Has anyone tried having 2 (or more?) arcs going on at the same time? Workable, disastrous, use with caution, other?
Has anyone tried having 2 (or more?) arcs going on at the same time? Workable, disastrous, use with caution, other?
Has anyone tried having 2 (or more?) arcs going on at the same time? Workable, disastrous, use with caution, other?
I do a lot of co-GMing when I play, so it’s kinda standard for me. Each GM sorta has their own front/arc that they focus on.
But even as a single GM, I think it’s fine. Gives the team something to do when you need time to pass on one arc, gives lots of options to pursue when you’re not sure what’s going to happen next, it’s less of a blow when it turns out the team isn’t really excited about a story hook as you expected, etc. Players don’t tend to get confused, and multiple arcs are pretty common in the genre, usually with one or two being on the back burner while another is focused on.
I say go for it if you’ve got the ideas.
I played a campaign with differents arcs : one principal (the main arc of the story) and some smaller that were connected to one PC’s story and one bigger that could be use as a link between different campaigns .
I don’t explain everything here because I don’t know if my players read those posts and the campaign is not finish yet.
But my “story” is written like this :
– a main arc for the campaign (the season) when this arc is finished the campaign is finished 😉
– some smaller arcs that I use to develop NPC and open things that can be used in the main campaign (those smaller arcs run through differents sessions…)
– a big arc that can be used to create link between different seasons : a very distant threat that should come one day 😉
and I used two NPC who really can change with what the PCs did :
– one “villanous” who can become good because he wants redemption (but he doesn’t know at the beginning) and a young mutant who is just a school girl who can become evil because other students mock and beat her.
I use them almost like Dungeon World fronts : with positive and negative values, each level corresponds to a kind of behavior.
Excuse me, I’m not clear but I’m french and it’s not easy to explain this in english 😉
I usually have multiple arcs going, but they may not be obvious to the players. There’s often an arc for each player’s character going on, but I only focus on 1 or 2 each session.
Whatever arc is primarily engaged with by the group becomes the main one I push, but I sprinkle elements of the others into the sessions where I see opportunities to do so. So far this has allowed me to have a primary storyline going with a couple other ones waiting in the wings.
Also, this helps if someone doesn’t show up after their character has become the main focal point of an arc. I can shift focus to one of the other arcs via “bring them together.”
Yes. Having multiple arcs overlap is quite workable. Different PCs can be central in different arcs. The arcs can tie together if need be/if it makes sense. Follow what’s interesting to your players.
I tend to run with at least two arcs as a default to get more connection to the PCs stories and allow for them to create more tension as one progresses when the other is focussed on.
I’ve had minor arcs occur within the main arc due to character actions/roll results. For example, my reformed rolled poorly on their obligation and as a result their was a miniature arc about the group evading and countering a villain seeking revenge for something their dad did in the middle of the larger arc.
I currently have a “foreground” corruption arc about the characters finding out what sinister things are going on at rook academy and a “background” invasion arc about a character in one PC’s backstory being the unwitting vanguard of an alien invasion. The invasion arc is about to come to the fore as the related PC’s player is moving soon and I’d like to give him a chance to explore his backstory.
Look to the source fiction (i.e. TV shows) as an indicator.
It is not uncommon for shows to have a major arc (e.g. the heroes thwarting the evil plans of a major supervillain) going on at the same time as a minor one (e.g. one hero searching for his real parents).
Bonus points if you somehow end up connecting the two (e.g. one of the parents works for, or even is, the supervillain). 🙂