CREATE QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS - SIMPLE TIPS FOR CREATING ROBUST CAMPAIGN

 

Reading comics over a long span of time can give the impression of vast, spanning tales but the simple fact is that very few of the sagas we know are the result of thought-out, well-planned stortelling. Many are, in fact, the result of questions let unanswered only to be answered at a later time in the characters' timelines. 

Questions, in this context, are any sort of unanswered, unaddressed plotpoint that can be/is later expanded upon, adding to the story. Deaths, disappearances, and ambiguous fates are some of the mainstays of comics. So too are mysterious relations, vague or unknown pasts. Any unanswered question or unfinished business is fuel for the campaign. 

A willingness to create questions and accept their answers is one of the stongest tools for players and GMs to use when playing a superhero campaign. A willingness to explore the answers to questions will, over time create the same sorts of wild stories that bring comics fans back time and again.

DON'T ASK

A simple tip for creating robust campaign. 

While everything said above is still good advice another piece of advice I have almost seems contrary to what I have already said. Acceptance is a useful trait for players of superhero games (and other games) to develop. While creating questions is a time honored tool for telling comics stories it is just as important to trust the process and accept the creative, obscure, and sometimes seemingly obtuse answers that develop for those same questions. 

This, of course, requires faith in your GM and a "trust the process" sort of mentality but it also requires your GM to come up with interesting and imaginative answers to questions that are created during play. Get comfortable letting things play out. Villain you though was dead is back? Great! Now you get to figure out how this happened. Is it truly him? A clone? A successor? An unknown sibling or child? Is it all a clever ruse perpetrated by another, as yet, uknown villain? Maybe it's a manifestation of the hero's own guilt coming back to haunt them? Because comic books themselves are so wild with their questions and answers, you should feel no hesitation in doing so in your own games. When your GM throws a curve at you, just swing and not worry about whether or not you have any chance of hitting the ball.

CREATING QUESTIONS 

When creating questions I find the simplest way is to take brief notes about how encounters play out. Make specific notes about any interesting things that occur during fights or other interactions like collatoral damage, the types of attacks that inflict certain results. These things will give context for potential questions to ask yourself (as a GM) after the game. 

After the game, go through your notes and for each noteable event during the encounter make a few "questions" for each item on your list. 

Some types of questions you might ask are listed below - 

Did a building get damaged or destroyed? If so did anyone survive? 

Does anyone hold a grudge? 

What was in the building and could it have created an origin accident that created a new villain or even hero? 

How was the vilain defeated in an encounter? 

Did they flee? 

Were they killed in an ambiguous manner? 

Were the heroes able to verify their defeat? 

Were they sent somewhere else? 

Who might take issue with the villain's defeat? 

Were any of the heroes' loved ones or important NPCs in the area when a battle occurred? 

How were they affected? 

Is there anyone who might now see the heroes in a new light? 

Is there any interesting fallout from the use of the heroes' or enemies' powers? 

The questions are nearly limitless and a GM should feel free to get as crazy and creative with them as possible. It is also perfectly acceptable to include the players in this. Ask your players if they can think of any cool ideas that might spawn from a session and write them down. The players will never known if or when you will use them but like any comic book reader, they will be asking those questions with every subsequent session.

What are some instances in which you creating questions and how did you play them out later?