How to tackle a VI·VIII·X adventure

TAGS: #THINKTANK

While working in the usual way on multiple topics within the project (and not focusing on a single one!!!), I stumbled on this post. This reading brought me to a consideration… I not sure still now how my brain led me to this outcome, anyway…

In RPGs, when we speak or write about adventures we come to a crossroad (or dilemma). There are two different approaches/way/factions to create/write/play an adventure in a role-playing game: the sandbox approach and the railroad approach. Just to be on the same page and using the videogame examples, I consider a sandbox approach something similar to Morrowind whereas the railroad approach is similar to Icewind Dale.

I am well aware that any judgment is purely subjective as there will be someone in favor of the first (and against the second) and the other way round: I am not here to establish which is the best approach, if you ask me an opinion I tend to prefer the railroad approach (if it is not too tight!) but this is not the point. Starting from my personal view, for an adventure module, I would like to develop a solution with a ‘railroaded’ story… possibly with a mild ‘railroading’ (btw even in this case there is not a Manicheist view! There could be also solutions which borrow the best aspects from both approaches!) and this is where I landed while thinking to what I read: I would like to develop a ‘railroaded’ plot where there are only some fixed points and a dynamic environment where the characters are acting. This solution is the best one as the story is preserved (and if it is interesting it will always be a value added!) and the GM is free to move the game in a less constrained setting. This is the way I plan to write my adventures for the VI·VIII·X KUP RPG. The first one is already under construction and will stick to this approach!

Now two further considerations from this thought: the first one is that it is really weird how I came to think at this by starting from a reading which is far away form this topic! The second one is that, useless to say, the adventure I have already written for the quickstart doesn’t fit this view and it won’t have this shape… funny thing! (Actually it cannot have this approach by the way it is written)

Another thought form that post (this time this is at least tied to it…): it’s nearly 15 years I am thinking of a game (and I am not necessarily referring to an RPG) where the fact of telling something true rather than false is the pivot in terms of mechanics. I had some ideas but nothing worth till now: I do not push to have the idea, I simply have it in my ‘to-be-worked-out-area’ of my brain and sooner or later I will get it!

PS re to the post which originated everything, I really enjoyed it, concise and precise and extremely interesting in stimulating further thoughts like I did!