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.

Before I get into the details, if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates then all you have to do is subscribe to my weekly newsletter! And if you're a regular reader who wants to help me keep the wheels greased and the lights on, consider becoming a Patreon patron today!

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.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

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!

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!

Using The Limiting Bolt In Your Games

Roleplaying games, by-and-large, move in a linear fashion. Your characters will overcome obstacles, fight enemies, gain XP, and increase their powers. Whether they gain levels, or buy their abilities piecemeal the way you do in non-level-based game, characters tend to start small, and grow tall. It's because of this that so many PCs start as newly-minted graduate wizards, farm boy heroes, and street-level toughs... because what else could they be?

For those who want to try something different, there is a method I mentioned back in Your Story Doesn't Have To Be Linear (Even If Your Levels Are) that I wanted to talk about today. Something that most readers will be familiar with, even if they don't know it by this name. I call it the Limiting Bolt.

And if you haven't seen this show, what have you been doing with your life?

For those not familiar with the above image, it's a shot from Farscape. The character on the left is Ka D'Argo, a Luxan. Luxans are huge, physically powerful, tough, capable of falling into berserker rages, have a venomous tongue that can punch through your head, and can scent out their target. And D'Argo boasts a sword that also fires energy blasts, so he hits all the marks of a badass character. However, note the rings fitted into his collarbones. Those rings had a chain run through them, and that was one thing that kept him in check. An attempt to break the chains would also snap his own bones, killing him. While he still had his physical abilities, those rings bound and limited him as long as there was still a chain through them.

That is what I mean by a Limiting Bolt. It is something that, for narrative purposes, limits a character's full power and potential until the narrative moment comes for that roadblock to be removed. Because mechanically your character might just be leveling up and gaining access to new powers for the first time... but if you've wanted them to have been a badass this whole time, then one of the simplest ways is to simply introduce a Limiting Bolt that was keeping a hand tied behind their back.

Don't Be Afraid To Get Creative With It

Limiting Bolts come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Some of them are physically implanted, some of them are inked or burned onto someone's skin, and others are literal limiting pieces of gear that are bound to the character. In some cases a Limiting Bolt might actually be a curse the character struggles under, a geas that holds back their full potential, or it could be an affliction that saps their strength and powers.

It's entirely up to you, and the DM you're asking to approve your mechanism, what form it takes. As long as the Limiting Bolt is a real force that affects your character, and you have to struggle against it to get some of your power back, then it should serve.

It may be as simple as proving your worth all over again.

 

For additional examples of Limiting Bolts you might want to try out, consider some of the following.

- Korak Vars was one of the strongest of the Bone Crunchers. It was why this orc raider survived the battle with the demon Vasanthis. Though he lived, the demon's blood and infernal weapons siphoned away much of his strength. Its corruption left his veins blackened, and reduced him to a shell of his former self. Still a skilled warrior, he is no longer capable of the legendary feats he could have easily accomplished before that fight.

- The Dread Evoker Lianaran Kasatherwithe was a terror to behold, able to raze entire armies to their boots with a wave of her hand. Though she was slain by the sorcerer Philianor, she was reincarnated into another form. Though life flows through her again, her mind feels foggy, and her fingers clumsy. She still knows names and dates, faces and lore, but there are blank spots. Dark places in her own mind that she has yet to truly unlock that she's sure contain her real power.

- Harshwen Godslayer burned with the blood of the heavens, searing the flesh of demons that would touch him. They could not slay him, but they could lock away the powers of his forebears, cutting him off from his own blood. Cold iron script tattooed onto his hands, his feet, his face, and across his back and chest, stripped from him the blessings of his god and his line, making him mortal... for all intents and purposes. While still a potent warrior, able to summon holy lights to heal allies and harm his foes, he is a lantern with a hood dropped over it. As the iron curses burn away, though, his powers begin to return to him.

No matter which version of this trope you end up using, it's important for your character to have an existing reputation that the Limiting Bolt undermines. Whether you were a great champion, a powerful spellcaster, or a deadly assassin, make sure you give clues to who you used to be so that others can figure out who your character is... or, rather who they were. More details on how to do this in Character Reputation in RPGs: The Small Legend.

Making Limiting Bolts Work in Your Game

The key to a Limiting Bolt is that you need to know specifically what capabilities of your character it limits, and how you need to overcome them. Because mechanically the answer is, "Gain XP, level up, get one step closer to the heinous badass your backstory says you were," but you should have some idea of what you need to do in order to remove the story constraint you've put on yourself.

If you were cursed, then have the curse break away in layers at dramatic moments. If you dishonored yourself before your god, show their favor returning in small ways over time (you can even combine this one with the previous suggestion, if you wish to). If you were poisoned, or succumbed to some disease, show yourself getting better in some way. Even if it's something like, "Being struck by the searing sword named Creatial seems to have burned away some of the contagion within you." If you acquired that weapon, this could be a way to more strongly story-bond your PC to it. Because sure, it's just a +1 flaming burst scimitar, but it's part of your story now.

This is the point where you should really work with your DM. Because some Limiting Bolts just come off at story appropriate moments (you slay a potent demon, and the curse of the Thousand Hells grows a little lighter on your shoulders, for example), and sometimes you have to do specific things (seek out the Guardian of Gwydion and have her anoint your brow as proof of your sincerity). Both are workable, and while the second one can often act as a driving force for your PC to go do things, it also requires more hands-on efforts from the DM.

Make sure your DM is willing to work with you on that, and ensure that your story of overcoming your limitations isn't going to constantly overshadow what the rest of the party is doing... unless, that is, you all have a similar Limiting Bolt, and you're all trying to overcome it!

Additional Reading

If you're looking for some useful reading that might get your ideas flowing, consider the following:

- 100 Random Oracular Pronouncements: Small pieces of lore and predictions of the future, this collection is filled with ominous portents that could easily be a part of curses and geases.

- 100 Unusual Aasimar: Whether individuals who can provide heavenly blessings, break portions of curses, or tell someone how to remove the taint of a fallen blade, these NPCs are handy to have around for dealing with Limiting Bolts.

- 100 Tieflings To Meet in Your Travels: For those walking the left hand path, tieflings often have forbidden knowledge that can be quite useful. How to break fell pacts, undo demonic curses, or to snap infernal bindings are things many of the NPCs in this collection may know just how to do.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. Hopefully you enjoyed, and if you've used this tactic successfully in your games why not leave a comment below?

For more of my work, check out my Vocal and Gamers archives, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, 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!