Designing Exercises

Start with the Aim

First question: why are you running this exercise? Common aims:

Explore how a future may pan out
Stress-test a new policy
Test teamwork under crisis

Map the aim to a single in-game goal for the players:

Coordinate a settlement with the stakeholders (Explore how a future may pan out)
Find the hackers responsible (Stress-test a new policy)
Reach the point where you have a working vaccine (Test teamwork under crisis)

A single clear goal gives the players direction from turn one.

Components of a Tight Exercise

Target length: 1200-2000 words of written material per exercise. Aim for tight, scannable prose the GM can repeat in their own words rather than read out like a script.

What a Tight Exercise Contains

Evocative name. Gets the GM excited to run it and the players excited to play it.
Background (~100 words). GM-facing briefing. Contains the secrets of the scenario - what really happened, what is going on behind the scenes.
2-3 hooks (~100 words). Different factions who might bring the players in, with different rewards. Makes the exercise slot into varied settings.
2-4 takeaways or rewards (~100 words). Not necessarily powerful items - could be quest leads, useful information, relationships.
2-4 opening events or complications (200-300 words). Set the stage, foreshadow what is coming, establish the texture of the environment.
6-10 beats or “rooms” (600-1200 words total, 50-100 words per beat). Each: a name, one-sentence description, and 2-4 bullets of detail. Never more.

Map the Stakeholders

For every stakeholder - players and NPCs alike - sketch the answers to:

Who are they?
What is their goal?
What stands between them and that goal?
What do they care about?
How are they most likely to go about it?

Use a 3-Act Plot Structure

The three-act structure is the standard narrative spine. It keeps the story easy to follow and fits comfortably in one sitting.

Injects and Complications

Pick 1-3 injects per session that twist the plot. They test the players' plans and keep the narrative from running on rails. Space them out - usually one before or during each act. Don't flood the table with moving pieces all at once.

Use Random Tables

Random tables add variety and surprise. They can generate anything from the motivations of an adversary to the epidemiology of a virus.

Unpredictability keeps the session exciting for you as well as the players.
They surface ideas you wouldn't have had alone - useful when you feel stuck.
They make the game feel real by pulling detail out of the mechanical layer.

Roll on a few tables before the session and keep the results in your back pocket. You don't have to use them all - a handful of pre-generated ideas means you won't be stuck for an inject or complication. See the Appendices (Section 19) for the full collection.

Scenario Generator Engine

The Scenario Generator Engine is a worksheet that walks you through the components above in one place: aim, stakeholders, three-act structure, injects. Use it as a loose narrative scaffold, not a rigid template.

Multi-Session Adventures

For a multi-session arc, split the three acts across three sessions. Each act becomes a session, each with its own milestone.

Design a full scenario and define the overall aim.
Define stakeholders and assign players to roles.
Break the overall aim into three logical milestones. Each milestone is an act.
Pick an objective task or defining question to answer at the end of each act.
Plant a complication or inject before each act so the path to the milestone is never a straight line.
Consider plausible outcomes, but stay flexible - improvise around the choices the players actually make.