SHDRAGM: Theme, Getting Started & Flavor


Written by Capt'n Quaalude (contact me)

HTML by my wife Robin


Theme Table

Well, you've got the Concept and the Mood. Next comes the Theme. Theme is the flavor of the Adventure. A grim bug hunt is nice, but what makes that grim bug hunt stand out from another? Why, you're having a Grim Bug Hunt with a theme, of course!
Roll two-three times on the table below and think about the concepts. Corruption/Allurement Grim Bug Hunt equals - A temptress is seducing and eating young or lost cubs? Curiosity/Revenge Grim Bug Hunt equals - A Witch Hunter vivisecting vampires?
Meditate, contemplate your navel.

Theme Table (2d10 twice)


2 - Absurdity
3 - Allurement
4 - Ambition
5 - Callousness
6 - Curiosity
7 - Corruption
8 - Decay
9 - Grieving
10 - Immensity
11 - Irritation
12 - Loneliness
13 - Narcissism
14 - Paranoia
15 - Perversity
16 - Power
17 - Revenge
18 - Tension
19 - Tragedy
20 - Violence


Getting Started

OK you've got all the plot information. Just a few more details to clear up. This will help you figure out how to start it off.

How to Start (1d10)
1-5 - Wham! Non stop excitement
6-10 - Slow build

Wham! - This is where you kick it off with a bang. BOOM! The bad guys kick down the door to the bar and start going to Crinos. BOOM! The haven catches on fire and you have to escape your burning haven. If you rolled this, start things off with a bang. An initial flurry of action is how to start it off so that you have the player's attention.

Slow Build - A gradual start to the story is the slow build. Ease the players into it by slowly weaving the web around them letting them take in every web and nuance of just how screwed they really are. If you like concentrating on the details, the slow build is for you. Talk about how things are going long before the Sabbat over run the city. Build up to it. You really need to concentrate on the environment more then the action on a slow build.


Flavor (1d10)

Now you need to add some flavor to the plot. Roll on the following table as many times as necessary to give it a little something extra.

Flavor (1d10)
1 - Reversal
2 - Throw away
3 - Unexpected Continuation
4 - Foreshadowing
5 - Repetition
6 - Symbolism
7 - Metaphors
8 - Personification
9 - Dream sequence
10 - Flashbacks

Reversal - A literary classic, the reversal simply means that someone or something is the opposite of what you thought it was. The most loyal member of the sept is really a BSD. The person who you are hunting for murder did it for a just cause or was set up. Take something the PCs take for granted and reverse it.

Throw Away - Also known as the red herring, this means either the plot has nothing to do with anything else, or the whole thing really doesn't have a point. A massive search for the number one on the Red List leads to a Malkavian and his delusions. Throw out a lot of false information.

Unexpected Continuation - This is where you only thought the bad guy was dead. Suddenly, he pops back up and keeps on fighting. See any slasher movie.

Foreshadowing - This is basically when you include something in the adventure eerily on that tells the players what might happen in the future. Going to see Julius Caesar the play, then watching the Primogen stab the prince in the back would be a good example.

Repetition - Similar to foreshadowing, except it is a recurring theme. For example, if you had references to insects showing up all the time.

Symbolism - This is where you use symbols to represent things.

Metaphors - This is where you say one thing but mean another, but similar thing. He is like the sun is a metaphor.

Personification - Give inanimate objects a human quality. Describe rocks as squatting, or old buildings as hulking. Objects should be described as doing or feeling something.

Dream sequence - have the PC have a vivid dream. Or get really weird in the adventure and have the whole thing be a dream.

Flashbacks - Jump back and forth between now and before. Have a story that exists in two different time frames.

Back to the SHDRAGM Concept & Mood Page
On to the SHDRAGM Incentives Page


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Copyright 1999-2004 Robert Goodfellow. All Rights Reserved.