Prologues

[GregF]

Hello, I'm new here. I bought a used copy of the BBB in a thrift shop a while ago, and now I actually think I want to use it.

An idea I had that could fit in with some things that'd be happening later on in the campaign would be a prologue, a pretty cliche fantasy scenario with prefab characters to get people (including me) acquainted with the system and do some plot stuff. I do have a few concerns with how things have been going so far. The big one is that writing up stuff has been barely going at all, since I'm trying to steer far from standard stereotyped characters. I've got one PC almost written up, but almost no ideas as to how to expand things. Some other ones include that, since this is something that happened far in the past, I have to be pretty strict with plot progression and it might give people false impressions of how far from standard fantasy I'll try to go. (That's why I'm trying to have some worldbuilding stuff as I go along; there are things that are just so hard to use in an interesting manner, like other humanoid races that are basically human instead of a few stat differences that make them better at certain things, that I don't want to deal with)

Something else I might try is a pre-prologue, a one-character scenario (Probably played by the person I've allowed to nag me about not writing stuff up) that's even more cliched (A cultural coming of age quest) with a more tenuous connection to the prologue and hence the events of the present. The problem is that this tenuous connection would involve doing something rather horrible (I'd rather not mention what, to not spoil things for the player if he reads this) to the PC. I'll probably ask him in non-specific terms, but do people get connected enough to GM-made PCs that they get annoyed when the character gets put into an unescapable (The plot connection says it has to be unescapable) fate worse than death? Am I too worried about getting the story altered?

Do other people do things like this? How do they go?

[Checkmate]

Explain to the player that this is a GM character running basically a 1 shot game. Once the two of you are more familer with the game system you will allow the player to make a character of his/her own. While no player likes their character to be captured, I think if you explain (once it happens) that it was done so the player could make a character of their own, the player will be more understanding

[Herolover]

I have had the opportunity to run a prologue adventure(s) several times.

1) Make sure the prologue sets up a campaign. Don't use it to just "run an adventure." Run an adventure that sets up the campaign and makes your players go...ummm why did that happen.

2) Don't run an adventure that gives away a campaign secret.

[Agent Escafarc]

I've used a dream sequence type adventure as an prologue with much success. Of course the players didn't know it was a dream until it was over. It lets you set up the campaign and if later you need to change something you can just say that they misinterpeded the symbolism, plus if a character dies while learning the system he just wakes up.

[Markdoc]

For a prologue, it may be OK, but two of the golden rules of happy GM'ing are:

#6 Don't put the character(s) into a no-win situation. They'll hate you for it.

and

#5 Don't mess with the character concept or the character's physical/mental makeup without an in-game rationale and a damn good reason. You may think the character would be cooler with another psych lim. or different powers, but it's not YOUR character. Disobeying this rule usually leads to the death of the game.

cheers, Mark

[GregF]

Well, I'll be writing the characters since I have suspicions that my player(s) won't like character creation until they actually get a chance to use the system.

Thanks for the advice so far. I'll start thinking of a workaround for the pre-prologue.

[Markdoc]

One possiblity, used by a GM in a game I played in, was to generate 2 versions of each character - one "before" the prologue and one "after".

Th idea was that the characters would develop over the first few sessions toward the finished character, with far more experience points being added after each session the would normally be the case. Thus my character went from 150 to 250 points in about 5 sessions, while other people's went from 25 or 30 poinst to 250 over the same period.

That actually worked pretty well.

cheers, Mark

[GregF]

Okay, I actually came up with enough character ideas for a small party in the prologue, I just can't get myself to write stuff up. Even the one character I've had pretty good ideas of where he's been, etc. still has a quarter of his points unspent, but I can't come up with that much more he would have. I've got even less specifics on the enemies/terrain/whatnot. Does anyone have any ideas for dealing with writeup block?

[AnotherSkip]

try starting with a template and Fill-in-the-Blanks
Though Hero lends itself to this much less than many other games *cough*DND*cough*White*Cough*Wolf*Cough*
Ahem
since you are building a "pregen" character it doesnt matter if it is cliched and not the masterpiece of art usually build. Try thinking of it as a step.

[AnotherSkip]

double post

[GregF]

What exactly do you mean by template? Is this sort of thing something I could find online? That still might not be the best solution because I'd rather use the halfconceptions I've already come up with. (Especially as I'm trying to, at least with the characters, not be too cliched)

[Syberdwarf2]

Originally posted by GregF
What exactly do you mean by template? Is this sort of thing something I could find online? That still might not be the best solution because I'd rather use the halfconceptions I've already come up with. (Especially as I'm trying to, at least with the characters, not be too cliched)

I lost the URL for the site in the "favorites" section of my browser, but for online advice for world creation, inspiration and all-around blockage,...lookup "A Way With Worlds".
I found that site once on a Google search, and it has helped me immensly.

As for print media dealing with writer's block, pretty much anything from the writing section of your local Borders, Waldenbooks, or Barnes and Nobles. Two specific titles I can recommend;

1) Zen And The Art Of Writing; by Ray Bradbury (a VERY cool book)

2) Writing Down The Bones; by Natalie Goldsmith (Highly recommended by most writers that I've met)

I hope this helps.

[AnotherSkip]

try here:

http://www.trimira.com/hero_stuff/fantasy_hero_random.html

Its Fourth Edition but relly the changes should be minimal.

Moreso with FH than anything else.

Hmm if you have a copy of the Example theif character take him and wrangle him around to be a fighter, then start back there and wrangle him around to be a Wizzer, then a Healer, then a Thei... waaaaiiiit a minnute!
then just steal him and viola you have four characters.