Must adventures use the EPIC format?

[Blue Ghost]

I'm reading the "Adventures" section of T5, and going over the EPIC format rules. When Hunter and I talked several years back about me writing adventures for the game, there wasn't too much stipulation on using the EPIC format, but a strong hint that it would be adviseable.

Reading through it, and this is coming from a trained screenwriter, it seems somewhat restraining compared to the open format of the CT adventures and short adventures.

I did try to use the EPIC format (or follow it, or mimic it based on a couple of EPIC adventures I had purchased from this site), but I found myself gravitating towards the old CT / D&D / name-your-RPG-adventure-module where areas and events were mapped out, and as time progressed or as players moved from one location to the next, the event would then be triggered.

The EPIC format seems like it's trying to generate cinematic stories for the game.

Can someone give me some insight here?

 

[DonM]

In my personal experience, EPIC is easier for a Referee to use in running a game, but the traditional adventure READS better from cover to cover.

EPIC is a development from DGP's adventure format. I have a personal addition to the EPIC format, I add the following...

"Each scene is organized into two sections, a Stage and an Action. The first section, labeled Stage, contains information telling the player characters what they see, hear, smell, and so forth at the beginning of that scene. The Stage may, if desired, be read aloud to the players once their actions lead them to that scene. The section labeled Action contains information for the Referee on how to run the scene. It provides him with alternatives, depending upon the course taken by the players."

 

[Blue Ghost]

Well, okay. I've never run one. I've only ever run dungeon crawls or where players are choosing a direction in a sandbox environment; i.e. vehicle in a large space like an air raft or starship.

In screenplays plot and dramatic story points work up to a climatic action, but it's all immersed in drama oriented towards the characters emotional needs (which is why they're so hard to write).

Even when I read "Into the Glimmerdrift" it felt like it was pre-programmed or railroading the players into a specific direction. Is there a way to negotiate an open sandbox format with EPIC?

If I was to write an adventure directing players towards a patch of desert with ruins, would I write and describe the desert, the ruins the adventures are heading to, and then describe the events once they're there? Is that it?

 

[mike wightman]

I think the EPIC format has had its day in the sun.

Scripted adventures in nugget format following a meta-plot are so 90s

The FATE crowd prefers to make stuff up as they go along, the OSR crowd want dungeon crawls.

How about a poll - old CT adventure format vs nugget and see what people want?

 

[Orr]

How about a poll - old CT adventure format vs nugget and see what people want?

It's a needs of the moment thing for me.

With the EPIC/DGP nugget format, I can walk into my FLGS on game night, pass out a stack of pre-gens, and have people playing in minutes with little or no prep time on my part. That's fun.

With the classic adventures, doubles, and amber zones, I could disassemble them after a little work to make them fit my campaign. That's fun too.

With a sandbox or setting, I've got to do much more work. That's also fun.

I don't mind the work, it's finding the time that's a problem. EPIC saves me time and, when I have the time, I can still disassemble an EPIC offering for any useful bits.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Here's a link to a discussion we had a couple years back regarding the EPIC format;

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=22801

 

[ThornPlutonius]

Here's a link to a discussion we had a couple years back regarding the EPIC format;

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=22801

After reading that thread, I wonder if the different styles might best serve by being combined.

My (still forming) thought is this:

Big Picture: [A|O]TU

Medium Picture: EPIC style setup that defines the subset of the Big Picture within which the evolving story will come into being.

Small Picture: CT or DGP nugget format to nudge players within the EPIC framework. Choosing whichever feels best to the GM or seems to fit the needs of the evolving story. Players may eventually get enough of a sense of the Medium Picture to limit the need for the nudges.

 

[Blue Ghost]

I have the same question and concern for very short adventures.

 

[robject]

I have the same question and concern for very short adventures.

Very short adventures might fit neatly into one-act EPICs. For example, Rescue on Ruie.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Very short adventures might fit neatly into one-act EPICs. For example, Rescue on Ruie.

That sounds very familiar.....googleing.......

Okay, yeah. One of the adventures I recently submitted to Marc Miller is kind of like that. In fact "Castles and Dragons" was supposed to be that short, but some of the details of that adventure blew it up by ... a third or so.

But yes, I prefer that adventure format. If the powers that be dictate EPIC, then so be it, but I'm wondering if it really benefits all adventures.

 

[mike wightman]

How can the EPIC or nugget format cope with the best adventure hooks ever - 76 Patrons.

Here is the intro - now roll 1d6 for the adventure that follows.

You would need an EPIC flowchart/nugget for each d6 result

 

[Ulsyus]

What's wrong with just truncating the number of acts, or scenes in an act, so that they do what you, the ref, wants in the scenario? That way they can be as long or as short as you want. You could replace scenes with nuggets if you want, and group nuggets within an act...

 

[robject]

How can the EPIC or nugget format cope with the best adventure hooks ever - 76 Patrons.

Here is the intro - now roll 1d6 for the adventure that follows.

You would need an EPIC flowchart/nugget for each d6 result

Sounds like two different animals, to me.

 

[Ulsyus]

Though it's not EPIC, don't forget this old threat and the excellent first post:

Advice for refs

 

[Blue Ghost]

All I know is I like writing dungeon crawls. They're easy and fun to write and administer. The big sandbox stuff is kind of daunting, because when I write those I always have it in the back of my mind that the players, while on the world that I want them to be on, while exploring the ruins or city that I want them to, and on the verge of ending the thing, will suddenly get a hankering to just get in their ship and fly away.

In fact, in my second gaming group I had a religious zealot who always said just that; "We get in our ship and leave." In retrospect he was trying to get me away from games, but, that's neither here nor there, he was essentially the wet-blanket of the group. And, what's worse, some of the players from that group, followed his advice; i.e. "This IS too dangerous..."
QED.

That's just my perspective. In terms of dishing out a more easily administrative adventure, I guess the powers that be could be correct about the EPIC format, but I'm having a hard time sticking with it. It seems like the EPIC format is easier for the big sandbox stuff, and not the smaller formats.

Just me.

 

[Ulsyus]

Also not EPIC, but interesting nonetheless, is the WW SAS Support Kit. It worked well when I ran a WOD campaign a few years ago, and the first T5 scenario I ran I wrote up in this format, mainly due to it being familiar, I was running short of time, and I had templates drawn up already...

 

[Original_Carl]

All I know is I like writing dungeon crawls. They're easy and fun to write and administer.

...

Just me.

I get what you're saying. Dungeon crawls are quite fun and they work well as pre-packaged adventures. The sandbox style isn't right for everyone, and I respect those that want a story-driven game.

You don't have to do anything you don't want to. If EPIC doesn't work for you, don't use it. Write the adventures you want to run.

Personally, I run a heavily-improvised game, and if in the middle of the ruined City of the Ancients my players decide to pack up and leave, well, that's what happens. I stick a pin in the map to mark where they were, open up a new notebook page and the adventure continues. Maybe some day they'll go back or another group of characters will stumble upon it.

I gave up trying to tell a story. I let the players do that. I view my role as Referee as that of the fair and impartial judge of the consequences of the players' actions. I'm not there to guide them, or corral them or tell them a story. I'm there to represent everything that isn't them. I view myself as another player at the table and my character is My Traveller Universe.

I've taken a look at EPIC, and I can see how it would be useful. I may use it at some point, or more likely a subset of it for a specific purpose. For me, stuff like that is more for inspiration and guidance than actual application. It's another tool in the big toolbox of T5.

 

[Blue Ghost]

But I mean to write and publish professionally. That's kind of my real question.

The only role playing game I know really well is classic Traveller, and I've got roughly thirty concepts in various stages of development. I've had three published, two pending, two more in rough form waiting for art and maps, and the rest are in rough form.

I grew up with this game, and I thought it might be kind of fun to write for it on the side as I finished off my degree.

The "Epic format" for adventures I have, doesn't work well, and I'm wondering if it's mandatory for T5.

 

[Ulsyus]

The "Epic format" for adventures I have, doesn't work well, and I'm wondering if it's mandatory for T5.

It shouldn't be mandatory, just their recommended way of running scenarios and campaigns. If you've got something that works well, do it. Hey, you could have something in the back that suggests how to nuggetise what you've done, or how it breaks down into or acts or scenes. EPIC itself seems to me to just be a checklist to work through: "Have I made sure this is easily implement by the ref? Is it responsive to the inerests, goals & whims of the payers?" You could optionally explain how what you write meets these criteria if you felt the need. Has what you've written met MM's criteria in this regard?

 

[Blue Ghost]

I guess I'll find out sooner or later.