Season arc plotted, but no episodes as such...

[Eternally Lost Zeppo]

I have a rough timeline of how the first season arc of my RPOL game - The SOS Files, an Earth-based game revolving around a civilian group of amateur investigators - is going to develop. The only thing I haven't got worked out is some episode ideas for it, particularly the first episode.

Anyone got any tips for finding inspiration regarding this?

[asariel]

The Doctor Who Serial Title Generator is my starting point. Try out the following titles:

Keys of Night
Machines of Doom
Pyramid of Night
The Doom Bride
The Enemies
The Fear Mutants
The Foe
The Horror of Paradise
The Long Infinity
The Madness
The Night of Doors
The Robbers of Menace
The Smuggler of Day
The Unquiet Masque

From there, let your mind run amok.

[Curufea]

I recommend having a look at some of the guidelines on making TV shows, actually. I found the Prime Time Adventures RPG to be helpful for this as well.

Try to have an episode that spotlights each PC. You also want to have a main plot and a subplot, the subplot is usually character oriented (so PCs with backstories, histories and plot hooks should be encouraged).

Determine which episodes you're going to put season story arc elements in, and which ones are stand alones.

Work out a returning villain and how/when they will appear - recurring villains are a must for melodramatic pulp genre settings like Doctor Who. In this case, races are often recurring villains as well as individuals.

Finally settings - look at what maps, props or information you have, and design episode settings around your material.

[Eternally Lost Zeppo]

Jun 18, 2010 23:52:42 GMT Curufea said:

I recommend having a look at some of the guidelines on making TV shows, actually. I found the Prime Time Adventures RPG to be helpful for this as well.

Try to have an episode that spotlights each PC. You also want to have a main plot and a subplot, the subplot is usually character oriented (so PCs with backstories, histories and plot hooks should be encouraged).

Determine which episodes you're going to put season story arc elements in, and which ones are stand alones.

Work out a returning villain and how/when they will appear - recurring villains are a must for melodramatic pulp genre settings like Doctor Who. In this case, races are often recurring villains as well as individuals.

Finally settings - look at what maps, props or information you have, and design episode settings around your material.

Thanks dude. That's actually quite similar to what I usually do, as I base some of my GMing style on the guidelines given in the Angel/Buffy RPG books. I also picked up the idea of spotlight episodes for my Stargate campaign back in university.

[Curufea]

No prob. I've generally found it really helpful to have PCs involved with their characters.
If they go to the trouble of working out histories, plot hooks and how their characters behave in and out of the actual sessions, then a lot of the plot in a campaign becomes self generating - a the players themselves not only empathise for and begin to care about their characters, they'll interact with each other and the setting independently of the GM.