Confessions of a Game-Mistress

If you liked the idea of the evocative words, let me give you a further seed with the idea.

Do the titles first.

Yes, I really mean it. Sit down and dream up interesting titles. If you have ideas for the flow of the game, you can pick some words that pertain to it to put in the mix, but don’t let it get in the way of your creativity. Once you’ve got some titles you like, then consider how they could fit your campaign. The title from the last blog, “The Elements of Decay”, actually was created before I thought to attach it to the adventure I described. After I’d had the idea to generate titles from evocative words for episodes, I made a list of cool titles. When I was done, I thought about what was upcoming, and realized I had a few that fit perfectly.

And what about the rest? That’s the beauty of making the titles first. The titles themselves suggest the adventures! Just examine what you’ve created, and let your imagination run wild. Here’s another example, right off my list of ideas: “An Invocation of Shadows”. What does that conjure up in your mind? Invocation - I see a powerful figure calling others to him. (Why? For what purpose?) Shadows - shadows is a great word. It could mean so many different things. It could mean they’re literally shadows. Or, it could mean they’re stealthy individuals. Alternately, they could be mages who simply send magical projections instead of their real forms. To be less literal, what if the invocation’s not a calling of things, but ideas? Maybe the invocation is calling something into being, say, a perceived threat or challenge that’s not really there. (When I first heard the title of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” I thought it sounded cheesy. Then I saw the movie. And decided it was brilliant, because that’s precisely what Palpatine did. He created a phantom menace, the Trade Federation, to conceal his real plans. At another level, it refers to Palpatine himself, the true phantom behind the actions of the players. What’s more, that theme is continued by the holograms he uses to communicate - digital phantoms.)

As you can see, a good title can both inspire a story or enlighten it. A carefully chosen title could be used to call subtle attention to the main thread of the plot, just in case your players might miss it. “An Invocation of Shadows” might be the clue they need in retrospect to figure out that there was one guiding hand behind a collection of powers/ incidents/ creatures that were all encountered during the adventure. If you wanted to hint more broadly, you could attach particular words to creatures or villains. If every adventure that includes a lich has the word “hollow” in the title, the players will eventually pick up on the idea, even if only subconsciously.
Next time, we’ll look at a list of evocative words, and put them together in titles. Then we’ll take one from idea to finished plot.