PREPPING SCENARIO TIMELINES

An Essay by Justin Alexander

This is an example of prepping a detailed scenario timeline, an important part of scenario-based prep as described in Don't Prep Plots. It's taken from my current campaign, In the Shadow of the Spire.

The basic scenario is the "Temple of Deep Chaos", which is part of Monte Cook's Night of Dissolution, a series of interconnected adventures set in the city of Ptolus.  All you need to know for the purposes of this example is that several groups of cultists -- the Ebon Hand, the Brotherhood of Venom, and the Cult of the Tolling Bell -- have joined forces to conduct a series of vile experiments. They have taken over an apartment building and have been experimenting on the former residents, transforming them into venom-shaped thralls.

In the depths beneath the apartment complex, there is an extensive temple complex dedicated to the ancient gods of chaos.

INITIAL CONDITIONS

When the PCs first arrive at the apartment complex, tensions are rising between the three cults. In the original adventure, in fact, two members of the Brotherhood of Venom have killed an Ebon Hand cultist on the second floor of the apartment complex just moments before the PCs arrive. When the PCs eventually open the door to this room on the second floor, they're confronted by the two murderers stooping over the body of their victim.

Wanting to make things a bit more dynamic, I decided to alter this set-up slightly: The fight between the cultists would start a few minutes after the PCs first entered the apartment complex. I had the vague idea that they would hear the sounds of combat coming from upstairs and be able to either investigate it or avoid it at their choosing.

Fortunately, I didn't spend too much time thinking about it because that isn't even remotely what happened. Instead two of the PCs snuck into the neighboring apartment building and used clairvoyance to spy on the compound. This triggered the murderous cultists and started the ball rolling. The PCs then left the area.

In addition, one of the PCs (Tee) had ended up working for the cultists. From midnight to 6 AM every day, she kept a surrepitious watch on the apartment building from an alley across the street.

FIRST TIMELINE

As part of the prep for my campaign, I maintain a Campaign Status document. This is my one-stop shop for (a) daily news on the street; (b) upcoming events; (c) the activities of major NPCs; (d) the status of dangling plot threads; and (e) the developing status of hot spots in the campaign (like this apartment complex).

So as part of my prep following the session in which they witnessed the murder (and started events rolling at the apartment complex), I wrote up the following timeline of events:

The names and many of the details may be meaningless without the larger context of the scenario, but hopefully the gist of it is clear: If the PCs do absolutely nothing, these are the events that happen, culminating on 9/20/790 with the complex settling into a new status quo. The fact that Tee would probably be watching the complex meant that I had to be relatively specific about what she would and wouldn't see, but even if she hadn't been there I still would have laid out a timeline with a similar amount of daily detail.

(The new status quo was a convenient stopping point, but even without that I wouldn't have bothered planning much further in advance. I thought it very likely that the PCs would return to the apartment complex within a few days and, thus completely change the situation. But even if they didn't, there was no sense prepping stuff that wouldn't happen for at least three or four sessions.)

SECOND TIMELINE

In the wee hours of 09/18/790, Tee observed the commotion that started when Reggaloch's body was found. Using boots of levitation she snuck up to a window and watched the whole thing unfold.

Later that day, the PCs did, in fact, return to the complex and wreak havoc. They raided the apartment building and began destroying the research. I decided, based on my timeline, that Uranik would come up out of the temple midway through their raid. They capture Uranik and another cultist named Arveth, question them, knock them unconscious, and leave them in the sewer. Then they started a raid on the temple. Zlith, Grealdan, and Vocaetun were killed. A garrison of ratmen was wiped out. Theral fled into the sewers.

The PCs were eventually forced to retreat, but by that point everything had changed. This prompted the creation of my second timeline:

I use strike-thru text for events that have already happened. I used to simply remove past events from the timeline, but I found that there were times when I needed to reference that information. The strike-thru lets me still read it if I need to, but clearly distinguishes it from the stuff I need to be paying attention to for the current session.

This timeline, you'll note, has a lot more detail to it. Because the PCs so thoroughly disrupted the cult's activities and defenses, it's important for me to know exactly what state those defenses are in when they return -- whether that's an hour after they left, a day after they left, or a week after they left. By the 22nd, those defenses have pretty much stabilized and the compound has reached a new status quo.

I actually have no idea how the Dilar-led attack on the 24th will turn out. My guess is that I'll never have to worry about it because the PCs will return to the temple before it happens. (Of course, even if the PCs wipe out the temple, Dilar and the Brotherhood of Venom will still be out there. Maybe I'll have them launch their attack of vengeance on the Temple of the Ebon Hand directly. That could be nifty.)

In any case, if the PCs interfere with these events again I may need to revise the timeline. (Unless, of course, the PCs decisively resolve the temple once and for all. In that case, I can drop it from my Campaign Status document entirely.)