Boozer's Solo Design Guide
Boozer's Solo Design Guide by
Some people have asked me how I write my mini-solos and how I do them so quickly. Well, if it helps, here is the method I currently use when writing a new mini-solo. It is probably nothing unusual, but at least one person I spoke to recently said, when I told them how I did it, "I would never have thought of doing it that way!" so here it is…
- Draw a map. Assuming you already have your basic scenario idea, (keep it short and simple - you can expand it if you discover you have extra paragraphs available as you work it out), draw a map. If it is a dungeon, keep it small and simple. If it is an outdoor adventure, briefly sketch the area the solo covers and draw arrows or paths to connected areas. If you try and work everything out in your head, whatever the style of the solo story, you are doomed to struggle, and hair-loss is a possibility…
- Begin your working document. I use MS Word, (or use a pad of paper if you are not a PC user) and list the number of paragraphs I intend to go up to. I type them all in order - leave a space between them, enough to write a good-sized paragraph if you are using pen & paper. In Word it doesn't matter. Give the solo a working title and maybe pen a brief introduction at this point and some solo guidelines, e.g. This is for 5th level warriors with no greater than 80 adds…
- Construct a grid. I use an Excel worksheet, as shown in the example below, but squared paper would work just fine. I number the boxes depending on how many paragraphs I have decided to have. The squares, (or cells if you are using Excel), will be filled-in as the solo progresses. Use a simple key to track your solo progress. This also helps when linking areas to save on duplicating exits or death references. Try and use the grid to give your solo some paragraph discipline. Try not to have paragraphs going to other paragraphs close by them. Space them out, make the player turn some pages and don't make it easy to cheat by looking further up or down the page to see what happens… If your columns are in say tens, you can easily keep paragraphs apart by choosing the next column to link a paragraph to.
- Write your solo! Use your Working Document and write the paragraphs as you go, working closely to your map or solo plan, and tick-off or colour code the cells/boxes as soon as you have written a paragraph and included the new numbers to link it to. Keep it simple and don't waffle-on. With a mini-solo you can't afford to, and the player may get bored. Keep the paragraphs short and punchy. Include as much detail and colour as you can without using too many words. Try and include as many story paths as you can, depending completely, of course, on the number of paragraphs you have decided to limit the solo to. If you find that you have more ideas, well heck you can expand the solo as you go, adding maybe another ten paragraphs. But if you do this, make sure you don't have all your new story paragraphs in the new section of the solo that you have just added, otherwise it will read strangely and it will be obvious what you have done. Try and intertwine the story across all of your paragraphs from 1 to whatever.
- Fine-tuning. Read it through and follow every possible story track and paragraph link. Make sure there are no 'terminal loops' where a player can go around and around endlessly, gaining treasure or magic. Make sure there are no 'dead' paragraphs that lead nowhere and that type of thing. With a mini-solo of about 40-60 paragraphs it's quite easy, but when you start getting up to 100+ paragraphs, mistakes can easily creep-in un-noticed.
- Complete your solo Add the final touches and extras like WM and treasure tables. Whether it is handwritten or printed slickly from your PC, you will hopefully have an adventure to be proud of.
Give it a try, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it, and become a master of the Tunnels & Trolls mini-solo!
The Tavern Master
Of the Hobgoblin's Tavern
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