I think we have all been there. You are the GameMaster for an upcoming RPG session and you want to deliver a fun experience for your friends and fellow players. The clock is ticking as you only have a week to put it all together and help make the magic happen. There is only one problem. You have no idea on what to do!
In order to avoid this problem, I often try to keep a short list of pre-made scenarios handy for the 2-5 times I get to GameMaster in a year. When it is my time to shine, I will trot out the list and let the Players pick what they want me to GM. Once I use a scenario, I start looking and working on a replacement.
One of my biggest inspirations is other media such as televisions episodes, books, movies, artwork, or actual "real-life" events. However, translating these into a multi-play, open-ended game can be a challenge! As discovered, they do not always translate well to the tabletop. It can be as difficult as writing a historical scenario for a wargame, because the rules for the game can not match the sources. As the writer, you have to make decisions and adapt your media to fit the RPG space. It is not usually a simple 1-for-1 adaption.
What Makes Adaptions Fail?
The number one reason that an adaption fails is because the source materials was design with one particular character and their character arc in mind. It can not be expanded to include more than one character or characters with different arcs or motivations. Most stories, television shows, or movies have a Point-of-View character that the audience follows. The way this character develops is the entire point of the show. RPGs are often an ensemble cast with a variety of characters with differing needs, wants, and arcs to accomplish.
Secondly, most movies, TV shows, and even books follow a three act structure. There is a beginning, a middle, and a finale. The plot or focus on the film has certain beats that happen during each part of these three acts. For example, the beginning will have an inciting incident to kick-off the plot where the character decides to participate in the story. The Middle has rising action and often ends on a down/happy note depending on the ending of the story. The Finale often is the climax of the plot and action with the main character completing their character arc and moving to an epilogue. These nice segmentations often do not work the same in an RPG session as players are free to make their own actions and decisions.
Thirdly, stories, movies, and books often rely on key actions or scenes to happen when they need to happen. They run on a single rail and the character is propelled along this plot and action trajectory. In RPGs the players themselves have the freewill to move away from the rail and do something completely different and instead of facing the challenge of a Big Bad Evil Guy, they might decide to start their own casino, or raise cabbages; therefore taking the game in an entirely different direction. It happens. Therefore, expecting them to "follow the storyline" doesn't make a lot of sense.
Fourth, a story, movie, book, etc. may be really good. However, if the players are familiar with the source it can derail the experience for them. There is no need to "play to find out" because they think they all ready know where this is all going. That makes it even more likely for the players to go and try to make their own fun in a scenario.
What Makes Adaptions Work?
Despite those challenges, I still find media to be a great source of inspiration for creating great modules, short campaigns, and one-shots. The hardest part of creating is looking at a blank page. By starting with an adaption, you bypass this problem right away. You can start by simply recreating the Inciting Incident and build around it. Now, you have begun and nothing makes finishing easier than starting!
The whole point of an adaption is for the Gamemaster to see how different characters and players would react in the same situation as what you saw or read. Sure, in the book the character did X but what will my friends do when faced with a similar dilemma? Will they make the same decisions? What will they say, do or feel compared to what happened on screen?
There is very little reason that an RPG can not also use a literary structure. It is a tried-and-true method of storytelling and a great fit for a storytelling game like RPGs. The languages and structures of storytelling also work very well for One-shots as the Gamemaster needs to keep the players moving along the continuum of opening scene, through the middle, and to the end of the session. Many of the same tricks used in other media work well in the RPG space as well; especially for One-shots. One-shots needs to be able to have a condensed structure for resolution in the time allotted for play.
How Do You Bridge the Gap?
Here are some key points that I have learned in order to make a successful One-shot adapted from a book, story, TV show, or movie. This is not an exhaustive list but enough to get your going and thinking about adapting your own favorite media into successful RPG One-shots.
1. Deconstruct the Genre
In this case, spend time understanding what makes the genre or type of story you are trying to tell work. What works in one genre, does not necessarily work in another. For example, a Western or Frontier story often focuses on choosing to do the right thing, when no one else will. Horror stories often focus on the natural and ordinary world become twisted into something unnatural. You have to understand what makes the genre work, so you can lean into those same factors during your One-shot.
2. Set the Expectations for the Players
By that I mean, let them know what you have learned about the genre, tell them the setting, and give them the theme of the game before you begin. If they still agree and have a good character they are more likely to play through from the beginning through to the finale.
3. Make Good Characters
It is vital that the Gamemaster work closely with the players to make strong characters for the one-shot. At this stage, the Gamemaster must ensure that the Characters have an ironclad reason or motivation to keep moving through the adventure. This will help the Players also want to keep moving forward, even when things get hard. Make sure the Players are crystal clear on what these motivations are before your even begin to play.
4. Start the Characters "In the Action"
I typically structure my games to have a strong Inciting Incident. This Inciting Incident assumes that the Characters are all ready engaged in the story such as they are beginning on the journey. There is no Meet-in-a-Tavern as the Characters are swept up in the story waking from a Cryo-pod, riding in a carriage towards the abandoned castle, boarding the cruise ship to start their Love Boat cruise, etc. Why they are there can be narrated to them later but throw the Characters into the action immediately. There is no time for any other way to start.
5. Use a Networked Approach
The Middle should be a series of interlocking encounters where players can decide what they want to do during any encounter, and where to go next. However, no matter which path they take they will hit all the key scenes from the source material. Therefore, the players are not on a railroad, but more like in a funhouse that inevitably leads them to the exit. You can go anyway you want in the mirror maze, but eventually the scenes lead you to an exit. This will keep the Players moving forward but not on a railroad as their choices are leading them between scenes.
This also allows the GameMaster to control the timing of the game. If players are running out of time to complete the One-shot, you can always cut out scenes and go straight to the Big Finish! As a rule of thumb, most 3-4 hour games should have 1 Inciting Incident to kick-off the game, 3-5 interlocking encounters or events; and then a Big Finish. The module may need to contain more than 3-5 interlocking scenes but only 3-5 should be playable in any One-shot.
6. Not all Encounters are Combat
The 3-5 interlocking encounters or events should not all be combat. Indeed, most of them should be interacting with NPCs, uncovering clues, or other set-pieces or scenes from the source material to help set-up the threat and the stakes. These encounters or events act as the "rising action or tension" in your One-shot and will mirror the rising action or tension from your source material. No single encounter or event in this interlocking set of scenes should reveal the bigger picture but instead should hint at the Final Scene to come.
7. All One-shots have to end on a Bang!
The Big Finish has to be memorable and follow logically from scenes that have come before. Thankfully, when you are adapting an existing source material, the hard work of making it all make sense has often all ready been done for you. If you present the clues and rising tension of the source material to the players, they will probably be able to see how it all foreshadowed the "big finish"
The most important aspect of the Big Finish is that it should be the Ah-ha moment where the Players see how what came before works together.... for the most part. They may not have the full "For the GM" section of the module figured out, but they should be able to see enough of it.
Typically, this climax and Big Finish involve a confrontation that is resolved by violence. However, depending on the genre, that may not be the case. It could be resolved by revealing the plot, a courtroom scene, or something similar. However, it is always the catharsis or resolution of the main plot of the storyline. I.e. the Muppets have the big show to earn money to save the theatre, the five lions can finally unite to form Voltron, or the legal team has enough evidence to confront the main antagonist and get him to reveal why he ordered the Code: Red. It should always be a memorable scene or moment. Thankfully, most other Media has that covered.
8. Pacing is Everything
As the Gamemaster, it will ultimately be up to you to move Players through the One-shot from scene-to-scene. You will decide when to trigger the Finale. You will manage the transitions. Keeping up a rapid pace will avoid lag time and help keep the Players in your encounter path. Each scene should end on a cliff-hanger and decision point.
The players should be asking, "What could this all mean?" and want to move to the next scene to find out what it all means. Therefore, they are keeping themselves on the path of the One-shot. If you let the pacing drop, they will stop thinking about "What could this all mean?" and start thinking about "What is happening in Social Media?" That is death for any One-shot no matter the source material!
Not all Media naturally lends itself to such questions at the end of a scene. Therefore, when making an adaption, cut-out any scenes that do not end on a cliff-hanger, reveal new information, or propel the story towards the big finish. Thankfully, most other Media will have done the hard work for you but when adapting, look for scenes that slow or drag the pace and remove them. You can also remove most sub-plots as well, because you will not have time for them in a One-shot or the Characters will create their own anyway.
Final Thoughts
That's it. Pretty easy!
Okay, it isn't but adapting something is much easier than coming up with something from nothing! Plus, you can crib the successful elements of other works and lean into what made them successful in your own One-shot. At the end, it is always a good idea to tell the players what the original source of your idea came from. Then, they can investigate it and see who did it better; them or the original characters!
You can see if I am any good at it with Sleepers in the City, Insanity at Snowden Manor, or The End of the World in the Flashlight: Tales of Terror rules.
Well, hopefully that helps you. Good luck Gamemastering out there. The only way to get better at it is to do it over, and over, and over again! Until next time!
Or purchase all out games at the Blood and Spectacles Publishing Wargames Vault Page!
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