hey all!

As the title says, I'm very curious as to how you guys conceive, structure and then 'produce' content for your players?

• Do you write a vague outline for an adventure and wing it?
• do you plan meticulous outlines and maps and props and dialog?
• How much of the structure or plot of your adventures directly comes from the PC's backstories or prior events?
• Where do you get your inspiration?
• Do you write stand-alone/modular adventures that could apply to any group or is everything bespoke to yours?
• Do you ever co-opts adventures from other systems and convert them to Star Wars?
• Do you ever discuss specific storylines with players prior to running them?
• Are your campaigns episodic or do they have more of a 'grand backdrop'?

If there are details you have or questions I should have asked, please chime in

Thanks in advance!

32 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Do you write a vague outline for an adventure and wing it?

More or less. I never write stories, I write situations . I establish what's going on, who's involved, etc.; and of course what's going to get the PC's involved. I might plan reactions to certain actions which the PCs might take, but I never make the flow of the story dependent on the PCs taking those actions (because that's a good way to make sure that they don't).

32 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

do you plan meticulous outlines and maps and props and dialog?

Outlines, yes. But again, I don't outline what's going to happen. I outline what's going on, and then let the PCs' actions decide what's going to happen. Maps, sometimes; in fact I might build an adventure around a map that I find and like. Props, not as yet. Dialog, maybe for the initial briefing; but usually not for anything beyond that (except on the rare occasion which the PCs might here an actual speech being delivered).

37 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

How much of the structure or plot of your adventures directly comes from the PC's backstories or prior events?

I run different campaigns in 13-week rotations, and I try to tie at LEAST one incident to a PCs backstory during each rotation. Some players give me more to work with than others, and their PCs therefore have this happen more often than others. As to other prior material, it varies; but probably averages out to about half new material and half building on previous goings on.

40 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Where do you get your inspiration?

Anywhere I can. Movies and adventure modules (both Star Wars and other) are where I get a lot of my fuel. There's also a couple of GREAT threads on this board with images which are a good source of ideas. I'll sometimes see a single image which serves as a spark for an entire adventure.

42 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Do you write stand-alone/modular adventures that could apply to any group or is everything bespoke to yours?

Pretty much everything that I write is written with the current character compliment (at the time of writing) in mind.

43 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Do you ever co-opts adventures from other systems and convert them to Star Wars?

I don't even run pre-written Star Wars adventures, though I do mine them for ideas and inspiration.

43 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Do you ever discuss specific storylines with players prior to running them?

Only if it's something which is going to strongly impact a specific character.

44 minutes ago, DangerShine Designs said:

Are your campaigns episodic or do they have more of a 'grand backdrop'?

For me, it's a mix. I write plenty of stand-along adventures but there are usually a number of larger arcs going on at any given time which I visit on a regular basis.

Early days in my campaign atm, but the player who's most invested in her character is a bounty hunter, and the others seem to have defaulted to her defacto crew, so this has allowed me to outline a few bounties to kick off with.

Before we started the 1st session I asked which would be most interesting and fleshed them out with NPCs and locations.

After a couple of missions their actions have left enough consequences for me to start fleshing out a larger overarching plot.

Plan, Outline, or Wing It: It really depends. For the most part, I just do a rough outline of where I expect the PCs will go, the NPCs they're likely to encounter (which includes character sketches and vague terms relating to their characteristics and skills), and what sort of conflicts and obstacles they could run into. The way I generally see it is that I outline the first half of the session, and the second half should be a reaction to what the PCs did in the first half. Since they're notoriously hard to predict and the dice can have a dovetail effect on the narrative, it's rarely worth trying to plan out the later parts.

However, if there's a major structured set-piece coming up like a high-stakes diplomatic negotiation or an arc-ending combat encounter, I'll be more meticulous in my planning of the NPCs and environments involved. On the flip side, sometimes they go so far off the rails or we're at such a murky and reactive part of the campaign that I just make a quick bulleted list of cool/important things.

Maps, Props, and Dialogue: Mostly no. I'll use evocative images of places to help my players conjure up the atmosphere of a place, but I almost never actually make a floor plan. I tell my players explicitly to not bother bringing graph paper, or else they'll end up with a non-Euclidean nightmare on their hands. If I happen to have a cool prop, I'll try to work it in. I only bother with dialogue if I know the specific words said are going to be important. Otherwise, I just make a note of a character's accent and rhythm of speech and just wing it.

Backstories: I tell my players that I'll use whatever they give me, and I do. But the first adventure is almost always something about the group as a whole and doesn't incorporate backstory specifics. This is a deliberate choice on my part, since some players don't have their backstories figured out, and I don't want them to be at a disadvantage.

Inspiration: I have several Google Docs for organizing and writing down my campaign ideas. They're sub-divided into individual eras in the galaxy (Old Republic/Galactic Republic/Galactic Empire/New Republic) and AU. Ideas are the easy part; working them into a viable campaign takes time and effort. For the most part, I get them when I watch the movies and TV shows, or when I read the novels and comics. Sometimes I'll get an idea from something non- Star Wars , too, and then I work to fit it into the universe.

The Use and Application of Adventures: Most adventures I make are specifically tied to the PCs, but sometimes I'll end up with a vignette similar to FFG's modular encounters that can fit into other campaigns. I use published adventures, though I tend to pick and choose certain parts and throw out or rewrite others. I've never been able to do a published adventure all the way through, no matter what group I'm running or what system we're playing. As for stealing from other systems, yes, though what I'm interested in usually has to be heavily modified to fit. My laissez-faire approach to prep (see above) usually helps more than hinders in that case.

Talking Storylines: Yes, almost always. Definitely always when it comes to that character's growth over the course of the campaign, as well as when I'm using a character's backstory. I don't give them specifics, but I like to talk about how they see their character changing over time (both looking forward and reviewing what's already happened) and how that can fit into the overall story. Often, if there's a particularly big event or decision coming up relating to their character (which I usually call "checkpoints") I'll let them know a session or two ahead of time. It helps build suspense, and it means they're less likely to miss their cue. The only times I don't is when I think the surprise will be more fun to everyone, or when it's about the "GM storyline" that I synthesize from their characters and decisions.

Campaign Structure: I'm all over the place with this. Sometimes I do episodic, though often each episode ties together thematically. Mostly, though, my campaigns tend to be an ongoing story, and I rarely revisit old campaigns or characters directly. I've done a couple of sequel campaigns, where the new story follows the old, but they always involve new PCs. If the old characters show up, they're NPCs that I control.