How To Plan An Arc - Figure Out The Opening Moves

Last week we talked about starting to plan an arc. We did this by defining three NPCs that will be key to the characters, and then defining three things about those characters to help figure out their goals and what it was exactly that they were going after.

The last step is more or less here now. We have our key characters, all that's left is to figure out what their opening moves are.

Murder Mystery - Setting Up The Victim

This is a bit of an aside for how to setup an arc that is specific to murder mysteries: setting up the victim. While the victim can't be one of the central NPCs, they are still a big part of what is going on. After all, the whole point of the arc is figuring out who killed this character, and why they did it.

So today we're going to set up the victim. And guess what, we're going to do it by establishing three things. Well, that's not 100% true. We're going to establish 9 things. Three things for each of our main NPCs in the murder mystery!

How To Plan An Arc - Fleshing Out A Main Character

On Monday we talked about the first step in planning an arc. I suggested you start with defining three main characters for the arc. The idea here is three well defined characters keep events moving, and keeps the focus on people - which means your characters interacting with them can drastically shape and change things.

Today I want to talk about what you want to define for each of those three characters, so you can get going with the rest of the arc planning.

How To Plan An Arc - Core Idea and 3 Main Characters

Making custom adventures, arcs, and plots is something I see a lot of people say they don't do because it takes too much time, they aren't sure how, or they feel that their ideas are less interesting than what they find in books. Today I want to talk about how to plan an arc or an adventure. Now, as with all things, order of operations can be very important. There is no use building a wall with a gorgeous stained window for a house, if you don't have a solid foundation to set it on. Yes, the window is nice, but odds are that whole wall is going to fall over and break.

So today I want to talk about the beginning steps of plotting an arc. Because I have players who read this blog, the arc I'll be planning is not for any of my games. Instead it will be for Legend of Five Rings, though the setting itself shouldn't matter too much.