DO and DONT of scenario creation

[Madmacabre]

Hello all,

I am brand new to FATE and I am in the process of putting my first Dresden RPG game together.

I created my city as it is proposed in the book. I also prepared a few minor plots as well as my main “situation”, which is the drive behind the first story.

Now, this is all nice and good on paper. But when its time to run a game for 3 or 4 of your buddies, you need to be more prepared then that. Background material only get you so far...

How do you organize your scenario so that its efficient for actually running the game?

All I have for now are the big lines of my story. But should I break it down into chapters and scenes? Should I prepare some conflicts in advance?

What material do you get ready before running a game?

Anyway, if you have experience running Dresden (or FATE games), would you care sharing some of your HOW TO, DO and DON’T ?

Thanks a lot.

[luminos]

Well first off, I'd say DO design the city as a group. 

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

I have not yet run a game, however I plan to do a One-Shot.  In which Scenes and chapters are setup in advance.  I don't plan on railroading the players, but the story will take on a natural flow, and even if they skip to the end before coming back to a section in the middle you will have the scenes ready in advance with the NPCs ready to go, and at least a basic description that the players can base Declarations on.

[Falar]

Well first off, I'd say DO design the city as a group. 

Wondermous advice, for true.

Seriously, do the city creation how it says - as a group. It's like one of the best features of the system. I would buy the book just for that chapter and concept, it is so awesome.

[TheMouse]

Don't over plan. It won't survive contact with the players.

Instead, have the beginnings of a few scenes and some central conflicts in mind. Then look at character Aspects (both PCs and NPCs). Compels should pop out at you, and those should serve to make the scenes interesting.

Don't create situations with only one solution.

Do allow player creativity to come up with neat ideas you would never have thought up on your own. Facilitate that type of stuff.

[Madmacabre]

All fine advices!

Thanks all...

But I am also concerned on how to prepare my gaming material...physically!

How do you do it? Do you get in front your players with only a few scribbles on a sheet of paper or do you have a full fledge documents with described scenes, NPC stats, "what if" scenarios and such?

[flymolo]

All fine advices!

Thanks all...

But I am also concerned on how to prepare my gaming material...physically!

How do you do it? Do you get in front your players with only a few scribbles on a sheet of paper or do you have a full fledge documents with described scenes, NPC stats, "what if" scenarios and such?

This is something that varies from person to person.  From what I've seen starting out you'll want to prep a lot. Statted NPC's, locations and scenarios planned out.  Then you'll see that players never do what you expect.  This is ok.  Statting up NPCs and scenarios is good practice for when you have to come up with a response to something you don't expect, like one of the PCs picking a fight with someone you haven't statted.  Your players will help you if you ask them.  I always ask my players what they are planning to do next session and prep that, if they change their minds I'll wing it, but it helps.

[jhosmer1]

In a one-shot scenario I've made, I took the city my players and I created and figured out who the bad guys were and what they wanted to achieve.  I set up their plan, figuring out what they needed to accomplish the goals and what order they would do them in. 

Then I let the players loose on them.

I've playtested it three times so far, and the players have managed to fumble their way to success each time, but they have said that it felt like one of Harry's stories... they usually had no clue what was really going on until the last scene.  Sometimes, their actions even HELPED the bad guys. It was a lot of fun.

[Bubba Amon Hotep]

In a one-shot scenario I've made, I took the city my players and I created and figured out who the bad guys were and what they wanted to achieve.  I set up their plan, figuring out what they needed to accomplish the goals and what order they would do them in. 

Then I let the players loose on them.

I've playtested it three times so far, and the players have managed to fumble their way to success each time, but they have said that it felt like one of Harry's stories... they usually had no clue what was really going on until the last scene.  Sometimes, their actions even HELPED the bad guys. It was a lot of fun.

I like this idea alot.  I am still working out the one shot I plan to run for my players, reading and re-reading the rules.  But I like the concept of a loose timeline.  The "catch up" that Harry usually finds himself in.  And right before the end, the figuring it out and finding a loophole.  I really like this alot. 

[TheMouse]

But I am also concerned on how to prepare my gaming material...physically!

How do you do it? Do you get in front your players with only a few scribbles on a sheet of paper or do you have a full fledge documents with described scenes, NPC stats, "what if" scenarios and such?

I use 3x5 index cards. One card gets used for quick notes, things like the stress tracks of extras, names of people I might want to remember, and other such things. Major locations and individuals get a card. I only bother to stat out major NPCs; the others get some Aspects and a couple of defined skills and that's about it.

I absolutely do not work out documents with scenes and what if scenarios. Not my style, and they never end up being useful anyhow. A beginning and a note or two per scene is fine, since players and Aspects will often power through the rest of a scene quite well enough.