Nouns & Scenario Design

 “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

I’m enjoying a spate of adventure design and writing as I prepare a Pulp Egypt scenario for an upcoming convention game. I haven’t run a roleplaying game session in a while; it’s been a few years since I penned one (and that’s still not seen publication). But I’ve wanted to run a new Pulp Egypt adventure for a while and this idea had been percolating in the back of my head for a while. I’d thought of writing it as a D6 System solitaire adventure (much like Trapped in the Museum, but a bit longer), with the character pursuing a mystery around notable locations in Cairo, but I wasn’t ready for another fully involved programmed adventure. So when friends asked me to run something at this upcoming convention, I started putting ideas on the page. It all proved an opportunity to try something different with my scenario design and writing process.

History & RPG Settings

 “History is a set of lies agreed upon.”

— Napoleon Bonaparte

The author in Landsknecht
regalia sweating it out
at the VA Renfaire.

I began my adventure gaming hobby journey more than 40 years ago with fantasy roleplaying games, but along the way I’ve also cultivated a growing interest in historical wargames linked to my enthusiasm for various historical periods. I have, on occasion, tried to merge the two, setting roleplaying game adventures in historical periods. These entertainments used historical elements as a backdrop for more cinematic action where the player’s heroes had the freedom to go anywhere and do anything, often beyond the historical and cultural norms, a core concept roleplaying games pioneered in the field of play (as highlighted in Jon Peterson’s groundbreaking work Playing at the World, expressed as the idea that “anything can be attempted”). Certainly there’s room for occasional — and often one-shot — historical roleplaying game experiences where accuracy enhances an exploration of more serious intellectual and emotional themes. But more frequently historical accuracy plays second fiddle (at best) to roleplaying game expedients placing the focus on the characters and their actions (and consequences) in the context of an engaging plot. It’s using history as window dressing for an entertaining story. Historical settings can tap players’ enthusiasm for various periods and provide environments based in some commonly understood reality, they work best in roleplaying games when infused with fantastic elements.