Designing adventures for tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) can be challenging when your creative juices are on empty. Finding the creativity that keeps your friends excited and engaged seems daunting at times. Let's use our friends to help out, knowingly or not!
Your friends. Talk to them. TTRPGs above all are shared storytelling adventures. Let your friends help spark ideas with you. Ask them. Text them. Email them.
Here are six questions to ask to get started. Try one try them all.
Remember, there is not going to be a direct answer in any of what they say, only sparks. Let's figure out how to use those sparks.
“What have you always thought was cool in the______ (insert popular movie here)?”
Pick a popular movie, it doesn't matter the genre, let's say Men in Black. “What have you always thought was cool in Men in Black?”
Your friend answers - “I thought Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones were hilarious together.” Great. Now we have a starting point. What do you remember of the movie? Now mash all of that together within the setting of your TTRPG world.
Two well-dressed gnomes emerge from a corn field. Behind them are 8 bewildered orcs walking in a line. The two well-dressed gnomes ask you a series of strange questions. Have you seen a small furry animal running by? The animal may have talked. Did he say anything about the world ending? Did he say when?
“Friend, I need 3 things: a monster, a location, and an item.”
Your friend answers a goblin, a forest, and a blade. If you take your friend literally, then the next TTRPG session is going to be like ordering vanilla ice cream at Baskin Robbins. Not bad of course, but your friends have chosen you as a game MASTER. Using the answers as keywords let's put them together in a creative way. Think of the keywords as ingredients in a recipe - now we need to mix them together!
The village is buzzing with excitement, over an ancient legend that has resurfaced in the nearby forest. The legend tells of a goblin king weary of life who chose to wander looking for meaning. No one is quite sure how he came upon the Woodland blade.
A goblin, not a majestic elf or a mighty druid came to wield the most powerful blade of the forest. The woodland blade creates forests. Plunge it deep into the earth and a forest springs forth around it.
It is said the goblin carried the blade for many years, slowly changing into part tree, part goblin. He became known as the Celadon King. He did many great deeds before his end. Some say he died in a massive battle, and before he passed he plunged the blade into the battlefield creating the very forest outside of this village.
Some say he found a place of pure serenity, created the forest and still watches over it to this day. Does the blade still lie at the heart of the forest, does the goblin?
“Who is your favorite superhero and what makes him cool to you?”
Your friend answers “Wolverine, because of how bad-ass he is and how he can take any amount of punishment and then deal it out.” Your friend was also obviously a 90s child.
Now let's create a TTRPG encounter(s) that can defeat or challenge your friend's favorite superhero. Wolverine can heal and take tons of damage.
Three warriors each wielding a blade of pure adamantium approach you and your friends. They are dressed for the northern climates- they look very ragged and road worn. Their clothes have been torn and repaired multiple times. They bear many scars. They warn of an approaching danger. It has been hunting them, dogging them for many seasons. No matter where they go or how far south they travel it follows them. They call it the Omega (saber) Tooth. They are tired and ready for a last stand.
Want to see what happens when Melissa and I take these techniques and work together to make 20 adventure hooks? Check out our February monthly release "The Rest is Still Unwritten"
If you are reading this in February it's free to all Windstone fans! Just hit up our homepage and download!
“What are five objects that you see around you right now?”
Your friend answers a pencil, a post-it note, a computer screen, a water bottle, and a window that won’t open. Sounds like your friend is at work and miserable. Let’s make sure the next TTRPG session will transport him away from monotony.
Taking the mundane and turning them into the fantastical. What is a pencil in a fantasy world? What is a computer screen? How do all these items tie together?
The wizard’s study is a disaster. Chairs and tables are thrown about everywhere. Broken glass makes it difficult to move about. Whatever happened here was recent. There must be a clue to where the Key of Veils must be.
Pencil - Of all the quills and writing instruments strewn about one stands unique. It looks to be a twig or stick, but from no tree you recognize. The end is sharpened to a point. Holding the pencil you feel a darkness cloud your mind and you fall into a trance like state. You(it) will write out 3 messages to whatever question is on your mind. 2 of those messages are dangerous lies and 1 is a truth. This piece of wood is from a decaying oracle tree. It is possessed and wants to harm the bearer.
Post-it note - A scrap of paper with iridescent lines scribbled upon it. The lines are a message of an ancient script that only can be deciphered with a difficult lore check.
Computer screen - A book made of glass is open upon the floor. Swirling colors play through the pages of glass. The pages are connected by 3 giant golden rings. The book can be used if some can attune to its frequencies. It is a magical record of the wizard and his most powerful knowledge. It tells of the Wizard finding the Key of Veils and the evil forces that still seek it to this day.
Water bottle - One vial remains unbroken, it sits upon an untouched shelf. When anyone looks into the liquid they will see an eye of blue flames staring back at them. Breaking the vial will release a blue flaming fish. It will fly around the study trying to get through the window that won’t open. Blue drips of flame will drop from it setting the whole study ablaze. The blue flame can not be put out by water, but only by fire.
Window that won’t open - At the far end of the study between two towering bookcases is a window. However the scene outside the window is not what it should be. It shows a raging sea, rain and thunder. But outside there are no storms and the sea is many leagues away. The window is sealed and will not open. If the window is broken it will shatter to the ground and only a brick wall will be in its place.
“Give me an emotion, a fantasy race, and a song that you listened to recently”
Your friend answers a dwarf, sad, and Wind of Change by the Scorpions. Damn your friend has a good choice in music. Okay, now plug your headphones in. Put the song on repeat and keep your writing instrument of choice nearby. Whatever comes to your mind, write it down. Let your mind go from everything else but the emotion, the song, and the fantasy race.
Along the coast you and your friends have taken refuge in a lighthouse. The wind rages and rages, pouring and screaming onto the walls of the lighthouse. The keeper is nowhere to be found. Peering out into the sea you can see a dingy just being pounded by the waves. Aboard is a drenched dwarf. He looks miserable.
He makes his way to shore and pulls the boat up on shore. He grumbles as he notices you and your friends. He warns them that this is nothing, and the real storm is coming soon. He pulls his balalaika off the wall and starts playing a very sad song.
As he plays, the storm grows in intensity. The rain is turning to hail. Lighting crashes. When questioned, the dwarf will only answer that he has to play to soothe the creatures below or there will be no tomorrow for any of them.
“Roll 4 d20s what do you see in the numbers you rolled?”
Now your friend may be a little confused at this request, but tell him or her just to run with it. They rolled a 5, 10, 12, and 13 (and these were my actual results) Now your friend's initial response might be I didn’t see anything in the numbers or they are all close to 10. If that is their response, ask them to equate the numbers to something. Maybe letters or zodiac symbols, or 4 different quantities of items. It doesn’t matter what they pick, although they do have to pick something. So lets say they come back to you and said they equated the numbers to letters
I see the letters E J L M. I see the world ELM with a J left over. I don’t know, maybe it's an elm tree with a hanging rope shaped like a J.
In the dead of winter you and your friends are traveling to a remote village. They have asked for help as their store houses have all been corrupted with plague mites. You are escorting 4 wagons of grains and potatoes. The wagoner warns this stretch of the trail is the most dangerous. But all you see is an elm tree atop a hill with a rope hanging from it. The wagoner’s eyes go wide with fright as you see a little boy reaching for the rope. The wagoner screams and gallops the horses. The caravan races away down the trail. There you and your friends stand as the little boy grabs a hold of the rope and pulls.
Why Shared Storytelling is Important In Our Hobby
Shared storytelling is one of the most interactive creative fun interactions you can have with a group of people. Make sure to focus on that when creating your adventures. That combined with the above tips should really take away the burden and self doubt of planning for your upcoming session.
Until we meet at the table.
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