[Twilight Time] The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting

[Heather Grove]

June 10, 2005 -- The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting
Volume 6, Issue 5

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Good morning!

I recently reviewed James Scott Bell's "Plot & Structure: Techniques 
and Exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to 
finish": 
http://www.burningvoid.com/review/2005/plotandstructurebell.php

I believe that many of his ideas for structuring a novel's plot would 
work equally well for constructing the plot of a roleplaying game. 
While I'm obviously not going to convert every last bit of wisdom in 
his book from the novel-writing world to the roleplaying world (it 
would take an entire book, not to mention it would be inappropriate), 
I'm going to give a few ideas for taking one of his central tenets and 
using them to improve and construct your RPG plots. I highly recommend, 
however, that you pick up a copy of the book and try out the rest of 
his ideas too:

James Scott Bell
"Plot & Structure"
Writer's Digest Books
ISBN #1-58297-294-X

First, however, a brief word of warning. There are obviously some 
fundamental differences between writing a novel and writing a game 
plot. The biggest of these is that you can control where the plot of a 
novel goes; you have to allow the characters in a game much more free 
will than that and be flexible in your preparations. If you haven't 
already, I recommend that you take a look at some of our free will 
material before relying too heavily on novel-writing techniques and 
ideas: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/gmfreewill.php

With that in mind, on to the article!

Have a great weekend,
Heather

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The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting

If you have trouble coming up with interesting plots, don't despair. As 
James Scott Bell says in his book on "Plot & Structure," "[W]hen I 
began to learn about the craft, I saw that plotting had elements I 
could learn. And I found out about structure: when plot elements were 
put in a certain order, a stronger story resulted."

Several of Bell's suggestions for learning to plot well apply equally 
well to the game master as to the writer: try stuff. Fool around and 
see what works. Try to stay loose and don't get tense--that just 
dampens your creativity. Get it down on paper first, then worry about 
mucking with it to make it work right. Practice a lot, and don't give 
up. Plotting is a skill you can learn, and like any skill it takes time 
and practice to get right.

	"Plot and structure both serve the larger enterprise--story.
	In the end, that's what this whole novel thing is about.
	Telling a story in a way that transports the reader."1

The above quote applies equally well to RPG plots. That's what gaming 
is all about--transporting the players so that they feel that they 
exist in this other world that you've formed around them and, with 
their help, created.


The LOCK System

Bell uses what he calls the LOCK system. L stands for a compelling lead 
character. O is for the lead's do-or-die objective. C is for 
confrontation, the opposition that stands in our hero's way. K is for 
the powerful, knockout ending that leaves the reader feeling satisfied. 
Let's talk about how these can apply to a roleplaying game.


LEAD

Obviously unless you're playing a one-on-one game (one GM, one player) 
you don' t have a single lead character. In this case, the lead could 
be translated in one of two ways. In most cases your "lead" will be 
your party of player characters (PCs) in their entirety. Think of it 
like an ensemble cast from a television show or movie that doesn't have 
a single big "star" character. Sometimes, however, you might choose to 
make your "lead" a non-player character (NPC). In the case of an RPG 
plot this doesn't mean that he will be the center of attention nor that 
he'll accomplish all of the big things. Instead, it means that the 
objective and opposition start out belonging to him, and the party of 
player characters gets involved to help or hinder, more or less taking 
over the focus of the plot.

The need for a strong lead is one of the reasons why it's important for 
your players to put a little time and thought into their characters. If 
the PCs don't have strong personalities, interesting backgrounds, likes 
and dislikes, and things that make them angry or determined, then they 
won't make compelling lead characters. Without a compelling lead, the 
most amazing plot in the world suffers. It's also a reason why you need 
to put thought into any NPC who's going to be on-stage for more than a 
moment or two, and in particular any NPC who's going to have a strong 
interest in or impact on the plot. These NPCs need to be 
three-dimensional, interesting, and every bit as involved in what's 
going on as the PCs.

This also means that you need to make sure that your plots have 
relevance to your leads--in this case to your PCs. There should always 
be important reasons for them to take interest in what's going on. If 
they can't develop strong feelings about the plot then the plot won't 
be compelling.


OBJECTIVE

	"Solid plots have one and only one dominant objective
	for the Lead character. ... [T]he objective has to be essential
	to the well-being of the Lead. If the Lead doesn't get it (or
	get away from it), her life will take a tremendous hit for
	the worse."1

First, you need an objective for your plot (a want, desire or need). 
Then you need to make sure it's an objective that's going to be 
extremely important to your lead so he has some reason not to simply 
sit around and enjoy his life. If your lead isn't your party of PCs, 
then you further need to make sure that you have a way to transfer the 
importance of that objective (or an objective related to the "lead's" 
objective) to the PCs. This is much easier to do if, as I noted above, 
your PCs are complex, compelling leads in their own right.

Death itself does not need to be a risk, although it certainly helps to 
up the tension factor and the importance of the objective. However, 
there are plenty of other risks that could be considered a kind of 
death of their own, even if it isn't a physical death--the death of 
dreams, careers, relationships, and other things that are of vital 
importance to your lead. Without that importance your players have 
little reason to worry, get tense, and get wrapped up in the question 
of whether or not they'll succeed.


CONFRONTATION

Without someone or something to stand in your lead's way, what's to 
stop him from achieving his objective calmly and happily and moving on 
with his life? Obviously you need opposition, confrontation, obstacles. 
Pile them on. Put things in the party's way. Make sure they're going to 
have to *work* for their goal. Without that work and difficulty there's 
no sense of urgency or satisfaction. There's no question of whether or 
not they'll succeed to make them invest themselves emotionally in the 
plot.

This also goes back to one of our points in the free will articles: 
don't guarantee your characters' success. If  your players know that 
they'll win no matter what, then you've effectively taken away the 
confrontation aspect of the plot. Emotionally speaking,  you've removed 
their obstacles and opposition. While it's often appropriate to make 
sure they have a good chance of winning, don't guarantee it--allow 
their opposition to truly confront them and present a real obstacle to 
achieving their goals. The flip side of that point--don't guarantee 
their failure--speaks to the objective part of things. If they know 
they'll fail then they don't truly have an objective to work toward.


KNOCKOUT

	"I once asked an old sports writer why he thought boxing
	was so popular. He smacked his fist into his hand. "Pow!"
	he said, letting his arm fall like a sack of potatoes. ... Readers
	of commercial fiction want to see a knockout at the end."1

...And so do your players. They want a dramatic conclusion to a tense 
plot. They can succeed or fail, but ultimately they want to be 
satisfied. This is harder to arrange in a roleplaying game than in a 
novel. The ending, of course, comes at the end, by which time your 
players have had plenty of opportunity to wreak havoc on your carefully 
planned plot. You simply can't be entirely certain what will happen 
unless you railroad your players into doing what you want, and I 
explained above some of the reasons why that is not a good idea.

So how can you guarantee a dramatic and satisfying ending? I'm not sure 
you can ever totally guarantee it. But here are some ways to make it 
more likely:

1. Make sure your NPCs are compelling and dramatic in their own right, 
through personality, back-story, wants, desires, and needs.

2. Make sure that there's plenty of dramatic, frightening opposition to 
the PCs. Keep one or two bits of opposition or obstacle in your back 
pocket, if you can, in case the players unexpectedly short-circuit some 
of the opposition you had planned.

3. Encourage your players to create compelling PCs with back-story, 
personality, wants and desires, who will get involved with plots and 
get emotionally invested in the goings-on. I once wrote an article 
positing that a self-motivating character would have one or more of the 
following traits: curiosity, ambition, a sense of responsibility, and 
the ability to form personal attachments to others. I still think that 
these traits help to contribute to a compelling character that will 
naturally become invested in an interesting plot.

4. Come up with plot objectives that are compelling, necessary, and 
personal to the PCs. Check out "The Seven Sins of Character Motivation" 
for help with this: 
http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/sevensinsofcharactermotivation.php

5. Go ahead and come up with an idea for a knockout ending. Better yet, 
come up with *several* possible knockout endings based on the general 
directions you can imagine that the players might take things in. 
Brainstorm a list of every possible outcome you can imagine, however 
unlikely, and make notes on how you could give it that "knockout 
power." Make note of the PCs' objective and opposition *in that scene* 
and how you can use that to jack up the tension.

Do these things, and I think your games will naturally develop that 
dramatic, compelling story-power that will transport your players to 
another world.


1. Quotes and basic LOCK structure system from James Scott Bell's "Plot 
& Structure," Writer's Digest Books, ISBN #1-58297-294-X



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