Friday, August 7, 2015

Adventure Writing Tool...or The Fingerprint and the Frick'n Monkey


The recipe to create this adventure writing tool is easy enough.  Take one excellent +Michael Althauser dice bag and fill with a shit ton of Rory's Story Cubes.  I've got the first three sets included and then three other add on sleeves of story cubes.  When I am writing a room, encounter or a situation I reach into the bag and grab 1 to 3 dice.  The number I grab is determined by how much I want to be happening or happen within the framework of the adventure.  I roll the dice and run with the images that come up.  Not all the dice are going to make sense.  Or fit.  If not, feel free to substitute or ignore.

Example:
I've got the party traveling along a road that hasn't been used in a sometime, so surround landscape has taken over most of the road.  They are using the road to get to the location where they've heard there are bad guys (or good guys depending on your group).  I want to have a encounter along the way.  Some sort of thing to foreshadow the area they are entering.  So I reach in my dice bag and pull out two story cubes:

I got a fingerprint and a frick'n monkey.  Shit.  Okay.

My interpretation of these dice are this.  The party is attacked by some sort of wildlife.  Since I've been working on Dragon Age stuff, I'm going to say they were attacked by a pack of wild dogs.  A nasty group that wear armor around their back and heads.  The fingerprint is a symbol that will connect or identify these dogs are connected with the bad guys the party is looking for.

If the party survives the dogs, they continue up the road and hear barking coming from a cave entrance.  These dogs are also wearing armor.  Thus connecting the dogs on the road with the bad men in the cave. 

Is this important?  No clue.  But it helps connect a narrative of the adventure.  To give it an unusual flair.  One I wouldn't have probably thought of if I hadn't rolled a fingerprint and a frick'n monkey.

6 comments:

  1. Cool idea. I've been struggling with ideas lately (both a question of time to write and no creative energy when I find the time). I really ought to give this a go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Lone Wolf community has some nice ideas for the Story Cubes. Did you see John Fiore's "oracle": https://plus.google.com/113913096608545423730/posts/WfFNqxqap4p
    ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why not attack monkeys instead of dogs?
    Because Dragon Age is a little more serious?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fingerprints & Monkeys. Sounds like you've got your new mini-adventure idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We did not know that you were into Gaming as well. dear "Whisk".... enjoyable blog...

    ReplyDelete