Imagine Writing

 Pre-scene Notes At this point, the party doesn’t have any urgent/ongoing quests really for the first time, despite the last scene pointing them in a direction they can go. In that case, I guess for setting the scene, it is a conflict that the party can’t decide what to do. This is why having a main character thread helped at the start, but I still hoped for an altered/interrupted scene to keep revealing the threads interesting.  In addition, this is when I started collating a list of possible expansion missions in my notes as well to dip into for any time this happens again. Basically, my threads tab in my spreadsheet is split into Character list, Party threads, PC threads, and Expansion missions now. This will allow me to roll for which of these categories and which item on each category will become next scene’s focus. For an author, that’s probably the last thing I want to do, as it’s not plotting or pacing; but as a DND campaign, I think it keeps things flexible as a GM or...

 Pre-scene Notes - Scene setup/conflict:  Returning after Cave dive, party finds they haven’t actually gained much fame from doing it so have to think of another way No altered/interrupted scene Scene: “Who would’ve guessed a week could have gone by when it had been just half a day in the cave?” Filli asked Yankovic incredulously as the party stepped out of the Governor’s Office.  “Indeed, I got the same message too.” Zar came up to reconvene with Yankovic and Filli. He had taken a short rest as well as went to the Trades House to sell some of the items they had gathered, while Filli and Yankovic went to return Baldie’s wedding ring. Filli said they should take the poison sack, mushrooms, and spider silks directly to the Trade’s Hub to see if someone could make something useful out of them instead. The loose gold from the cultist they agreed would go towards replenishing Zar’s knick-knacks list. Zar asked, “So what did Baldie say?” Baldie was of course eternally grateful ...

 Pre-scene Notes - Scene setup/conflict:  No altered/interrupted scene Scene: Having finally fixed the water wheel and ushered in the clean water to the cave’s river system, the party used the Western-most passage to avoid both patrolling cultists and spiders, getting to the ceremony's defensive moat. Much to their relief, the first cultist’s information held true and testing the water with a 10 foot pole, the corrosiveness of the liquid was gone.  The party was unable to see round the corner to the ceremony, and jumping in may be risky even with the element of surprise.  I don’t use fog of war on Roll20 playing solo. Instead, imposing a blocker like this, just saying they can’t see whatever is on the other side is best I can do. The focus is more on what creative ways I can get out of the restriction. I may do a dungeon crawl in the future where whatever is generated in a dungeon is random only when you enter a room, but not at this point. “I’ve got a plan,” Filli t...

 Pre-scene Notes - Scene setup/conflict:  Party arrive at the dungeon Baldie was talking about. No altered/interrupted scene Scene: Walking out of the fog, the party found themselves still within a cave. The cave was very three dimensional, with ledges and narrow corridors between them. There was a damp smell and the sound of running water echoing from the depths of the cave. Looking back, they could only see fog and Zar tried to walk back into it, only to reappear a few seconds later in the opposite direction. Filli spotted fifteen feet in front of them was a fallen man in an unfamiliar soldier uniform from the light emitting from magical tinkering contraption on his hat. Rushing forward, Filli saw that the solider was mere moments from death and there was no way he could heal enough of his wounds to recover. The solider having seen Filli, grabbed his arm and gasped as much as he could. “It’s been hours, but the last batch of adventurers had not come back, I’m afraid they hav...