It’s Play A New RPG Month and I’ve been preparing for a Fiasco night. An idea from the Fiasco Companion suggests playing a Fiasco game to help develop the campaign for a completely different game system. By the end of a three-hour one-off, you’ll have a bunch of new stories and ideas to add to your campaign, along with their respective locations, NPCs, etc. It’s a fantastic opportunity take some of the creative burden off of the GM and get the players more invested in campaign/story development, while simultaneously having fun playing a new game.
Use An Existing Playset
Accomplishing this objective is easy enough, but even easier if you happen to be running a Dresden Files campaign. Evil Hat just released a Fiasco playset called Hocus Focus (free download here), specifically for Dresden Files fans. In this playset, your group plays some potentially villainous characters who are trying to execute a plan in the “shadowy world of occult Chicago”. Are you already sensing the potential for new plots and story arcs?
You can keep the playset as is, but I’d recommending tweaking it a tiny bit to provide an experience more tailored to your own campaign world (i.e. city). A good majority of the elements are generic enough that they can be used for any game. The only thing you’ll really want to alter a bit would be the locations, in particular the “Tourist Spots”, “The Nightlife”, “Official Business”, and “Occult Sites”.
Hocus Focus Locations
Quick Guide To Location Tweaking
- Tourist Spots. This should be the easiest. Either you’re already familiar with the city or you can do a couple of quick Google searches. Depending on how picky you are, I would allot between 5 and 15 minutes for this.
- The Nightlife. Once again using your knowledge of the city or Google, here’s a simple structure to make your life easier:
- Official Business. Same as above, except use this structure:
- Occult Sites. This is the tricky one. Depending on how well established your city/setting is, this might take a little effort and thought. Nonetheless, here’s some ideas to get you started:
Hocus Focus: Boston
October 13th, 2011 at 9:05 am
We played Microscope the other day, and thought that would also be a good vehicle for campaign development. Instead of playing quick Scenes during the game, break out another rules system to play out an Event for a session or two.
October 13th, 2011 at 10:24 am
Thank you for mentioning Microscope – it looks awesome! I’ll have to pick up a copy and give it a shot.