My Deadlands TiddlyWiki is here:
http://mountzionpress.com/raphael/rpgwiki.htm
The last few session are not included.

For you tiddlywiki users add the following to your StyleSheet tiddler:
@media print {#mainMenu {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {#topMenu {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {#sidebar {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {#messageArea {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {#toolbar {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {.header {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {.tiddler .subtitle {display: none ! important;}}
@media print {.tiddler .toolbar {display; none ! important; }}
@media print {.tiddler .tagging {display; none ! important; }}
@media print {.tiddler .tagged {display; none ! important; }}
@media print {#displayArea {margin: 1em 1em 0em 1em;}}
@media print {.pageBreak {page-break-before: always;}}

This makes each tiddler print on a separate page so that nothing but tiddler title and text are printed. Source

That helps me keep track of the story. Remind me non-played paths and (if it’s good for the story) rearrage the flow-chart to play it.

I don’t consider this to railroad as the flow-chart is usually a flexible thing. But it’s good to stablish both a time flow (one thing after another) and a story structure.

(Sorry for my bad english)

I do recall that I got the idea from an RPGA article I read years ago. Summarized, it said “plan for 8 encounters for a 4 hour session”. I don’t know if what I took away from the article is what they intended to convey, but it started me on the path to my current system, which has evolved over the years.

My adventure notes are organized like this:

1. Backstory – this is where I write NPC reactions and actions based on previous sessions. I find this helps me plan out encounters as outgrowths of past actions, and also helps me understand the NPC’s more. Which has proven helpful when players go off-map.

Example:

“With the Crypt of Orbakh ransacked, and so many zombies now dead, Kireba could see no point in continuing operations in the Tower of Bones. But since she also assumed that the party is going to be heading to Castle Cormanthor next, she decided to continue with her plan of staying out of their way. After all, if the Castle didn’t want to support her problems, she saw no reason to support theirs. They had been warned…”

2. Opening – I’ve started writing a paragraph or two that I read at the beginning of the session. Sets the mood, gives the current in-game date, and sometimes even some indication of how the party’s adventures have become rumors in the area.

Example: “It is noon on 20 Cinten. There is news that Gallows Tom set fire to section of Chesake District, and three people were killed before the blaze could be put out. The Lord Governor himself surveyed the burned out wreckage of the buildings and declared that the Fingers Watch and Fire Brigade on Hospice had done ‘a heckuva job’ bringing the fire under control and saving the lives of countless people.”

3. Scene #1, #2, etc – I come up with 6-8 “scenes” that I think are likely based on what the players want to do, what has happened already, and where I plan to take the story. Generally, a scene is a paragraph or two. Sometimes, though, a scene can run on for a page or so. The information I write down is dialogue, motivations, stat blocks if they seem useful, strategies, and so on.

Overall, I don’t worry about what order the scenes happen in. I’ll jump around as the players do. And if they do something I didn’t expect, often what I did think of can be re-purposed or just used for extrapolating. Sometimes I even have material left over. That’s always fun. Cause I can just copy-and-paste it for the next session.

-David

I’d love to read other GMs’ notes. I’ll cue a post that includes a copy of some session notes I wrote a couple of years back, and offer up hosting for anyone who wants to share theirs (plus links for those who have their own hosting).

Great idea, Millsy!

My last few games I’ve run from a Tiddlywiki, which has run really well for me. Monsters, NPC stats, area descriptions, the works. And I can put html links in for each of the areas that you can go to from where you are, allowing me to go to the next area without having to search a menu.

I’ve put up a library of scenarios for Stargate SG-1 at http://mysite.verizon.net/socalgamer/id5.html . That’s got several scenarios from several GMs, which should show you a few different ways that people do it.

I found an unexpected advantage to this. After rolling for initiative, all I have to do is sort the cards in order of initiative and then run through the stack.

The encounters are also split up by task. When they have finished one task (however they do so), I move onto the next encounter on the next page. When the players go off in an unexpected direction, I just resort the tasks and keep going.

The only problem with this is the amount of preplanning I have to do to get ready for a game.

I found an unexpected advantage to this. After rolling for initiative, all I have to do is sort the cards in order of initiative and then run through the stack.

The encounters are also split up by task. When they have finished one task (however they do so), I move onto the next encounter on the next page. When the players go off in an unexpected direction, I just resort the tasks and keep going.

The only problem with this is the amount of preplanning I have to do to get ready for a game.

A brief description of the back-story and the situation at the start of the adventure.

A list of facts I want the PCs to discover in the first hour of play (to justify later events).

A list of possible encounters and events that proceed from the initial situation, as NPCs react to the arrival of the PCs and (based on my knowledge of the players) what the PCs are likely to do.

Notes to myself on anything I feel must happen this session to set up the events of next session.

Abbreviated block stats for the major NPCs and generic monsters/mooks.

There may or may not be maps.

I generally don’t pre-plan encounters at all, unless I know that one of the NPCs is going to actively set something up. As a GM, I’m not into tactical puzzles. I am much more interested in why the NPCs do things than how, and am confident in my ability to improvise encounters as needed. After all, why spend hours writing up encounters that may never happen if the PCs don’t do as I predict?

During the game, I’ll mark off my potential encounters as they’re used, and make notes on what happened.

After the game, I’ll take stock of the situation, and start the notes for the next session.

Taking the example above, assuming the PCs are motivated to go into this dungeon, they have a choice to make… dive in or explore the area. Now, imagining a typical D&D or fantasy world, stocked in the way of a typical module. Making the choice to explore around the dungeon is often a non-choice in that it’s generally a fruitless series of searching or wandering monsters. Here, I’m suggesting that their choice be made meaningful.

Admittedly, this quite a vague discussion. Part of my viewpoint comes from groups that don’t want to play in a giant sandbox and just haphazardly wander about and create a story. Most of the groups I’ve gamed with have grown up with D&D and the various plotted TSR modules and such. They want to follow a story through and make choices along the way… but are incredibly happy to play roles within the greater story, as opposed to creating their own.

Am I explaining this properly? (I should really read up on Dogs in the Vineyard since it seems to be the canonical example of a certain style of play around here.)

*ponder* Ok, trying to come up with a better example.

Taking the same dungeon example, perhaps my map includes a dense coniferous forest nearby, the players could very well decide that their characters head into the forest and begin a career as loggers. There’s many ways to handle this.

1. Go with it, the campaign turns into a game social interaction and trading
2. Meta-game it, “guys, I don’t want to run that.” “I have nothing planned for that.”

3. Bring the story to them. (The kobolds in the supposed dungeon send out raiding parties, for example)

4. Create a new story tailored to the adventures of forestry… A druid starts awakening all their trees and is angered when they cut one down.

In my groups, the players generally seem to prefer 3 or 4, and I feel as though it’s not railroading… because they chose to create a logging camp near this dungeon, the parameters of the whole scenario change.

(You know, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed talking about these topics until I started reading some RPG blogs.)