Onion Plots, An Alternative to Linear Narratives For Game Masters

Every game master knows the pain of players wandering off into the weeds, and away from the plot they had ready. The challenge in this instance is respecting your players' autonomy to go where they want and to explore the world in their own way, while also trying to get them to actually go toward the destination and story you have prepared for them. And no matter how artfully you push, players can feel like they're being railroaded and just driven along the preset path without any choice when you start manipulating things from behind the scenes.

Something that can often help in this instance is to think of your plot not in terms of a line between A and B, but rather as if it were layers of an onion. It doesn't matter where your players start peeling at the onion, because any point of entry can progress them closer to the goal.

Ogres are optional.

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What is an Onion Plot, And How Does It Work?

When most of us think of plot in an RPG, we tend to think in terms of straight lines. The party fights goblins in encounter A, this leads them to go up road B to the caverns, and then to go into cave C to slay the leader and rescue the hostages. If they deviate from this path (the party ignores the goblins and keeps moving, they save the town but elect not to go up to the caverns, or to go a different route than the one you prepared, etc.) it can throw you for a loop as a GM.

Instead of thinking of the game in branching paths, like you get in video games and other linear narratives, you need to think of your game in terms of layers instead.

It's just one mask atop another mask.

So, let's take the following campaign premise. The central thrust of this arc is the goblin war chief is raiding surrounding towns. However, the chief is doing this at the behest of a local nobleman in order to justify a clamp down from the duke who wants to expand his military presence. The goblins provide destruction, take hostages, steal things, etc., and this gives the duke the political leverage to recruit, train, and deploy more of his own men across the region. An action that, in other circumstances, would be highly suspicious. Once the duke has an iron fist across the region his plan is to consolidate power, and to draw more allies to him. He then plans to repeat this success with other monstrous allies, growing his forces exponentially until his personal army rivals the king's, allowing him to seize power.

That's the whole onion, and your players are going to start on the outermost rim of it. The actions they take, or don't take, is what determines how they get to the next layer.

Say they defend the town from goblin attack, because they're in the town and it was at least partially self-defense. If they track the goblins back and kill the warchief in the caverns, so much the better, that will end the threat entirely. If they don't do that, word will spread back to the chief about the stiff resistance from one particular village. So now goblin forces will need to be drawn away from other towns and raids, bringing the fight to the party. This will eventually force the party to fight for their lives, as even escaping may be impossible. In either case, the goblin threat will be dealt with, and the party will have thrown a spanner into the duke's plans.

Now you've entered the second layer. The duke wants to expand control over the area, but with his goblin allies defeated he has to now take another tack. Perhaps he approaches the party to try to recruit them to his army. If the party agrees, you now have the ability to send them out to "problem" areas that aren't in the duke's hair, hoping they are killed so his plans can continue. Perhaps the "rebellion" they are putting down informs them of the knights who came, executing dissidents and hanging so-called traitors without authority, thus showing the duke's hand early. Perhaps young men were being press-ganged into the army, and the townsfolk are resisting what is basically the kidnapping of their young men. If the party refuses the duke's offer, then the nobleman can send his own men disguised as bandits to try to assassinate the party and eliminate them that way. Either way, the party faces danger, and in the end will become a much larger thorn in the duke's side.

And so on, and so forth.

Focus on The Goals Instead of The Methods

This is something I've said before, but it bears serious repeating. Focus on what you want the party to do, rather than how you want them to do it. If you create the scenario, just roll with what actions the PCs take, keeping the big picture in mind.

Trust me, it's ALL connected!

The major advantage of thinking of your plot in terms of layers, rather than in terms of lines, is that it stops you from getting overly hung up on how you want the PCs to accomplish their goals. If they want to fight the mercenary band of orc raiders, cool, throw down in a field and call it a day! If they want to wage a campaign of assassination and poisoning, taking the orcs out one by one, that gets the job done, too. Maybe they want to negotiate with the orc leaders and become their new paymasters, giving them a fair wage and benefits to staff the abandoned fortress the party recently acquired. If that's within the sensible nature of the leaders of the band, there's no reason that couldn't work... and if you want to throw in a complication like the mercenaries' mates and children are being held hostage by a cult forcing them to fight, now the party can save the children, defeat the cult that was going to be the next big enemy early, and make a slew of new allies in the process!

If you think of your plot in terms of layers of complication that are fluid, and able to respond and change to fit what your party does, it allows you to give players that freedom and agency, while also maintaining some kind of structure for the story you're trying to run. Because you may not know how the party is going to defeat a given challenge, but whatever they do is going to cause ripples, and that will peel back the layers as they go.

Additional Reading

I didn't have any organic way to work in some links for my other articles and projects, but folks who liked this article should definitely check out the following.

- The Onion of Secrets (A Character Concept With Layers): This unusual character concept piece is the one that indirectly inspired this Monday's post. As such, I figured those who want to make characters who keep a lot of different secrets going might enjoy it... applicable to PCs and NPCs alike!

- Critical Hits: The Curse of Sapphire Lake: With the spooky season upon us, I thought I'd share this module of mine for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. It's been struggling to get over that Copper metal status, so check it out... especially since it offers your players multiple endings depending on the actions they take!

- 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest: A system-neutral list of potential incidents, this is always a good one to keep up your sleeve if you want your players to stay on their toes while they're traveling through fey territory.

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Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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The Onion of Secrets (A Character Concept With Layers)

The inquisitor stormed into the room, his black robes billowing in his wake. The broad-shouldered, silver-haired Lord Janus Arendt stood near the window, leaning on his cane. His blue eyes showed mild surprise, but nothing else as the man in black approached him.

 

"My lord inquisitor, what a-"

 

"Silence!" The robed investigator hissed. "It is the only way you will be able to escape this unscathed, Lord Arendt. Understand?"

 

The inquisitor's tone was thick with scorn, but the older man simply nodded, as if he'd been politely greeted. He waited, his hands atop the intricate walking stick that he always carried. Once he was certain the man wasn't going to interrupt, the black-clad harbinger of the law began to speak.

 

"The person who calls herself the Black Rose has been meeting with members of the nobility. Those who would be considered disloyal, and open to corruption," the inquisitor said. "She is recruiting them to act in a coupe against the governor, and to force him from his rightful seat of power."

 

The silver-haired lord said nothing. His expression did not change, nor did he so much as shift his weight. When he said nothing, the man in black continued in a more measured tone.

 

"The sort of lord, for example, who has debts to the illicit gambling houses in the east quarter," the inquisitor said, his smile growing wider. "And who, despite his marriage to one of the great beauties of the city, often doesn't leave the Swallows Den until sunrise."

 

"What do you want, inquisitor?" Janus asked, tiredly.

 

"If this so-called Black Rose contacts you, you are to agree to assist her," the inquisitor said. "You will forward any information she gives you to me. In exchange my men will forget the places you go, and the slanderous things that go on there. You will be left to your life, and what little lands you have. Do you understand?"

 

Janus turned away from the inquisitor, glancing out the window. He leaned on his cane, shoulders slumped, and his jaw tight. Finally he said, "Yes. I understand."

 

The inquisitor tarried a moment to ensure his silence drove the point home. Then he turned on his heel, and left in the same whirl of movement as he'd come. The lord of the manor didn't move, staying at the window as he watched the man in black climb back into his carriage, and head off down the road.

 

"What a tedious little man," a voice said from near the fire.

 

Janus turned, and beheld a masked figure all in black. Black leather sheathed them from head to toe, and enameled daggers were slung low on their thighs, as well as under the arms. A black cloak seemed to meld into the flickering shadows. Janus twitched the curtain closed at his back, ensuring none could see within. Then he swept the figure up in his arms, clinging close.

 

"Careful Janus," the Black Rose whispered. "My ribs still ache."

 

"Yours and mine both," he said, tugging off the mask to reveal the beautiful, full-lipped face of his wife, the Lady Elsabeth Arendt.

 

The two of them kissed, clutching onto each other in the half-light of the study. When she finally broke the kiss, she sighed against her husband's broad chest. "It's getting dangerous out there. More so than it was."

 

"Darling," he said, tilting her chin up to look into her eyes. "Are you asking what I think you are?"

 

She took his hand, and smiled. It was a small, secret smile. "I know you haven't worn that mask in years. But would you? For me?"

 

"It would be my honor," he said, pressing the hidden lever that opened the stairway behind the bookcase. The two of them descended into the catacombs that ran beneath the city, and where secret tunnels ran to brothels, gambling dens, and so much more if one knew the ways. The Black Rose, and her companion the Shadow Thorn walked into the darkness together, ready to put an end to the small plans of the small men who'd had their boots on the people's throats for far too long.

 

What truly lies beneath our masks?

 

The Character With Secrets

We've all played characters with secrets. Whether it's the noble born knight trying to pass himself off as a common sellsword, or the former assassin trying to leave their old life behind, these secrets are usually kept up our sleeves to be played at dramatic moments later in the game. The Onion of Secrets, by contrast, is a character who has more than one layer of secrets active at any time.

The keys to these characters is to make sure that your secrets are relevant to the game at hand, that they do not pit you against the other players at the table, and that there's several of them to be revealed as the game goes on.

There's always something more.

If you're a Pathfinder player, one of the easiest ways to get this ball rolling is to play a vigilante. The dual identity allows one to lead a double life that can't be easily exposed by divination and other spells, and for those looking for inspiration I recently put together 5 Tips For Playing Better Vigilantes along with the supplement A Baker's Dozen of Fantasy Vigilantes to get the wheels turning. For those who enjoy the alchemist, however, the Master Chymist prestige class can offer a similar dual identity that can be equally fun to play with using the mutagenic form.

Whether you choose to use these classes or not, though, there are all sorts of secrets you can build into your character. For example:

- Membership to an organization you do not disclose.

- Belonging to a different social class than you claim.

- Possessing a curse, corruption, or affliction your companions don't know about.

- Fleeing a former life/old debts.

- A secret goal you've told no one about.

While any one of these things can work as a fun hole card for your character, the key to the Onion of Secrets is that someone discovering one secret may lead to another coming into play. Or the implications of multiple secrets all coming to a head as part of a plot.

As an example, take the swordsman Tarn Dalls. Though he claims to be nothing more than an experienced mercenary, Tarn's swordsmanship, linguistic palate, and other skills are suspiciously broad. Because the truth is that he is a prince who went into exile so there would be no war for the throne. He agrees to lead the secret society of the Red Dust with the rest of the party to overthrown the tyrant his brother has become, but his true goal is to liberate his mother and his sister from their prison inside the palace.

Alternatively, consider Shareen DeForest. Though most believe her a noblewoman from a neighboring land with some skills in languages and scholarly matters, in truth she's a common thief. She built this false life for herself, trying to buy her way out of membership in the Gravetouched, but the last job she pulled for the gang left her with a dark secret; the spirit of an unquiet ghost that shares her mind. She can sometimes pacify the ghost with little gestures, but there are times where Shareen will lose hours of time. Others where she'll wind up in places she's never been. She's been trying to find a way to put the ghost to rest, but if someone recognizes her from the old days all it would take is a few words in the wrong ears and everyone would know the truth.

Overlapping Your Secrets

The key to remember with an Onion of Secrets is that you need at least two layers (though the more the merrier), and that while they can be related, revealing one shouldn't inherently reveal all of them. Additionally, you should work with your GM to make sure your secrets are relevant to the plot, and you should give at least a little foreshadowing that there's more going on than meets the eye to the others at the table. I talked about this in Reveal Details About Your Character Through Flavor-Based Skill Checks, but it bears repeating; if you have secrets, they need to come out at some point. More importantly, there should be hints that there's something going on below the surface. Otherwise it just feels like the end of a Scooby-Doo episode where we pull off the mask to reveal someone we've never heard of, and who we couldn't have guessed was the ghost behind this week's haunting.

Lastly, and I cannot stress this enough, do not purposefully keep secrets that are going to put you at odds with the rest of the party. If your character has been a deep-cover operative for half the campaign, then make sure they're representing a neutral third-party, or a secret society that can assist the party, or something like that. Because while it might sound like a cool idea, a lot of tables will view it as unsanctioned player-versus-player, and it can lead to hurt feelings, and a stymied game. If you need some fun examples then you might want to check out 100 Secret Societies as well as 100 Fantasy Guilds.

Make sure your secrets add to the game, that they are something everyone can have fun with, and if you know your table, intertwine them with some other players' secrets without giving each other too many details. It can make for a daisy chain of surprises when the revelations start coming, and more importantly it can avoid the feeling like you're the only one doing big plot reveals.

 

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Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!