[UA] Stupid Newbie GM questions...

[Eric Cazzoli]

2008/5/15 Anthony H. <ars.mysteriorum at gmail.com>:

> You know, I've owned UA for years and never once ran it. It's one of the
> most daunting games to make a plot for. I love the material though. I just
> wish I could shape it into a workable plot...
>
> The other issue is players. I live in South Dakota, where RPGs are still
> the work of the Devil. It makes it a bit difficult to find players that play
> anything other than d20 or Exalted, as there is no audience for the "more
> obscure" games.
>
> So... is it hard to make up a story? How much time do you usually spend
> planning a session?
>

I actually never make up a story.  All I make up is a beginning.  Since UA
is always character-driven and it wouldn't feel right for me to have
players build characters with all that personality and then make them
conform to my story whims, my planning goes into concepts, not story.  I
spend hours over hours for a campaign beginning: collecting images for all
sorts of stuff, writing handouts for random stuff, making up artifacts,
adept schools, avatars, etc. which might be interesting for the concepts.
Then I define a starting point, and let it develop from there, improvising
the rest of the game based on what the players do with it.

For example; next campaign I've almost got pinned down about 80% has got
these concepts:
- Character creation -> High school psychologist sessions -- Each player is
asked questions as if from a school psychologist, and to answer them as
their character would, and I note down stuff on their character sheets, then
let them fill out the rest.  One of the questions amounts to what the
character's worst nightmares is.  The characters are all street level,
returning from their vacation after high school graduation, due to a
disturbing phone call from Mila; a misfit like them but more reclusive. The
call draws them back to Misty Pines, where they're on their way to, together
in their car...
- Initial scene -> They run out of gas in the woods not far outside of Misty
Pines.  A short walk to Old Man Jerome's house or the last gas station they
passed nearby might net them the gas they need, but on the way to either
location, hordes of possessed animals will either pester them or be
downright dangerous.
- Next big plot hook -> Misty Pines is turning into their worst nightmares.
Literally.  The Sherriff seems possessed, the people are all going nuts, and
at night Misty Pines is nothing short of horrible.  Mila holed herself up in
room 33 (of floor 3) of the Myers Hotel in Misty Pines, where she blew her
brains out at one point, and 40 bizarre artifacts are lying around with
post-it notes stuck onto them and a diary of her "research" on the items and
the man in black who brought them to her.

Where does it go from all that?  Can't tell till we've played it.  I have
more ideas behind it but I'm afraid of sharing too much lest one of my
players reads the UAML too.  ;)

Right now I'm working on the 53 artifacts relevant for the game, all sorts
of weird phenomena occurences, and collecting image material for possibly
worst nightmares, and stuff like town and building maps which I will have to
edit the names on.
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