Treasure Tables is on hiatus as of December 13th, 2007 -- after two years of daily posts, I needed a break. If you're looking for GMing material, I have two recommendations: the hundreds of posts in TT's archives, and my new project, the multi-author GMing blog Gnome Stew. Happy GMing! -- Martin

Writing Adventures Like TV Episodes, and Time Loops

Tue. January 30, 2007 

A few weeks back, my group played a Stargate SG-4 session that was based around a time loop — think Groundhog Day (or from Stargate SG-1, “Window of Opportunity”), but with a very short cycle.

It was a very fun night, and one that really felt like the TV show. Don, our GM, also did something very clever to make the time loop concept work: he created a system-neutral game mechanic that balanced roleplaying social encounters with the desire to not have to roleplay them every time we looped. I asked him if he’d mind writing it up for his blog, Abulia Savant, and he was kind enough to oblige (thanks, Don!).

As it turned out, though, it wasn’t something he could explain without providing plenty of context, and the resulting post covers a lot more than just crafting a time loop adventure — it’s essentially a primer for writing TV-episode-style adventures using the three act model (and bending it when necessary), and a damned fine one at that.

This campaign is on my list of all-time favorites, and Don really hits what he aims for with it: a game that’s not only fun, but feels like the show. It’s fascinating for me to peer under the hood and see how he makes that happen, and I think you’ll enjoy it as well.

More posts about: Scenarios

Comments

7 Responses to “Writing Adventures Like TV Episodes, and Time Loops”

  1. drow on January 30th, 2007 10:29 am

    an excellent primer, and one i’m going to try to make use of in my new eberron campaign. i think a lot of short, concise adventures will make the campaign seem a lot busier and richer than the long, many-session story arcs i’ve usually run.

  2. steve on January 30th, 2007 11:35 am

    wish he would have listed the solution so I could steal it.

    Great idea, and a really good article all around.

  3. Abulia on January 30th, 2007 1:08 pm

    The complete adventure is linked towards the bottom of the article, including the handouts.

  4. Dave Chalker on January 30th, 2007 6:19 pm

    I’ve run a Groundhog Day-style adventure three times now for different campaigns, and it’s consistently the players’ favorite adventure of the campaign.

  5. JasonA on January 30th, 2007 10:08 pm

    I’ve run a timeloop session once, with the PCs having a definite “start” to the loop (and a definite end - the space station they were on blows up :-) ). It went pretty well, although the players did get a bit sick of having to convince the same people through each loop that a loop was happening (including one of the PCs - one of the PCs was outside the loop when it occurred, so they had to be convinced about the loop just like the NPCs).

    I think the “cards” Don came up with were a fantastic idea, and I’d probably do something similiar if I was running that sort of session again.

  6. Martin on January 31st, 2007 10:45 am

    If anyone gives Abulia’s approach a shot, please drop back in — here, or over on Abulia Savant and tell us how it went!

  7. Stephen on February 2nd, 2007 11:48 am

    I’ve been running my campaigns as TV shows for a few years now. It really works quite well and highly recommend it. :)