GM Workshop: Reedcross Before the Flood

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Introduction

One of my greatest difficulties when I started running games for others years ago was feeling like it was my responsibility to create stories, NPCs, and campaigns out of whole cloth. That expectation acted like a block to my writing. I really felt like I could not come up with a good outline for a story. I felt much more creative as a GM when I had something to build on. A scene from fiction, a published adventure, or something another GM had done could give me a starting point. Those templates made it easier to create something of my own.

Portraying NPCs and describing actions and consequences came more easily to me than writing campaigns, adventures, or encounters. I often felt like an impostor as a GM. Even so, I enjoyed playing and running games enough to keep working through those creative blocks. My players’ feedback helped me grow more comfortable with my designs.

One of my original Terrible Gamers articles was a GM workshop, written to give readers a glimpse into my creative process as I was designing a campaign setting based on a modern interpretation of Twilight 2000¹. By then, I was much better at writing things independently, but I still wanted—and still want—easier access to small, ready-made scenarios and encounters that I can make my own. Mira and I created this latest GM Workshop with that need in mind.

Reedcross Before the Flood is a system-neutral scenario for fantasy or medieval games. It supplies a cast of NPCs (I am also terrible at naming them), a ferry crossing threatened by a flood, and a practical problem under time pressure that players need to solve. Several workable plans and solutions to that problem are included, but remember that the role of a GM is not to drive your players along rails. Players may find other creative solutions on their own, and a good GM always allows space for this. You can run it as written or borrow the people and predicament for something of your own. We hope you find this useful and enjoy the stories Reedcross helps you create!

Footnote

1. Current game: Free League Publishing. Background and publication history: Wikipedia. ↩

Produced by Terrible Gamers with writing, editing, and design done by Scott Mills and Mira Vale.