Adventure Hook

Adventure Hook


Episode 41: The Dream That Came True - Adventure Hook

April 20, 2020

Today’s Hook: The party awakens from a dream that starts coming true, but everyone’s dream ended differently. (Game Hook #403 by Critical Dice on Instagram)

What’s that? Rob finally starts winning initiative again and we suddenly get treated to yetanotherepisode about dreams? Who knew restoring the Rightful Order to the Universe would carry such consequences..?

Or bring forth such a treasure of a #newadventurehook!

For not only did the Adventure Hook guys have this über-interesting idea to work with, but this episode sports a number of firsts, included the first really-and-truly start-to-finish fleshed out beats of a complete adventure… as well as featuring the brand new resource it was created with…

Introducing: “The Plot Device”!

And this episode the guys use its skeleton of a mind-map in all sorts of different ways… from the simple beats of an old skool Five-Room Dungeon, to plotting out an epic adventure of various storylines all running parallel, or even imagining multiple possible timelines and how they might conflict (or overlap), this simple flow-chart-of-choice may be just the mandala to inspire (and help flesh out) your next sci-fi game, existential human drama, or interactive RPG bedtime story..!

For this episode relied heavily on speculative science fiction to imagine up a number of First Contact scenarios, and an alien invitation for Humanity to join an intergalactic federation that might just be a little too good to be true… especially for certain psychic player characters…

Is mankind now suddenly rocketing into a futuristic utopia… or an impending genocide? Or more chillingly… could it somehow be headed towards both at the same time..?

From your favorite traditional tabletop system, to a simple story-based game of 100 Plot Points, Rob shows how anyone can use the game mechanic of the Prisoner’s Dilemma to navigate players through the various choices framed by the Plot Device… and which can also terminate “prematurely” for those who wind up choosing martyrdom (or villainy)… while Aaron reviews some of the more interesting mechanics worth considering from the Numenera RPG system, particularly the use of the clever “GM Intrusion” to reveal either a Danger, Boon, or Secret (all in a dream of course) from any of the beats of the Device.

Plus..! This episode Aaron fails his saving throw against Storytelling Juice and finally admits his deep love of making pop-culture references (really leaning into it this show)… which again naturally includes his profound fondness of all things Star Trek!

Bonus XP if you can count the number of times kool-aid gets mentioned…

Banter Topic: at the behest of Adventure Hook’s newest Patreon supporter, this episode the guys revisit the 5-Room Dungeon idea imagined by JohnnFour (of roleplayingtips.com) they’d explored back in Season 1… and this time really expand on it by showing how this concept also parallels a number of other very important storytelling ideas… including the beats of an action sequence from a screenwriter’s perspective, the Cambellian Hero’s Journey, and even a slice from the Zodiac itself!

All this in the valiant pursuit of actually creating a much, much more concise storyline this time around… (I know, I know) but regardless of how it all started, this coupled with the episode’s Hook (plus the need for a certain ten year old’s bedtime lights-out to come at a reasonable hour) was what actually inspired the entire Plot Device resource in the first place… and by the time you’ve finished listening to the episode you too may have your own rewarding ideas of how best to bring out the “role” in your players’ roleplaying…

HASHTAGS

#plotdevice #5RoomDungeon #bedtimestory #bedtimestories