Nonlinear GMing and You

The most common criticism I have of roleplaying games, especially those I like, is that they are too linear. I'll admit right off the bat that this subject is a lot less cut and dry than my previous post, and some people work best in a purely linear environment. That said, I believe that to run a roleplaying game in a linear fashion is to waste a good deal of the medium's potential.

To understand my point, think about movies and books, the two biggest pieces of inspiration for tabletop RPGs. They are both strictly linear media. To their credit they make linearity work. Dramatic structure for these pieces is simple, rising actions and a climax and whatnot. Good stuff.

However, even if inspired by such media, when a group sits down to roleplay they are not partaking in a strictly linear thing. Imagination is the reason here. RPGs are not constrained by budgets, by special effects, by time limits(at least ideally). Therefore it is in the nature of the medium to be able to do things that movies and books can't. Namely, be nonlinear.

Now there are countless pitfalls in introducing nonlinearity to a game. A common criticism is that a sandbox or nonlinear game will lack direction. See my previous post on character motivation for one, but also realize that this criticism can be easily solved by clever GMing. Many GMs(myself included) resort to the linear form because it is easier to pull off. Encounters can be carefully planned, key events can happen in the correct sequence, and if done well the entire session will feel like a finely written piece.

What many don't realize is that sort of focus and direction is just as present even if the session is less structured. "Plot" as many know it is simply a chain of actions leading to a result, nothing grandiose. Thus, rather than planning a series of scenes, if instead I give my players a location and a goal, are their actions still "plot-worthy"? Of course. Their actions still have dramatic weight, and in actuality the player is now more involved, not being able to simply enjoy the ride, as it were.

Nonlinear gaming grants your player the feeling of really living in the world you've created, instead of simply being part of a story inside it. It is no shame to player or GM if some large part of a session is spent on "non-essential" tasks, so long as everyone is giving their all.

This ties into another dangerous element of RPGs: Story. Many GMs will emphasize their story above all else, and if they are the linear type then their notes begin to look more like a script than anything. This is a bad habit to have, because it means that elements of the game are much more difficult to adapt, it means that your players' roles are either already written down or diminished by your knowledge of what is going to happen. Story is important, I'm not saying that: but there are better ways to tell it.

Thus comes the meat of this post: How do I, a linear GM, improve my game with nonlinear elements?

Start with your planning. Instead of a line structure(Encounter A - Encounter B), start with locations. Where you would normally write encounters, instead write events that happen inside that location on their own. Make the place alive, make it move ahead whether or not the players are around. Make sure your players have a goal of some sort and let them go. You don't have to baby or railroad them. Let them play the game. They'll go to the places that interest them. The beauty of this is that if your players wander away from where you expected them to go, your events can be moved - they can also be used in any order depending on which is more appropriate to your character's actions. Your world is alive, a plot is happening, and your players don't have to feel like everything was written in advance, even though it essentially was.

Let me give a bit less abstract example of exactly how I plan and run games. I don't pretend to be perfect at this, but it's a good representation of the concept. (THis particular bit of planning was/is from my Iron Kingdoms game, currently running)

Location: The town of Riversmet, in Northern Llael, pre-invasion.

I mapped the town into rough areas, and marked locations for certain events to happen. I wrote up two important NPCs(General Pierre du Rousal, who was going to be the Archduke Ferninand for the Khador/Llael war, as well as Roger, a Cygnaran stormsmith, the superior officer of one of my players). I also statted expected enemies( it was split into two sessions, but I knew I would need Khadoran Winterguard and Man-o-Wars very soon). I wrote up an assassination plot (Khadoran Sniper sneaks into town, gets into noble house, kills General. Khadorans invade during the confusion of the night, players must find way out - I mapped out several escape options, each of which would lead to a different faction's territory. I planned out a couple endings(SIde with Rhulic mercs, get captured by Khadoran-allied Mercs, Retreat to Cygnar, Defect to Khador), then assigned them to the various exits.

So game starts. My players are introducted to Llael, player a brings up obligation to go to Cygnar embassy, town layout is discussed, move to embassy, plot (Nemo is missing, is bad). They are allowed to visit around, find fourth player's character, and bam, assassination event fires. No matter what they were doing at the time I could have this event fire - it's a global event, in a sense. Best part is, depending on where they are in town, their whole experience is even modified by what they chose to do. Ultimate GM-player exchange. No railroading.

Nonetheless a murder mystery ensues, I create a few new NPCs on the fly who become important and are recorded in my notes for later sessions (Francisco, Lord Du Linin, Khadoran General Kristovsky). The heroes decide on a culprit for the crime but are forced to retire without much evidence.

During the night Khador invades. Players are now in a nonlinear dungeon, formerly the city they experienced before. So we have an emotionally charged dungeon that can be explored in a nonlinear way. They know the city well enough to try to go to certain places, but don't know what changes the invasion has brought - plus they now have to deal with enemies.

Players find their way to Lord du Linin's, pick up an NPC, and find his hidden escape route - which lands them in a Khadoran trap and they are captured by Croe's Cutthroats, thanks to some good bluffing on Croe.

Because I decided I disliked the "Khadoran Prisoners" ending - it felt like a punishment my players didn't deserve - I was actually happy when one of my players wrecked the cart they were imprisoned on, causing them to be saved by Rhulic rivermerchants and taken to Horgenhold.

There were definitely linear elements to the session, but notice the meat of both halves of the session is pure sandbox. I had to improvise a lot - the soul of GMing - but had a totally flexible plot that could end any number of ways, with my players having any number of experiences. That's why I can't stress the virtues of nonlinear gaming enough.

I'll go into this topic more later, but next up: Courtesy of Austin: "How much rolling is too much rolling?"