A Gaming Folder (Part 7) - Story Hooks

In the time since I've started this sequence of posts, there's a few interesting things I'd like to observe and critique (like this, which I've been waiting 30 years for). But to avoid disrupting the sequence I'll get to those developments once I've finished this run...

...so, for the moment, back to part 7.

 

I tend to run TTRPG sessions as vaguely guided sandboxes. I've provided details about that style of play, here, here, and here. However, if you're TL:DR on those, I call the idea vignettes. Players can guide the story through their choices, but scenes will be inserted into the narrative that provide context for the events they are a part of. With added context, the choices made by the characters become more significant, rather than meaningless randomness. Since these scenes are designed to be inserted anywhere and at any time, they are deliberately left unfinished and often serve as a story hook that helps direct the narrative rather than a premeditated scene that becomes a story in itself.

If I'm setting up a gaming folder, I'll have at least three sheet protectors in it for story hooks and clues. 

• The first of these protectors is for diegetic hooks.These are handouts for the players, maybe drawings down by characters in game, pages from journals or diaries (if I'm planning to give players the whole diary, I probably won't put it in my folder), business cards from local establishments that might be helpful, scraps of paper with vague clues on them. In each case it's not a "go here next" clue, it's more of a prompt suggesting that there are other things happening in the world that might be worth pursuing as a part of the story. These handouts might function as a clue reinforcement...("We were on the right track, Jack mentions on this page of his diary that he visited the blacksmith.")... or they might just as easily be a wildcard, or even a red herring depending on how the story has progressed so far ("We're got a business card for the Indigo Dragon Bordello with a time scrawled on the back of it...but how does that tie into anything"). If a player holds the item in game, the diegetic hook goes into their player pouch (or into their separate folder if that's how you run things). If the clue gets ignored, it goes back into the GM/Narrator's gaming folder...see later.
  

• The second is for non-diegetic hooks. In many cases, these are hooks that I don't show the players, they're simply prompts that give me hints for how to move forward when I'm running out of ideas. If left to my own devices, I have a propensity to go gonzo, especially when I'm going ad-lib. If I have a series of premeditated hooks to draw from, I can keep the session a bit more focused, and use those hooks to keep redirecting the players back to the originally intended central themes and narratives of the session. There will typically be slips of paper in this section, maybe using card sleeve sheets. Top row might be high stakes scenes to throw into the session (player characters might die or end their stories at this point if they don't handle this well...these would typically be used as the climax arrives), the middle row might be medium stakes (characters might be severely impaired, maybe their allies will die or they'll lose significant equipment or other complications might arise...these will typically be used as the story develops it's complications), the bottom row would be low stakes (interesting diversions that add flavour and context to the world that the characters are in... these could occur at any time). These hooks start with something the characters might notice, it might require a perception check of some kind or might just happen to them. It follows with a couple of suggested courses of action that might be expected when such an event occurs. Finally it gives a couple of outcomes that point the flow of the story in different directions depending on how the event unfolded... (Did the characters engage through combat? Did the sneak their way through? Were they successful? Did they successfully avoid alerting the outside world to the event that occurred?) Once the event has unfolded, it is typically discarded from play, it goes from a potential idea to a definite part of the sessions historical narrative. If it's the kind of event that might occur multiple times, it might get added back into the "unused" section (see below), so that it can be recycled... repeated events in a story gain significance with each repetition. 
  

• The third is for used hooks that didn't really go anywhere when they were addressed in the game. If a story hook hasn't been transferred to  You might consider it a form of railroading to keep offering the same story hooks to the players until they accept the storyline they represent, but a GM/Narrator who always presents the same story hook shares a strong vibe with the player whose horny bard tries to have intercourse with everyone they meet, or the magic user who reacts to every potential conflict with the words "I cast fireball". Actually, in each of these cases, there is potential for delving beneath the repeated tropes to find something richer underneath. Why does this keep happening? What is the motivation behind it? 
  

If I'm running a multi-session campaign, every session I'll consider changing up the composition of the story hooks. If there are certain elements that just don't make sense any more, or if they're aiming in a direction that no longer fits with the way the game is flowing, I'll cull them from the collection (taking out no more than two or three each time). These then get replaced by an equal number of new story hooks that work with the kinds of actions and events that have successfully engaged the characters so far ("Erin's character likes to take in lost orphans and set them up on the right path in the world, so let's throw in a situation with a criminal orphan tat gives her character an ethical dilemma to face"..."Ryan's character has has much time in the spotlight lately, so let's throw in a situation that really caters to his strengths")

It doesn't have to be meticulously planned out, I actually find it works better with my style of running a game if it isn't.