Thus far I've gone over the basics for character creation, Danger creation, and the core resolution mechanism for play. Today I want to talk about premade scenarios and why I've structured them the way I do.
Three yellow nuggets: slasher and heart tree, saucer abduction, giant spider versus a trio of PCs
When designing We're in Danger, I wanted a game that stripped away some of those real and perceived barriers we ttrpg fans face when we try to play a new game. Some choices that, in my view, support this include:
Simple rules without excessive exceptions. I didn't want a rule to work "this way" in 60% of situations, "that way" in 30% of situations, and "this other way" in that final 10%.
Narrative, abstract, theater-of-the-mind action. WiD doesn't pretend to be a tactical game. No measuring distances, degrees of cover, radius of AoE effects, etc. There are many highly tactical games I love, but that kind of approach didn't work for WiD.
No essential lore or canon for the GM or the PCs to learn. At Adventures in Lollygagging, we play some lore-heavy games like The One Ring, and I've heard from countless folks who say they want to play or run TOR, but are worried they'll screw up the lore. With WiD, there is no lore. The only canon is the one you make along the way. Even with genre kits, which add new bits and bobs and flavor, there is nothing essential to learn. The creation tables and flavor text are opt-in, and are meant more as a starting point for your group to develop during play.
Plenty of premade scenarios to get you to the table as fast as possible. I've played all sorts of wonderful ttrpgs thanks to the folks within Adventures in Lollygagging. Sometimes we play prewritten campaigns and adventures, and sometimes we play adventures I write—often because we have no other choice. When thinking about WiD, I wanted to make sure prospective players and GMs have a choice. I want them to have an array of premade scenarios to choose from, content generation tables to aid in the creation of their own scenarios, and advice for how to craft a WiD scenario.
When trying to nail down the format for a premade scenario, I took a step back and assessed my own process for running and prepping games—particularly one-shots. I asked myself: What do I really need?
A basic premise
A couple NPCs
A few locations
Trouble for the PCs to face
My one-shot notes are always tight, simple, and adaptable (unsurprisingly, these are cornerstones for WiD). I wanted a scenario format that could fit on a single sheet of paper. I took inspiration from a host of pamphlet-style adventures (especially for Mothership) and Savage Worlds One Sheets. Given that WiD focuses on one-shots (even during a franchise), anything too bulky felt incongruous. I want a sheet to imply several stories, not script a single story. Conceivably, you can run a WiD scenario multiple times for the same or different groups, and have a wildly different experience depending on which NPCs the GM features, waypoints (locations) the PCs visit, and how confrontations with Dangers unfold.
I continue to iterate on the layout, but here's where the format currently stands. This is an example of a real scenario sheet for Love in the Time of Viscera, one of the premade scenarios that will come with the book. Note that the book will be A5, so this spread will fit on a singe sheet of letter-sized paper (8.5" x 11"). I plan to have print-friendly pdfs of the scenarios too.
Sample Scenario: Love in the Time of Viscera
First, Ian (aka threeeyedcat) absolutely crushed the art nugget, implying so many of the themes the scenario is shooting for—the woods, a slasher killer, weird folkish magic in the bark, and those heart bits.
Moving left to right, beneath the image I included a brief bit of prose to establish mood and circumstance. I call this the "Pitch", which I've considered using as the general term for a WiD scenario. Beneath the pitch I summarize who the PCs play, helping them thematically focus during character creation. Finally, there are key themes often featured in the scenario.
The second column on the left side of the spread includes the title, followed by groups of simple tools for the GM to use. The list of scenes is not exhaustive or necessarily sequential, but rather starter prompts the GM can use to frame a situation. They get the conversation going, and can imply obstacles and objectives. The next list includes six NPCs, each with a name or label, and with an important detail. The detail normally identifies an NPC motive or how other folk perceive that NPC. I find those details more useful than physical descriptors. "Tracy is a real estate developer" implies why they are on Black Bark Mountain, and given the premise of the scenario, why the Bride and Groom might be after Tracy as much as they're after the PCs. I also include six waypoints the PCs can visit, knowing full well that most of the time they'll only visit half of these during a scenario. Again, I try to include a useful, succinct detail. "The Ranger Station can help" might turn into a destination the PCs try to reach once the Groom begins stalking them. Finally, there are six obstacles. I elaborate on obstacles more in the full book, but the basic concept is this: an obstacle is something the PCs must overcome to achieve an objective, but likely doesn't prove as lethal a threat as a Danger. It might require a task or a single test, rather than a full confrontation. "Locals shun transgressors" could imply a social encounter where the PCs must apologize after a faux pas if they hope to gain help.
The right half of the spread lists details for three Dangers. The default suggestion in WiD is to have your PCs encounter three Dangers, with the third encounter serving as the finale. This is flexible, of course, and the book offers some tools and advice for how to adjust pace. For the Danger "stat block", I wanted all details to be right where you need them. No having to flip to a page in a monster manual, and then to another page in the core book to cross reference how a certain talent works. The top line gives a name for the Danger, its class, and the calculations for hits and threshold. The middle section includes a quick flavor detail, along with descriptors the GM can use to color the Danger's various abilities (e.g. harass, scare, kill). The bottom section provides the three d6 tables the GM uses to choose ability, target, and defense attribute. There is also a chart the GM can use to track threshold progress. With Dangers in a premade scenario, I try to have at least one very flexible Danger. In this case, the Possessed can serve a few different purposes. In one play of the scenario, the PCs might flee into the woods and need to face off against possessed wildlife. In another play, the PCs might head for the public campgrounds and fight possessed campers. In yet another play, the PCs might lock themselves in their cabins, hoping to ride it out until morning, only to find the objects in the building have turned against them. I also make sure there's at least one boss or mega for the GM to use as the finale.
In the end, this sheet looks much like the notes I might make for myself when running a one-shot of any game—some narrative flavor, a few locations and NPCs, a couple ideas for how to stir trouble, and any stat blocks I might need.
In the book, I'm planning to have at least eight premade scenarios. I've written and tested plenty, so it's now a matter of settling on which make the cut. Love in the Time of Viscera, Maws of Death, Virgil's Summit, and WRIP in Ypsilanti are confirmed right now. If you're interested in seeing Love in the Time of Viscera or WRIP in Ypsilanti, I've posted our test APs on the Adventures in Lollygagging YouTube channel:
I've rambled for long enough. Hope that was interesting and informative! As always, I'm open to any questions you might have. Post them here, tag me on BlueSky, or better yet: Hop into our Adventures in Lollygagging Discord to chat about the game. If there are specific topics you want me to shed light on, please do let me know!
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