Re: Writing Non-Linear scenarios for HeroQuest

From: Ian Cooper <ian_hammond_cooper_at_...>
Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2008 16:13:32 -0000

wrote:
> For me, this is the easy part. Although, with the Men of the Sea
campaign I'm about to start, it's harder than usual. Not least because I don't know where the heroes are going to be from one session to the next. I don't even know (yet) whether they'll want to set down roots within any given community and forge long-term relationships with it.<

Two things work here:

1. Narrator character crew. This let's you focus on shipboard conflict. Look to series like Hornblower for inspiration here. The mad captain, the ambitious lieutenant, the cruel midshipman. In this case you can portray 'away missions' as opportunities to explore the crew dynamics. Star Trek is a perfect example of this focus on shipboard relationships as the real heart of the story and the weekly 'episodes' giving us opportunities to learn how to play characters.
2. Give the players options when choosing one side or the other in a conflict when they arrive. There are options here. Have one of the players 'uncover' relationships. Have the players thrown into an incident where they have to choose sides, perhaps without really understanding them fully. Alternatively, give the players chances to meet and greet during the status quo, before pushing it over the edge (this is the approach Ron uses in Final Days At Skullpoint. Note how there is a period where the heroes are integrated into the community, so that when the whole spirals out of control they may already have taken sides).

I used this technique when I ran a portion of our (now-aborted) Men of the Sea Game.

I was running the East Isles portion.

My first step was to find a community in the East Isles to set the game in and I opted for the Haragalan Commonwealth. I did some digging for Indonesian inspiration on wikipedia and rpg.net. I worked on Champaya. Having read the E. Isles write up I decided that the conflict between the Gold and Silver party was a perfect conflict to throw the players into. So I prepared my cast list from the leaders of those two parties.

I used some inspiration from Roman history to have Trader Jadilulo murdered at the Council of Captains. So my Gold and Silver party characters were facsimiles and composites of characters from the Rome TV series.

I also threw in a couple of unaligned factions, and some local color with competing dream magicians.

To bring the players into the conflict I talked to one of the players who had a Haragalan character and negotiated how to fit his backstory into local events. This also gave him the insight into local affairs his character would have. I also opened the game with a chance meeting with a ship captained by my Mark Anthony figure, First Captain Kamarla. His ship was being overwhelmed by Ratuki pirates, and once the heroes sailed to his aid (their choice) he owed them a debt.

As they entered Champaya I had them engaged with the Silver Party faction, so I was able to immediately pull them into the crisis and flashed the news by signal mirror ' Trader Jadilulo is dead'.

>From there it was up to the players to support or hinder one side or
the other in pursuit of control of the captain's council and control of the city.

PS The reason for aborting our MoTS game was instructive. We tried a multi-GMing approach to it: a destination per GM. The lack of continuity really bit. I expect mostly because no one felt comfortable really using the narrator character crew, for fear of impacting on downstream GM's plans.