter #156. As with so many great ideas, the 5RD can be repurposed for a broader role.

Familiar Structure to Stories

I play a more narrative game, so I broadened the scope of the 5RD to apply it to story structure in general...

It’s a Lie: World of Dew Plot Twists

Phil Nicholls blogs at Tales of a GM, where he writes about narrative gaming, faster prep and more story. He is currently running a HeroQuest Glorantha campaign in a home-brew setting. Phil has written for Johnn Four’s Roleplaying Tips newsletter and has a selection of self-published pdfs.

This essay is taken from the archives at Tales of a GM. http://talesofagm.com/
Tucked away in this game of samurai noir is excellent advice for the GM. As usual, this advice applies to a broad range of games. The hidden gem I discuss today is a clever way to add plot twists to any game.

World of Dew

The game is written by Ben Woerner, and is billed a sequel to Blood and Honour. The introduction to World of Dew describes the premise as follows:

In Blood & Honour, J...