OSRPGtalk

Words from a grognard

Category: Adventure Design

Posts all about adventure design and adventures I design.

Setting: Recurring Events I

October 5, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I enjoy having problems arise in the setting that the PCs can deal with in the short term, yet those issues will arise again in the future. I started thinking about this phenomena recently when brainstorming a new adventure, so I’m trying to work out a variety of ways providing a recurring challenge has cropped up in play over the years.

The adventure at hand involves some ancient magical wards failing and a BBEG waking, rousing its minions, and those minions going forth and behaving badly. If the PCs decide to help the locals with this problem, they have to figure out where the minions are coming from, then infiltrate the site and see if they can figure out how to stop it from happening again. They’ll figure out that minions they’ve cut down are respawning and then have to figure out how to stop that from continuing. The BBEG can also be cut down and then will respawn, adding to the mess. The party will have to figure out that the way to prevent recurrence is to restore the wards that failed.

The thing is, I don’t want the plague of minions to be constant, so there has to be a reason for the BBEG to wake and rouse them for a bit and then go absent again for awhile. That took me down the rabbit hole of identifying many ways I’ve handled that, and others GMs have handled it when I played at their tables, and a bit of extrapolation based on that experience to identify other ways.

I’m expecting this adventure to be linked to astronomical events. Thus, I’ve been building a list of events that can certainly be reasonably tied to magical/supernatural events. What I’m offering here isn’t exhaustive, I expect, though every entry is something I’ve brainstormed multiple uses for to decide if it warrants inclusion (as the formal list will be part of a GM’s text).

The Moon

An obvious cycle to tie weird events to is one provided by the moon. Postulating that your setting has a moon generally similar to our own Luna, with noticeable cycles in the viewing, there are many ways to parse it out.

• A full moon for the triggering event. One can use a single day measure or a three-day measure of the full moon for short windows of activity. A longer window ranges from full moon to new moon.

• A new moon works just as well.

• A gibbous moon phase — the time between full moon and half moon — provides a shorter measure of time than full-to-new. A crescent moon phase — half moon to new — does the same.

• One can require that the solution to stopping the recurrence be tied to a moon phase, too. The full moon triggers the event and the measures needed to stop it (semi-)permanently need to happen during the following new moon, for example.

• If your setting includes multiple moons, then things can get wilder. Two moons have to be full or some such. Or all three moons have to align just so. Lots of possibilities here.

The Sun

The next obvious cycles to consider are those tied to the sun. Again, first considering settings that involve a single star similar to Sol. We have historical accounts of numerous cultures observing solar events for matters of importance, with calendar systems being largely tied to solar cycles.

• Soltices are major events and long used to regulate calendar years.

• Equinoxes have also been tied to calendars and religious/cultural celebrations.

• The so-called cross-quarters, halfway between solstice and equinox, have also been tied to celebrations and observances. All Hallows’ Eve — Halloween — is a prime example of this.

Seasons

The travels of the sun in relation to the horizon are tied to the seasons, given an Earth-like world setting. The seasonal changes can drive magical activity, where they don’t perfectly align with the solar cycle. Perhaps winter is measured from the first hard frost instead of the sun’s progress. Spring arrives with the blossoming of specific flowers instead of simply aligning with the sun.

The Stars

Another obvious historical connection is that of events matching up with the stars in the heavens, or stellar constellations as seen from Earth. One can create an entire astrological lineup for seasons, matching up with solar positioning at sunrise, or matching moonrise, or using some other type of recognition of the astrological cycle.

Mix & Match

Now, these are all perfectly good when used by themselves. There’s absolutely nothing stopping a GM from mixing these together, to make sorting out the requirements for a magical sealing ritual a bit more involved. One can posit that a BBEG will awaken during the first new moon after the winter solstice and can only be put to rest on the nights of a full moon thereafter, for example. Or will regenerate after being killed and rise again on the first new moon in each season.

Tying events in adventures to natural cycles in the setting helps deepen the sense of immersion for those who treasure that, and makes things a bit more predictable for even those who don’t worry about deep immersion. The setting comes to life a bit more, as the elements get tied together.

GMing: Adventures I

June 3, 2026 / / 0 Comments

One of the hallmarks of old school design in support of classic play and OSR play is the lack of intended stories. A pre-plotted story is regarded as part of poor GMing, putting PCs on rails, so the speak, to experience some tale the GM wants to tell, instead of allowing the actual play at the table give rise to what narrative it will. Grognards appreciate letting play — the choices made by players — decide if the dragon gets rescued from the sheriff’s men.

So, the approach taken for Fogey Play could be thought of as going off-rail. Going off-rail, if done effectively, is to avoid getting on the rails in the first place, ideally. On both the level of an adventure and the level of a campaign, player choice should be driving the narrative and the GM avoiding pushing the PCs into any pre-planned choices. There is no BBEG behind everything in the setting and whom the PCs have to overcome for a campaign arc. (There may be a BBEG, or several such miscreants, though the campaign is *not* focused on them.) There are no storylines PCs have to be nudged into during individual adventures. As there are no character background stories to support in play, there’s nothing involving those that has to happen at any time. Just say “no” to plotting.

The Basic Approach

The most obvious way to stay off-rail is to avoid starting on rails by not plotting any story. The idea of prepping only conflicts, sites, and situations has appeared in many blog posts and on discussion boards. It’s pretty standard advice in OSR circles and invaluable for GMs coming to old school play from contemporary D&D and other modern, character-based systems. It’s a solid reminder to GMs to help them avoid putting their games on rails.

Beyond the Basic

There lurks a danger at the table, however, if the players aren’t veterans of old school play. That is, the players can proceed to play as if there *is* a pre-determined plot to follow. They, themselves, can hop onto invisible rails by assuming there is an actual plotted story and having their PCs act accordingly. They can assume that a local crime boss is the BBEG of some grand story, instead of simply a Bad Guy not possessed of any significance beyond that of directing a cartel/faction/front/biker gang determined to control half a kingdom from behind the scenes, the same as a couple of other local Bad Guys. The players can assume that the first Bad Guy is the focus of a campaign and then try to force a grand storyline on play.

We have to step beyond that basic approach to support the understanding that there isn’t a single storyline. We have to show that there’s no single storyline, nor even a single major conflict, to play out. We have to do so early and often. So, how do we do that? There are things we can do that I’ve observed help keep players from locking in on any one conflict and trying to turn that into *the* story of a campaign.

First, instead of presenting a single conflict for the PCS to engage with at the start of play, present multiple conflicts. Make each of them enticing enough that the players are hard-pressed to choose which to initially pursue. They begin play of the campaign with the understanding that there’s more possible than just what they chose to do.

And keep those hooks freshly baited. Whenever something changes in one of the other conflicts, let the PCs get word of it. Shoot, even if nothing changes, let the players get wind of the conflict in a different fashion than before. If they first heard a rumor at the inn, let a pedlar along the road drop a different rumor about the same thing. Let the players figure out that there’s always something different they could be doing and make it appealing.

Town turns, downtime, ale time, or whatever you want to call it is a fine time to drop more tidbits in front of the PCs. More travelers telling tales. Research the PCs commissioned from sages that provide tantalizing information. Requests for assistance by interested parties. When the PCs aren’t actively out and about chasing adventure, let adventure try to lure the PCs back out. The players have activities they want to pursue while in town, so do your best to distract them by dangling hooks.

Mix the conflicts. That is, have elements of one of the conflicts show up in play of the conflict the PCS are engaging with. An NPC who is an essential cog in a cartel that’s part of a different conflict happens to have business with an old friend in a key cartel the PCs are trying to infiltrate. A raiding party from Site A shows up at Site B when the sites are tied into different conflicts. An item/artifact found in Site A matches one found in Site B and in Site C, providing a bit of a puzzle as to what the items’ purpose is.

Stay Off the Rails

To support the effort to stay off rails, it can help to work with four principles in mind:

  • PCs can always walk away from any conflict at any time;
  • PCs can set their own goals for any conflict they interact with;
  • PCs can negotiate with and influence most NPCs in a conflict;
  • PCs can side with cartels and switch sides freely, if they do

If you can keep these in mind and help the players keep them in mind, there’s likely little chance of the PCs ending up riding the rails of a real or imagined planned story.

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