Adventure Design 101: The Plot – Problems

Now that I’ve talked about the villain, the next step in designing your adventure is the most fundamental:  the plot.  As an English major, allow me to distill the plot of 99% or so of English fiction (everything aside from the avant garde stuff):

There’s a problem, and someone does something about it.

This is not as tongue-in-cheek as you might think.  Starting from an oversimplified perspective like this one can be a big help.  As I suggested with the setting, you’re starting out with just a little bit of information, and slowly adding more detail as you go along.

Who has the problem?  Ultimately, the PCs do, or it won’t be much of an adventure for them.  But they might be dealing with a third party’s problem, which in turn is instigated by another NPC’s problem.  The basic motivating force for the adventure’s primary problem is probably the villain:  he wanted to achieve some goal, so he did, or plans to do, something, and someone wants to stop or reverse that act.  That someone could be the PCs, or it could be an NPC who then hires, assigns, threatens, or otherwise influences the PCs into doing it for him.

It might help to think of problems as “attached” to something.  This something could be almost any noun:

An Object

One MacGuffin to Motivate Them All...

An object that motivates the plot is also sometimes called a MacGuffin.  It’s the jewels the thieves are after, or the magic ring the hero needs to destroy, or the map to the pirates’ treasure.  There are numerous things the party could need to do with or to an object:

• Locate it.
• Retrieve (or steal) it.
• Destroy it.
• Deliver it to someone.
• Protect it.
• Create (or recreate) it.

A Person

“Person” is a loose term here; any sapient NPC qualifies, and sometimes an animal might, too.  The problem could just as easily be related to an AI, an intelligent sword, or a monster as to a human being.  All of the object-related goals can apply to people, but there are also additional options:

• Recruit him to an organization.
• Train under her.
• Negotiate or bargain with him.
• Ally or partner with her to accomplish some other goal.
• Seduce or marry him.
• Elevate her to a position of power, or overthrow her from such a position.

A Place

A place is really just an object on a large scale — it can be protected, conquered, destroyed, even located (a lost city) or created (a new settlement on the borderlands).  However, if the place is inhabited, it might lead to further people-oriented complications:  Do you conquer the city by brute force, or do you try to negotiate with its leaders and convince them to surrender it?

An Idea

An idea is basically an object, too — the wrinkle here is that it’s not a physical object, which makes certain goals more complicated.  If your PCs are Inquisitors, then their problem might be that they need to destroy a heretical belief.  But there’s no physical object to attack — the PCs will have to deal with the heresy indirectly, through the believers.  They might be tempted to treat it as a people-oriented problem… but an idea can spread.

Interlocking Problems

Let’s look at a simple adventure idea from a problem-centered perspective.  Say a dragon kidnaps the princess, and the king hires the PCs to get her back.  It’s a classic.

Each character or group involved here should have at least one problem, and the NPCs should have a course of action in mind for resolving it.  So what might those be, in this case?

First, the villain:  the dragon.  We’ll assume that we’ve already designed it, and its motivation is greed:  It wants the king’s treasury.  Its problem is object-oriented:  “Obtain the king’s treasure.”  In order to solve its problem, it’s kidnapped the princess and plans to ransom her.

Next, the king.  His problem is person-oriented:  “Retrieve the princess.”  He also probably has a secondary problem:  “Destroy the dragon.”  (In addition to killing it, this could include driving it off, turning it to his side, or anything else which makes it no longer a threat to him.)  It’s secondary because his main concern is getting his daughter back.  He’ll consider the adventure a success if that happens, even if the dragon remains a threat — although “destroy the dragon” will probably then become his primary problem for a future adventure seed, unless some greater problem comes along in the meantime.  His solution to both problems is to get the PCs to help him.

Finally, the PCs.  We’ll assume that they’re inclined to help, so their primary problem is “Retrieve the princess.”  Their secondary problems are likely to include “Destroy the dragon” and “Obtain the dragon’s treasure.”  The solutions they pursue are up to them.

So now we know what’s happening and why, right?  Nope.  Not so fast.  We’ve forgotten something:

The princess is also a character.  This is where we might decide to throw in a twist.  Her primary problem is “Escape the dragon,” as the PCs might expect; however, we decide that she’s bored of palace life and wants to run away to become an adventurer.  Her secondary problem is “Avoid being returned to the king.”

This simple change creates secondary problems for the characters.  Perhaps she’ll slip away during the fight, and they’ll have to add “Locate the princess” to their goals.  Perhaps they sympathize, and decide to take her on an adventure, hoping to sate her curiosity; of course, they’d need to “Protect the princess.”  Perhaps they keep a close eye on her and try to drag her straight back to her father — they have to “Deliver the (unwilling) princess.”

The plot also changes if you tweak the time element.  In our example above, the dragon has already kidnapped the princess, but we could start the same plot at an earlier point where it hasn’t.  Say the PCs happen to be at court, and are invested in the princess’s well-being.  Their goal becomes “Protect the princess,” vs. the dragon’s “Obtain the princess.”  If they know the dragon’s goals, they might protect the princess by offering the dragon great wealth — the dragon’s princess-related goal is secondary to its “Obtain treasure” goal.

And if the princess had a husband who’s more interested in the throne than the girl, he might be inclined to see the princess remain absent — preferably declared dead, so that he might remarry for further political advantage once he’s become king.  His problem is “Destroy the princess” — perhaps not by killing her, but that could be an option, depending on just how villainous he is.  His secondary goals might include “Destroy the PCs,” if they prove too competent!  How will he go about that?

Each character adds further complexity to the web of problems, and each character’s chosen solution might impinge on the others’ — or assist them.  This structure of conflict and collusion defines and drives the plot.  With the right combination of character, motivation, and problems, you might find that your plots write themselves.

If not?  I’ll feature some more plot-related material next time.

Related posts:

1. Adventure Design 101: The Plot – Story
2. Adventure Design 101: The Setting
3. Adventure Design 101: The Villain
4. Adventure Design 101
5. Adventure Design 101: Dungeons That Make Sense