Structure and Time

Gameplay is structured in a number of time frames, encompassing smaller ones into bigger and bigger units. This structure is mostly for the GM to be able to track and lead the gameplay more efficiently.

Moments

Actions and events are very loosely tracked in moments in which each player may narrate how their PC does something – act, talk, think, wonder, plan, and so forth. A moment is a fleeting concept, lasting for a blink of an eye, a short conversation, an action or movement or two, but is not defined as a strict period of time. As such, allow a player to use the moment for the actions they want to perform in their turn. There is no turn order or initiative, anyone can act when it makes sense in the narrative, and the GM can suggest or rule who might be up for the next challenge. Once everyone has acted or faced a challenge and is done, it is over.

Once everyone has narrated what their PC does and the GM has responded to each, that moment is over. This is sometimes referred to as a turn of events or just a turn. If the PCs have to face a challenge, it usually takes place within the moment. When the outcomes of all challenges in a moment have been determined, a new one begins.

Scenes

Scenes are events in an environment or situation with which the characters exist and interact with. You as a GM sets the scene by narrating what they see, hear, smell, and in other words experience. The starting scene in a session should help you get gameplay rolling, by giving them a short intro of where the PCs are, what has recently happened, and stands before them, for example, a problem, a decision they need to make, a meeting or an upcoming event they have to attend. From there, each scene moves the characters throughout the adventure.

Then, the GM does the following, but not necessarily in the following order:

Narrate what the scene looks like
Narrate what is happening
Presents challenges to the characters
Ask the players, “What do you do?”
Ask the players other questions
Build new narration on the answers
Ask the players, “Roll the dice!”
Determine the outcome
Explain what it looks like
Ask the players, “What does it look like?”
Add details and facets affecting the characters
Facilitate shared narration around the table
Repeat  the above as needed
Cut a scene to skip to another, more interesting one
Ask the players “Where you are heading now?”

In Media Res

If you are struggling with how to start a scene, try an In Media Res approach. It’s a great way to throw the PCs directly into the action and give them immediate agency, forcing them to react to dynamic situations. By doing that you insert the PC directly into a dangerous or dramatic situation, in which they need to act quickly to get away unharmed. A few examples how you can start a session in media res:

“Alright, on your way to the ruin city Gaer, the dense forest around you is suddenly alive with motion. Arrows slice through the air, striking tree trunks and the ground nearby. From the shadows, rough-looking bandits emerge, their leader stepping forward with a sneer. ‘Drop your weapons, now!’ he growls, his blade drawn. Behind you, the trail is blocked by a toppled cart, and the bandits close in with their weapons raised. What do you do?”

“The wooden suspension bridge sways violently as the last support rope snaps. Rain pours down in heavy sheets, making the planks slick and unstable. Below, the river churns with white foam and jagged rocks. Behind you, the cursed wolves follow you out on the suspension bride. On the far side, someone shouts for you to hurry, but the gap between broken planks grows wider with each sway. The wind howls, and the entire structure groans as if it might collapse at any moment. What do you do?”

“Alarms blare through the stone corridors, echoing off the cold, damp walls. Outside your cell, chaos reigns as prisoners riot. A wounded guard staggers past, dropping a heavy ring of keys as he collapses to the ground. The clatter echoes, but so do the heavy footsteps of reinforcements heading your way. This might be your only chance. What do you do?”

Set up the first scene in your session with immediate action in mind. Give the players a vivid, dramatic situation that demands a response, pulling them into the world and the stakes of the story right away. Whether it’s a confrontation, a natural disaster, or an unexpected twist, the scene should grab their attention and spark their creativity.

Once the initial scene is resolved or transitions naturally, continue to use scenes to keep the narrative flowing. Scenes are the building blocks of your story and should always serve to move the characters closer to their goals, challenge their choices, or reveal new layers of the world. As the GM, you’re not just setting up the action but also creating opportunities for meaningful roleplay, strategic decision-making, and character development.

Sessions

A session of play is the heart of your game – a night spent telling stories, solving problems, and creating memorable moments with friends. As the GM, your role is to set the stage, introduce challenges, and guide the flow of the narrative while allowing players the space to shape the story through their characters’ actions.

A session doesn’t always need to build to a dramatic climax, but maintaining a rhythm of rising stakes and moments of resolution keeps the experience engaging. For new players, the first session should lean heavily on questions that explore the worldbuilding and characters’ backgrounds. In later sessions, shift the focus to the consequences of past actions and unfolding arcs. Strive to balance questions tied to character arcs and story hooks, ensuring the narrative stays collaborative and dynamic.

Here are a few practical tips for running sessions effectively:

Start with a Recap – Begin each session with a quick summary of past events or unresolved hooks. For new sessions, set the stage with an engaging scene or character-driven moment.
Balance Tempo – Alternate between fast-paced action and slower moments for character development. Aim for a climax or a cliffhanger, but let the story flow naturally.
Ask the Right Questions – Early sessions focus on worldbuilding and character details, like “What’s something memorable about this town?” Later sessions can explore consequences, such as “How do you think this faction views you after last time?”
Share the Spotlight – Ensure every player gets their moment to shine by balancing focus between character arcs and the story. Rotate attention as needed.
Cut Scenes Wisely – End scenes when they’ve resolved or hit a natural pause. Transition smoothly by asking, “Where to next?” or by just explaining what happens next.
End on a High Note – Close sessions with either a reflective moment or a dramatic cliffhanger to maintain excitement for the next session.
Adapt to Player Choices – Let player decisions drive the story. Be prepared to adjust your plans to keep the narrative reactive and engaging.
Track Unresolved Threads – Keep notes on lingering story hooks and unresolved decisions to revisit later. It helps the world feel alive and connected.
Reflect Together – Wrap up by asking, “What stood out?” or “What do you want to explore next?” Take notes. This guides the story and keeps players involved.
Stay Flexible – Prep is essential, but embrace surprises. The unexpected moments often become the most memorable.

Post-session Reflection

Take a moment at the end of each session to gather player feedback and insights. Ask open-ended questions like, “What caught your interest?” and “What was left unresolved?” This creates space for the players to share their thoughts, disagreements, or elaborations, while giving you valuable insight into what resonated with them.

This technique is especially useful in games centered on improvisation, emerging mysteries, or investigations. Players’ interpretations, suspicions, and theories often reveal perspectives you may not have considered. Whether their ideas become future story hooks or fleeting background noise, they provide a wealth of inspiration to fuel your creativity and keep the narrative engaging.

Post-session reflections are particularly helpful when using the play-to-find-out approach, as they help the GM stay reactive to the players’ interests and decisions, ensuring the story remains collaborative and dynamic. Over time, these discussions can guide the direction of the game, keeping everyone invested and excited to see what happens next.

Adventures

An adventure is a narrative spanning one or more sessions, built from the collaborative worldbuilding, character arcs, and/or story hooks prepared beforehand. The goal is to create incentives for the characters to explore the world and drive the story forward towards some kind of conclusion.

Play-to-Find-Out Adventures

This approach thrives on exploring the unknown, collaboratively built during play. The story unfolds organically through the worldbuilding, character arcs, and the details the GM and players develop together. As a GM, facilitate discussions to expand on these elements, using the players’ input to iteratively build the narrative. In this approach, gameplay becomes naturally character-centric, as the driving issues stem primarily from character arcs rather than predefined story hooks. That doesn’t mean a story hook can’t exist when playing-to-find-out, it just leans more into character arcs as a driving force.

Playset Adventures

A playset is a preconstructed adventure or monster hunt, offering a structured experience with predefined elements such as a central problem, opposition, obstacles, or threats. It also includes story hooks and details for the GM to guide the PCs. While the playset provides a framework, the narrative should still evolve collaboratively with the players. As a GM, use the story hooks and worldbuilding to guide the PCs forward, then weave in character arcs when appropriate to make the story feel more dynamic and personalized.

Goals and Resolutions

An adventure should have a clear goal or resolution—or at least something the players perceive as a finale. This might involve defeating a monster or enemy, saving a person or place from harm, uncovering a secret, or achieving something that meaningfully impacts the world. The players should share an understanding of what they’re working toward, even if the actual goal shifts or evolves during play. The adventure’s resolution should feel impactful and rewarding, tying back to both the shared narrative and the choices the players made along the way.

Campaigns

A campaign is a long-term game spanning multiple adventures, weaving together narratives that grow and evolve over time. A campaign is optional to run, but can offer a rich storytelling experience, allowing characters to develop and the world to expand in meaningful ways.

Structuring Campaigns

Campaigns are thematically connected adventures spanning over longer time, sometimes in-game years, and can be connected and structured in different ways, depending on the type of story you want to tell:

Connected Adventures – Self-contained stories that are tied together through linked preplanned events, characters, or themes. Mostly used for playsets or well-framed playing-to-find-out approaches. Relies mostly on story hooks, but character arcs might come into play.
Overarching Storylines – A larger narrative that spans several interconnected adventures, in a more or less subtle way, with a common goal or antagonist driving the story forward, requiring some GM planning, or the use of playsets. Utilize both story hooks and characters to drive play.
Emergent Stories – Improvised adventures and plots discovered and explored with a play-to-find-out approach, evolving naturally as characters interact with the world and uncover hidden hooks. Relies on character driven play, where arcs takes the front and center of player agency.

Depending on the play approach, campaigns are a high-level generally unpredictable for both players and GMs. When you as a GM want to run and plan for a campaign, a good approach for this is to prepare initial hooks and threads, subsequent adventures can be discovered and developed collaboratively during play. While campaigns don’t have standalone story hooks, they can collect multiple adventures under a shared larger goal or theme.

Once a campaign reaches its end, each surviving character may switch their playbook, even if all of its content isn’t fully attained, and transfer all previous insights and talents to the new. However, changing a playbook is a life-changing experience, and should be explained thoroughly in the fiction during play.

Downtime

During downtime – the out-of-character time between adventures and scenarios – players can focus on their characters’ personal growth, wealth, and other pursuits. Each player may take one action per season (approximately three months) of downtime. The GM determines how many seasons pass between adventures or can roll a die to decide. Sometimes

Recovering and Rest

Regaining Health – Spend downtime resting and recovering from wounds. You may reduce or clear conditions or improve your health track if you dedicate the time needed. The GM will determine how much recovery is reasonable based on the narrative.
Improving Morale – Use downtime to recuperate emotionally, engage in personal rituals, or reconnect with allies, refreshing facets tied to mental strain or stress.
Reducing Harm Penalties – If a condition or harm imposes disadvantages, recovering downtime may partially or fully reduce its negative effects over time.

Projects

Starting a project – Use downtime to initiate a creative or practical undertaking, like building something, researching a topic, or crafting items. Projects often consist of multiple progress slots.
Completing a project – Focus downtime on progressing an existing project, filling its slots based on your narration, dice rolls, or roleplay outcomes.
Discovering opportunities – Spend time exploring new ideas or locations that could lead to future challenges or story developments.
Assisting others – Collaborate on a shared project or help another PC progress theirs by spending downtime working together.

Explore and Train

Exploring the World – Use downtime to visit new places, map regions, or establish connections with NPCs in nearby settlements. This can lead to new opportunities or story hooks.
Training a Skill – Dedicate time to honing an existing skill facet or developing a new one. The GM may require a narrative justification or a successful challenge to reflect progress.
Learning From a Mentor – Seek out a teacher or guide to help you develop new skills, improve traits, or acquire new abilities. This requires finding an NPC willing to assist.
Reflecting on Past Events – Reflect on your experiences, aligning them with your character’s arcs or goals to gain insights for future growth.

Trade

Acquiring Goods – Use downtime to gather materials, trinkets, or refined products from local settlements or tradesmen. Mark them in your equipment slots and describe how you obtained them.
Bartering and Trading – Exchange goods or services for something valuable or unique. Your wealth state determines your ability to negotiate favorable terms.
Exploring Markets – Spend downtime seeking rare or specific items that could be valuable for future challenges or projects.
Establishing Trade Connections – Build or strengthen relationships with merchants, creating opportunities for better deals or future collaborations.

Expenditures

Maintaining Wealth – If you don’t dedicate downtime to trading or providing services, your wealth may decline. You must pay one pouch to reflect ongoing living expenses.
Covering Upkeep – Ensure your possessions, assets, or properties are maintained. Failing to do so could lead to narrative consequences or reduced functionality.
Investing in Opportunities – Use wealth to initiate new ventures, expand your resources, or improve existing assets.
Paying Debts or Fines – Use downtime to clear outstanding obligations, such as financial debts, owed favors, or penalties from past actions.