My eldest girl is about to have her birthday and has asked me to write a DnD campaign as a present for her and her friends (I raised ‘em right!). It’s been a few years since I’ve written a campaign, but I’ve dusted off my notes and bought the latest books, and we just spent the evening watching the hilarious DnD movie with Chris Pine.
That said, writing the campaign has stretched a different set of narrative muscles than writing a short story. The setting that was requested was a “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” style story, where our intrepid heroines will have to fight their way across a sorcerer’s laboratory to regain their original size. The story is fun, but I’ve been sweating over character levels, challenge ratings, and making sure they won’t get bogged down in any particular encounter. Writing the campaign has struck me more as a script for an interactive ride than a short story. The most enjoyable part of the process has been keeping the ending completely open: I’ve given the eight players a secret goal each and made sure that each goal directly conflicts with another player’s. It’s not the evil sorcerer they’re going to have to worry about when they get to the end of this ride…
In contrast, lately my short stories have been very heavily structured, and where once I would tap out 500 word blocks, I’m now agonising over 25 word sentences and worrying if I can ration out another 5 words at the end of any particular phrase. Within my daughter’s campaign, the fun will be sitting back and watching my miniscule adventurers try to keep their secret goals hidden as they get closer and closer to salvation.
And this, perhaps, is where I can improve my short stories. Stop being so mechanical with the story beats and pay more attention to the character tension. Hand the reins over to my characters a bit, let them breathe, let them plot and worry and go to truly stupid lengths to avoid their worst fears coming to light. Even if it undercuts their plot goal. Especially if it undercuts their plot goal.
Hopefully my girl and her friends will enjoy their tiny campaign. In the meantime, I’m wondering if I can pull of Chris Pine’s character Edgin the Bard for Halloween. I’ll post pics if I can make it happen!
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