Storytelling Tip — Keep balance in your story

When I run Scarred Lands games, or any RPG game for that matter, the players are certain, that when they come across an epic item, be it the long lost sword of Corean, the mantel of Drendari, or the shotgun of a Scion of Thor — it is a sign that they should be very afraid of what is coming around the next corner.

Epic encounters with medium and low encounters, are good for the game, because they give a preview of what is coming up in later adventures and story-lines, but they should never be the norm, nor should they be used in a way that allows the characters to advance faster in one area than is good for the game.

Most of the time I use them as non-player encounters. That is to say that the characters are all there, looking on, and watching the action unfold, but are not directly involved. While the players will always act/ask/beg for higher level involvement, they don’t really want it, and it is a sure way to see a group fold up under the storyteller.

The the Storytelling system, this is fairly easy advice to adhere to, as scenes are developed with balance in mind — but you know as well as I do that scenes are rarely played exactly as they are from the box — after all, it is Story Telling, not Story Reciting.