Plot Points "Encounter Theory"

#1

I’ve been listening to Ben Rigg’s Plot Points podcast and am reading through an early version of his book on “Encounter Theory”, which seems to be trying to find a common language to help make people make great RPG sessions, instead of trying to translate novels, movies, etc. to the game table.

I find the topic fascinating, and I’m curious what people in the Gauntlet community think of it, presuming anyone else is aware of it…

So far it’s a really thoughtful dive into the hobby in general, and I think can have some great advice, potentially for more traditional “GM outlines a series of events” and also for more improvisational play.

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#2

Can you give a brief summary of the article? It sounds pretty interesting to structure scenarios along encounters, but I might have a totally wrong idea in my head.

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#3

It’s probably better that you hear it directly from the horse’s mouth: https://plotpoints.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=encounter+theory

But in essence, so far it’s useful advice for making an engaging adventure, and reminders to help you focus on a story that is interesting to play and interact with, rather than something that works better as a passive experience in some other medium. Things like when preparing a scenario, to focus on coming up with problems and not specific solutions, guidelines for structuring an adventure like a theoretical “dungeon”,etc.

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#4

Thanks for introducing that source, this is the first time I’ve head of Encounter Theory. From that podcast really the important points are from about minute 15 to minute 27.

Here are the time codes and loose transcription of what is being said. It’s not exact, go listen if you want it exactly, but this is mostly accurate with a little summary.

Overview

Putting the encounter first in adventure design leads to 4 Principles - 14:55

  1. 15:08 - Player facing and allow player freedom
  2. 15:13 - Provide problems but not solutions
  3. 15:18 - Use the dungeon as the structure
  4. 15:24 - Playable description that paints with words

Details

  1. 15:30 - Player facing and player freedom
    Greatest advantage that games have is that players can interact with the world and it’s characters therefore adventures should present:
    Foes to murder, secrets to discover, allies to save, treasure to loot, rituals to enact, ruins to explore,
    BUT… not tell them how to do that. Thumbnail test is to list all the ways a player may interact with setting and NPCs. Players should be able to create their own fun with tools provided by the adventure writer. The enjoyment of an encounter is almost never what the adventure writer thinks it should be.
  2. 16:36 - Problems but not solutions
    Adventure should provide the most interesting, difficult, terrifying, and dangerous problems imaginable. Players do not come to the table to watch them drink tea and eat a seven course meal. They come asking to be treated roughly. They expect assassination attempts, poisonings, betrayals and monsters bursting out of the rock of the earth to swallow them whole. Good adventures provide engaging, consequential, and often deadly problems, which it is up to the characters to solve. The adventure writer should never rely on the problems to be solved a certain way. Leads to problem which is solved by “Using the dungeon as the structure”
  3. 19:08 - Use the dungeon as the structure
    The dungeon has an entrance for the player characters to enter. Within the halls, the players have total freedom within the limits of the setting and the rules. They can descend it’s levels, work towards an ultimate confrontation with the big bad at the end. Even if you are not running a dungeon crawl, the basic structure of encounters should still be structured like a dungeon. In the first encounter the player swill receive a call to adventure. The call to adventure will deliver about the plot, give characters motivation if they don’t already have it, and provide leads to other encounters. Leads are the doors to our structural dungeon. The players should have the same freedom to move between encounters like characters in a dungeon can move between rooms. A lead is an answer to the question, “What thing here might lead player characters to another encounter?” Leads also function as rewards for overcoming obstacles. Receiving leads is not dependent on how players solve the problems. Nor do leads assume which way player characters will go, leads maintain player freedom. Leads allow the writer to structure the adventure through multiple encounters, you are not stuck going from one encounter at a time. Encounters should lead from one to another, building up to a climax. An encounter with a foe which will bring the adventure to an end. This climax is likely inevitable, and the writer can spend more time creating this final encounter. The climax is bigger, more dangerous, and consequentially, way more fun.
  4. 24:16 - Playable description that paints with words
    Successful description paints a picture with words, while at the same time conveying important information. Description presents a challenge in an adventure session, because it is foggy. It’s difficult to present a clear picture at all times of what is happening in the game. It’s possible for what is happening in the head of the game master to be different from what is happening in the head of the players. Therefore in a game session it is better for a GM to give too much information than too little. However the wise adventure writer must restrict their information of a given encounter. Because describing every encounter in great detail would make each encounter into a novel. The adventure writer should provide a description of the encounter to present to the players. This should be playable description, any setting or character interaction that would provoke interaction from the players should be included in the description of the encounter. Description should paint a picture of what the characters are seeing in the adventure. These descriptions should try to appeal to the senses of the players (see, hear, smell, taste, feel). It should convey information and give an evocative sense, then the writer should stop writing. Any remaining information that the player characters as of the GM, by definition is unimportant, because it wasn’t included in the adventure. The game master then can make that stuff up, because it is unimportant.
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#5

From what I’ve seen, these seem like good pieces of advice. They are geared for a writer publishing an adventure to be interpreted by a GM, but they could be useful for the GM writing their own adventures.

I’d also suggest looking at What do you want from a game setting?. While it’s not exactly the same topic, it covers a lot of similar ground.

Admittedly, I tend towards the type of play he calls advanced play, but I totally think some of this advice can help PbtA / “Play to find out” play. Player facing is the default. Problems not solutions also tends to be the default. The idea of having leads that lead from one problem to another is a neat idea that could probably be used and leveraged, but it might be a little more difficult as fiction tends to flow from the result of one move to another. The principle might apply, even if you don’t have the leads per-established. Evocative descriptions that convey information is sound advice. Jason has his painting the scene technique which does this but distributing it across the whole table.

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#6

Thank you for this breakdown, @yoshi , it’s very helpful!

Dungeon as a structure especially is important, because I think I am running a dungeon-like thing later today, and I will try to incorporate some of these suggestions - turning it from a straight walk down some weird tunnel into something a bit more challenging.

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#7

Yes, thanks for the thorough breakdown! And the additional suggestions, I’ll check them out.

The “dungeon style” structure reminds me a little of one of the books on Improv (Unframed I think) that talks about “island style” prep, whereby there may be a series of scenes, but they can be reached in any order. Just so you have something to fall back on if all eyes are on you and no one has any ideas, but also so it’s flexible. I think that’s what Mr. Riggs is going for with the “dungeon” structure.

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