(This is the "Dungeon Designs" column from the September 1990 issue of the Eamon Adventurer's Guild newsletter.  Copyright 1990 Eamon Adventurer's Guild, 7625 Hawkhaven Dr., Clemmons, NC 27012-9408.  You may reproduce this freely as long as this credit remains attached to the article.)


Eamon Style and Technique: the Storyteller's Craft

by Nathan Segerlind

Hark!  Ready to write an adventure?  You're a Basic whiz, know every trick in the book and crush bugs for lunch.  You write it and send it to the EAG and LO! Your mighty game gets a 3?  What's wrong with those morons?  After all, you used flawless algorithms.

Well, let's take a look at your game...."REVENGE OF GWAR".  The evil warrior demigod Gwar has taken over a cavern south of town, threatening all life for miles around.  You go in, beat up all the cronies, and slay Gwar.  What more could you ask for?

A lot.  Where's the story here?  Who or what is Gwar?  Why is he so bad?  What's the revenge angle? Where is this town?  Why can't they handle Gwar by themselves?  This information, known as background, is important to give the adventure some depth and detail.  It is also good for helping out with items and events that come along later in the game.  For example, if we know that Gwar eats Spam, the adventurer would find lots of Spam cans.  Good hints can be placed in the intro, such as recounting a tale of how Gwar once attacked but fled when a turnip cart came near him.

Now we have a background?  Is the story ready to go yet?  Not unless the bulk of the adventure is interesting and builds up to the finale.  What happens in between the intro and the confrontation with Gwar?  The player wanders through the caverns looking for Gwar and fighting monsters.

BORING!  This is the easiest formula for failure.  There are so many random fight-fests out there that they all just get dull.  First, if you refuse to have any sort of building plot, at least spice it up.  Puzzles and humor work wonders for otherwise sorry adventures.  Preferably, build up the plot.  In the case of our search for Gwar, what happens in the caves as we search for him?

The key to writing a plot up is, "Would this make for an interesting read if it were a book rather than an adventure?"  I was told this by a certain author who knows who he is, and it's helped me five-fold when it comes to writing adventure plots.

This is when you have to get creative; now you need a plot.  For space limitations, I'll keep it simple.  Remember to keep the background in mind. Nothing annoys like meeting a monster in an impossible and unexplained place.

In our search for Gwar, the character might have to:   1) find the caverns
     2) get in
     3) get through an orc lair
     4) find in the orc treasure how to reach Gwar
     5) reach Gwar
     6) defeat him.

Each of these steps would have its own substeps.  For instance:

     3) Get though orc lair
          a. fight sentries
          b. open locked door
          c. find turnip in kitchen (which slays Gwar)
          d. find Orc King's escort too big to fight
          e. find secret door to King's room
          f. slay Orc King; orcs flee

Each of these steps would have their own special programming and such, but obviously the variables and such aren't independent of other steps.  You have to make allowances for what can go wrong, or prevent wrong things from happening. Not to mention covering the possibility that the player may try to go about solving a problem a different way than you intended.  Putting the plot to play is a long process that includes special programming and text that can only be arrived at through experience gained from trial and error.

Now that you've got that out of the way, what happens once the player beats Gwar?  Few things can be as anti-climactic as a dead body and then walking out a side exit, with no more than "You ride off into the sunset" for reward.

Gwar is a mean dude, and he's not of this Earth.  Have him go out with a bang. Bodies dissolving in smoke (appropriate only for unnatural beings), disappearing corpses, last words, and gory details always spice up the death scene of an arch-nemesis.

Now that the town is rescued from Gwar, the character is a hero, and heros do more than ride off into sunsets.  A good thing to have is a wrap-up at the end of the adventure consisting of a few effects.  These are used to explain the hero's welcome (bumbling moron's welcome?), the town's reaction and reward to the valiant warrior, and anything else that needs to be said.  This is one feature that I feel is sorely lacking in most Eamons lately.

The game is complete now.  Or is it?  What about the text?  After all, it's how the player relates to the game.  Good grammar can wait.  Are the descriptions good?  Compare:

     YOU SEE GWAR.  HE GROWLS AT YOU.

and:

     SITTING ON A THRONE IS A GREAT, TOWERING SHAPE
     WITH RED SHAGGY FUR, SHARP GREEN FANGS AND BEADY
     EYES.  HE SNEERS AND SAYS, 'I AM GWAR!  PUNY
     MORTAL, PREPARE TO BE LUNCH!"

More interesting, isn't it?  Do that for everything: monsters, rooms artifacts, and especially effects.

Here comes the equivalent of bug removal for the plot, that is, checking for holes.  Pretend you're playing the game, and for some reason can't take a thing
for granted.  Ask questions about why everything is.  Are these things fairly explained or fairly obvious?  If not, then you should place something in the game to explain it.  For example, if you have 80 jillion orcs in your game, you should have a logical reason.  (Author's note: I remember while working on "Ragnarok Revisited" Tom sent me back about a page and a half of questions involving holes in the plot.  Working the answers into the game sent the rating up about 3 points.)

Now you game is ready to be mapped, entered, programmed, debugged, and finally released.  It's the shortest step, but the most important.

To learn much more about the importance of a good plot, play all the high-rated adventures (8's and up).  This is something better learned by example than theory.  Take notes.  What do you like and what do you dislike about every adventure you play?

"But I don't have any ideas!" you may whine.  "I can't think of anything interesting!"  Here's a few off the top of my head.  If properly used, things like these can really spice up an adventure: unusual magic; an interactive device (like a computer or radio); mysterious things; companions and monsters that do things; mysteries about monsters and companions; unusual portals; humor; weapons of uncommon destruction; buying and selling of artifacts; riddles.  If you can't come up with much, at least have stuff to read, examine, open, unlock, and find.