Creating within defined space..

So, just a quick blurb tonight on working within a pre-defined universe.

I am currently about to take over my group's GM-ing duties in the Dark Heresy universe. For those who haven't heard of it, it is a newer game based in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K world. If you haven't heard of that, here's the brief synopsis of the universe:

Take the late Middle Ages to very early Renaissance period in Europe, transpose it into space with lasers, plasma weaponry, and a very grim outlook on life. Add in a dash of very "real" Daemon fighting and manifestation and you have a world made for conflict.

The characters you play in this game are low-level flunkies for an Inquisitor...yes, they have a group of people who burn others at the stake, purge planets, and hunt for heresy too (I did say the Middle Ages/Renaissance period). It's really quite lovely and makes for a pretty exciting game...thus far, our party has had a knack for biting off more than it can chew and then shooting each other inadvertently trying to remedy the first problem.

But I digress...So far, there isn't a lot of source material for the RPG out on the market. However, I used to be a GW employee and have been immersed in their hobby for 15 years. So, I know a few things about the universe. So, I come in loaded with outside data that I can throw in (two of the other players have this as well, so will be fun for them). This is the trick to making something unique.

Most pre-made adventures are designed to have a mix of investigation, intrigue, and fighting, because no game survives without conflict/combat. The part that kills me (usually) is the delivery of such masterpieces...almost always read verbatim from the text and with generally no real life of their own. Some groups go from pre-made adventure to pre-made adventure like this...Lord knows we did when we started out. But there is another way to do it...

Those who know me know I come from a theater background and that I view RPG's as a small community improv theater group. The GM has to be an equal (if not more versatile) player in the game in order to sell it and even more so with something pre-packaged. Give NPC's subtle differences or accents to start, change your physical demeanor when you speak as different people, ad-lib the text you see in the adventure to get the meaning across but filter it through you! Those are just basic concepts...the best option is to go at it yourself.

Now, generating your own material takes some commitment and dedication and a good command of the universe that you and your buddies are playing in. There are some steps I use for doing it though and I'll run through these quickly:

• Read the game source material - This gives you the scope that the game creators saw and how they envision you interacting with it.
• Read any fiction/Watch any movies in that world - Books usually help since films/TV aren't always available. Where you have both, DO BOTH! Every sense you activate with the material gives you more command of the material.
• Revisit your favorite things - There are certain thnigs that have resonated for you in the past... a martial arts movie from 1974, a section of Pride and Prejudice, a painting of Salvador Dali's. Where you find connection points is where you bring something new to the game. I have found it funny that in most gaming groups I have had in 30 years of playing somehow manages to get quotes from The Princess Bride in there.
• Listen to your players - The man who ran my game in Japan was a master at this. Since I was his closest target (we lived three train stops away), he often picked my brain for what I was thinking and where I was going with his story in my head. I think some of the meanest runs we had came from my own thoughts...Rat Bastard!
  

By adding as much material into the mix, you enable your brain to pick things out both while planning and while in-game to make the experience very emotionally connected and aid your players into "the zone." At all times during the creative process, be sure to write down main ideas and any supporting thoughts (e.g. clues for an investigation, ways for PC's to achieve the goals, etc). Nothing you write down is bad or useless...I return to themes that creep up in my thought process more than once even if I have previously given it no voice yet. The nice part is that you have the information available to you to extrapolate and add on to. I'll give you my example...

For Dark Heresy there are only three sourcebooks out...I have them and have scanned through all of them and read most of them cover to cover. There are also three series of books from the Black Library about the Inquisition and its agents (two by Dan Abnett and one by Ian Watson, all worth reading) which I have read. I am an avid GW wargames player and have followed the 40K rules and lore for fifteen years. So, my process begins with finding the villains I want...the seed of evil they must root out, and then formulate a plan to manifest it in the sector of space they are inhabiting. My love of martial arts, action movies, Call of Cthulhu, and classic sci-fi have already started finding homes in the first adventure I am scripting. Once it's finished and has been run for my players, I'll likely post it here as a doc. More on this later...