Ever make your own Adventure Script?

DougRed4

Anybody ever make your own Adventure Script like they did in some of the WEG modules?

Often they can seem really forced, but I once made one early on in our campaign (I forgot I'd done this, and just stumbled across it), trying to give the proper 'voices' to the various characters.

If anybody wants to better picture the various characters, our website has images of the various PCs.

Chapter 2: The Danger of the Hutts
Adventure Script

Bishop: “Well, THAT was a big waste of time! We came to this sleazy chunk of rock following a rumor that doesn’t even look like it was TRUE!”

Thorim: “Do not be so quick to jump to conclusions, my friend. The Force can work in mysterious ways, and perhaps we were meant to come here for some OTHER reason!”

Zren: “Bah, all I know is that the NEXT time we square off with a bunch of those long-haired punks, they’ll not walk away from it so easily!”

Dargin: “They sure seemed to have some strange way of communicating. Reminds me of what I’ve seen of Twi’leks, where they can communicate without even speaking…”

Tumarae: “I’m sorry my information wasn’t more accurate. That’s really the way it is sometimes. Not every rumor or piece of information is going to be true every single time.”

Grevin: “We can still take advantage of our situation. This planet is known for harboring many fugitives and travelers that are not welcomed throughout the more ‘civilized’ parts of the galaxy. I think we should hit another watering hole and see if we can perhaps meet up with some smugglers or pirates. It may be perilous, but the Rebellion really needs able soldiers to join if we’re to truly fight back against the Imperials. These types may be dangerous, but at least they’re known for not having any kind of love for the Empire…”
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

nuclearwookiee · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 28 Nov 2011 Posts: 171

I don't recall ever scripting one like this, but I have had games that have started in media res. In those cases I gave sort of an inner monologue introduction from the perspective of one or more of the characters. I guess that's pretty similar, at least.

garhkal · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 1:22 am Post subject:

All 11 modules i have wrote have scripts.
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Bobmalooga · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:09 am Post subject:

I've done this a couple of times, the players loved it. Except for the player who played a Wookie and whose lines went something like this "Wookie player: Make Wookie sound" to which Player 3 would respond something like "Player 3: You think so Tyvooka? Who knew you could get Rubber pants in that size!" (or whatever...)
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aegisflashfire · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:31 am Post subject:

I generally abhor the adventure script and just toss it, even when doing pregens.
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Random_Axe · Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:03 pm Post subject:

schnarre · Commander Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 333

...Only a few times did I do a script like that; I found that players usually had enough of their own banter at the beginning of a game to be plenty entertaining!
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Whill · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2014 8:55 pm Post subject:

I don't do it for every adventure, but I've done many. I usually customize the published modules to the particular group of PCs playing the adventure. They always work better when they are written with the specific characters in mind.
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Merrick · Ensign Joined: 05 Jun 2014 Posts: 45

I have frequently done scripts as they are very useful to get new players into character and start contributing more during the session, even if it is read in a flat tone.

As gaming sessions are less frequent as I get older, it also helps to get back into the mindset of where we left off. It is unique to many of them who have played D&D and they generally seem to enjoy it.

I have had to greatly customize any canned adventure scripts in the past.
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DougRed4 · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:15 pm Post subject:

Welcome, Merrick!
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

Seghast · Cadet Joined: 13 Jun 2014 Posts: 22

I feel like scripts kill the spirit of what the game is about; you roll a character, come up with his backstory, his personality, make him yours, but the GM makes a script that instructs you what to say and how to act?

None of my various groups over the years has ever used scripts; you say what you think your character would say because in the end, you know your character better than anyone else.

We have had scripted events that were beyond our control or influence and we're forcibly made to do (or not do) a certain thing, and even that bothers me.

When I GM, I like to encourage the players to say and do whatever they feel is appropriate for their characters; if it conflicts with what I had originally planned, I'm not going to say "no, you can't do that" and shut them down. I prefer to improvise and find a new way to reach the original destination.

DougRed4 · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:22 pm Post subject:

I completely agree, Seghast, and overall that's how I view things, too. And while I've only done a script the one time (in my current campaign; I also did one in a different campaign for the Starfall adventure), note that both of those uses for D6 Star Wars were used as a way to start out the adventure in media res (in the middle of the action). They've not been used to usurp player decision(s), but rather are utilized as a way of dropping the PCs into an ongoing situation and giving them an idea what's going on, rather than the (typical) GM droning on with a description by reading text.

Again, I'm not really arguing for their widespread use, and my own use of them has been extremely rare. But after a bit most GMs get to know the voices of their players (so it isn't hard to capture things they might say). When used in this way, they can be an effective tool to introduce an adventure.
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Whill · Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:02 pm Post subject:

Star Wars is cinema, and real films have scripts. The purpose of the SW RPG is to simulate the cinematic reality of the SW films. Adventure scripts are just meant to help get the group in a cinematic mood. The adventure author or GM writing a couple lines of dialogue for each PC at or near the beginning of an adventure is hardly railroading a player group for the entire adventure. If a player can't relinquish control of his PC to someone else for a mere few lines a dialogue to kick off the adventure, IMO they need to get over themselves. GMs should know the PCs well enough to manage speaking for them for a few lines. In my groups, it is not uncommon to even have PCs be taken over by other players or the GM as needed when a player has to be absent for a game night, and that's is far more severe than a couple lines of dialogue in an adventure script.

To me, roleplaying is a group effort to create an entertaining story. To speak further on this idea, I quote myself from an old thread:

Seghast · Cadet Joined: 13 Jun 2014 Posts: 22

DougRed4 · Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2014 1:45 am Post subject:

To put things in black and white actual numbers, reading an adventure script at the start of the adventure means (literally, and this is not an exaggeration):

.001% Scripted
.999% PC improvised

Beyond that, if the player actually said "I'm not sure my character would say it like that", I would allow them to change/alter their single line of dialogue as well.

But the reality of it is that this is such a tiny fraction (even 1/10th of 1% might be too high) that no player has ever suggested a single letter of change.

As for players running other characters, that's been extremely rare in our games. It's been my experience that fantasy games are more prone to need this to happen (as in that genre travel can be slow, and somebody who can't make the session might have a PC who is stuck out in the middle of nowhere with the others). I haven't seen this as much with sci-fi or modern setting games, where the characters can come and go much easier.

At most we usually have the GM play them, mostly in the background. Another player has only run somebody else's character with their permission, and even then it's usually only to finish up a battle (when the other person has to leave early).
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Currently Running: Villains & Vigilantes (a 32-year-old campaign with multiple groups) and D6 Star Wars; mostly on hiatus are Adventures in Middle-earth and Delta Green

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