Worlds from Seeds: A Trouble, A Treasure, A Face

 

"Poems & Stories" By J.R.R. Tolkien, Cover by Pauline Baynes, 1980 Edition

Worlds from Seeds

The most daunting foe to many a budding Referee (Sometimes called a Game Master, or even a Dungeon Master) is the blank page.

Let's not mince words, Referees are frail, fallible human beings of limited capacity, just like (almost) every other human mucking about on Earth, and yet we're expected to summon worlds from our fingertips, breathe life into the unwashed hordes, and pull intriguing lore straight out of our unmentionables. It's too much to ask.

But hubris-filled fools that we are, we're going to try it anyway.

Where shall we start? 

From Tiny Seeds

What is it that interests you personally about fantasy stories? For now, keep things painfully simple. Your list could be as simple as "A Dungeon, a Dragon". There's a reason that recipe works. But there's no harm in spicing things up a little: "A Corrupt Temple, a Falling Star, a 'Villain' doing what Must Be Done".

 If you need more ideas, peruse the Motif Index, run a finger down your bookshelf, or take a walk outside and turn over some rocks.

When inspiration strikes you, tie it down (with ink and paper) and demand its blessing before you release it.

We'll work with a simple list for now:

  1. A Dragon
  2. A Secretly Corrupt Temple
  3. A Falling Star

A Trouble, A Treasure, A Face

Now we're gong to add three things to each seed, a Trouble, a Treasure, and a Face (the seed incarnate through an interesting NPC the players are likely to meet).

Troubles:

A trouble is a situation that gives presents would-be do-gooders with a challenge that could be solved in various ways, and is usually of such a nature that the folk experiencing the trouble are hesitant to—or even incapable of—dealing with it themselves.

Monsters, Plagues, Curses, Politics, Love, Suffering, Etc. I am certain that you have watched enough movies, read enough books, and lived on Earth (or whatever planet you happen to be reading this from) long enough to be familiar with trouble, so I won't put an extensive list here.

Treasures:

What do player characters specifically stand to gain from interacting with this situation, especially by dealing with the trouble in one way or another?

Treasure could be wealth, status, alliance, power, blessings, justice, land, or two large (but hungry) elephants. As with trouble, there's no limitations to the treasures players might gain, but in general, they should be excited to gain it, and thus be gently nudged toward dealing with the troubles. Even heroes need a little extrinsic motivation once in a while.

Faces:

In order for the players to truly understand something, they'll need to hear about it. A Face is a seed made flesh in the world of the game. For now, a simple snapshot will do, a Name, Motivation, Appearance, and Manner will suffice.

E.G. Bertrand, Wants to keep his bar running smoothly, secretly wants to find a good match for his plain but good-natured daughter, Lita. Large, bearded, exuberant

A Sample

  1. A Dragon
    1. Trouble: The dragon demands its sacrifice, the firstborn son of every King. Unfortunately, the king has sent his son into hiding along with his wife and a small team of protectors. The dragon will soon grow furious and destroy the city.
    2. Treasure: While the dragon doesn't have a traditional hoard of gold, the king will reward any who slay it richly. Alternatively, the people will reward anyone who finds the prince and delivers it to the dragon, thus saving the land.
    3. Face: Maesanna, The Queen, wants her son to live, wants the land to have peace, torn. Quiet, Doting, Emotional. "What right have I to doom thousands just to save one?" Accompanied by loyal knights, ladies, and a mage.
  2. A Corrupt Temple
    1. Trouble: The Spire of Flames worships the dragon as the protector of the land, who draws its power from the noble sacrifice of the king's son. While they do draw their power from the dragon, they also know a horrible truth: The dragon eats the souls of all the land's dead, except those of the priesthood who encourage its worship.
    2. Treasure: When the dragon sheds its skin, the Spire cares for it, turning it into the blood-red scaled cloaks worn by their High Priests. These cloaks are immune to fire, and can be destroyed as a reaction to negate the effects of a hostile spell targeting the bearer.
    3. Face: Tuvern, a young disciple of the Spire who learned the horrible truth and fled. Denounced as a heretic. Will offer his aid to anyone who helps expose the church. Skittish, fair-faced, kind. Curious about other religions.
  3. A Falling Star
    1. Trouble: Three days past, a star fell from Heaven somewhere into the bogs in the eastern part of the land. Treasure hunters have been searching for it, but report the fae have been driven mad and wicked in that area. Many treasure hunters have not returned.
    2. Treasure: The star-metal could be forged into a magical sword or armor. The spirit of the star, however, would like to return to the sky, and will grant a powerful blessing to anyone who can make that happen. These are not exclusive options, as the star doesn't mind what form it's metal is shaped into. There's only enough metal to forge one item.
    3. Face: Yulissa, a treasure hunter whose party was lost in the bog. Wants to drink, and forget, but also wants to kill the fae monstrosity that wiped out her party—a horned bear with eyes like the moon. Scarred, terse, overly-critical, deeply (and secretly) sad.

Further Steps

Now you might want to Draw a Map, Build Some Dungeons, and plan a Strong Start for the first adventure in that campaign.

And remember as you play to collect new seeds from the players themselves. They might just do most of the hard work—filling in that blank page—for you.

The Old School Referee

This post is part of my current zine-project, "The Old-School Referee" which is one of three zines I'm currently working on. The first, "Shadow & Fae 2e" is already out (physical editions are almost ready, just waiting on one last proof) on itch and DriveThruRPG. The last zine, an anthology of several adventures, should be coming out near the end of this year.

If you want to support the project, you can buy a copy of S&F 2e at one of the above links. Thanks!

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