Wrote an adventure using story cubes for inspiration

#1

Hi all,
Joining this community and learning all about ICRPG and roleplaying in general, I saw the consensus that a physical journal was rather important to many.

So I bought one and started stuffing it with bits and pieces of helpful reminders from the various rulebooks, videos, and from the community here.

Today I promised myself I’d would write something original in the journal and consider it complete regardless of its ultimate finished quality.

Honestly it was a struggle to even start because i don’t have a tonne of writing experience, my handwriting ain’t great either and well I just didn’t want to comment something sucky to paper.

Anyway I started and completed it and I can see where I would do things different if I was to do it again (probably would have spread it over 4 pages rather than 2. Then again the 2 page limit I was aiming for
Can have pros too.

Either way I rolled 18 story dice and used the following dice to write the adventure.

Enjoy and if you have any feedback at all I would like to here it.

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#2

Not wanting to commit something sucky to paper is probably pretty common when starting out, I think I suffer from this as well. However, I think the point of the notebook is to put down ideas regardless of being perfect just to get the creative juices flowing and to break up the blocks. It looks like you have made a good start here!

I love the story cube idea! I have had it in the back of my mind to make my own rpg specific dice along the same lines, perhaps someday I will get to that (too many other projects going on at the moment).

#3

I love those cubes. I have every set in a big dice bag and use them every session. They and the Mythic GME are essential for solo gaming as well, which I do a lot of.

#4

Feedback – > Mind you, this is only because you asked. Why write so much? Ask yourself if I was making a speech in front of a room, how much would I need to see to say what I want to say? This is where my personal mind is right now.

I feel like when I write a lot and then try to run a session using it, I lose my players because I’m in my NOTES rather than in their faces. Or, which is worse, I get so determined to see my writing be the story that I fail to adapt when the players do something that flips it entirely on its head because I want to see what I crafted rather than what they want to actually do.

EXAMPLE:

INTRO

  • Fire! (glowing sky, rushing bodies, alarms blaring)
  • Crowd – WIS checks to spot disfigured man slipping away
  • Patron – solicits party; it was his building

QUESTION: How do you use the story cubes? Did you roll a handful and then break them out into chunks like that or is that just to fit in your photo? I’ve seen people post about the cubes before but never did much in the way of reading them to know how people use them :wink:

#5

Breaking up the mental blocks and attempting new pathways in this old noggin is exactly then reason I am doing it.

Story cubes were helpful in providing some direction. Also I had read a criticism of the Batman set that they though tit was less useful because the images had more specificity. I mean maybe but I used a bunch of them an none felt restricted.

#6

I’m looking up Mythic GME.
Do you use the book or the cards?

#7

Hey BigGrump I appreciate you taking the time to push me.

Why did I write so much?

First and foremost if I was writing it to run it I may not have written as much but As this was more just about pushing myself to do it shrugs

I’m new to RPGs, old to life, and not good at picturing the small details, so I specifically wanted to get some of those down.

Lastly and least importantly while it could certainly be more brief in the word count, it’s still isn’t as many words as hankerin uses in his own adventures in his published materials. That said I don’t want to compare the quality of the adventure or writing style.

QUESTION: How do you use the story cubes? Did you roll a handful and then break them out into chunks like that or is that just to fit in your photo? I’ve seen people post about the cubes before but never did much in the way of reading them to know how people use them :wink:

Thanks for asking, I simply rolled 18 dice (Original + Batman sets) and took them as I was writing and grouping them into story beats. So the groups as they are pictured are just how I though the story beats or perhaps scene were broken up.

I didn’t have rules about using a specific number in a set number of groups or anything like that.

Next adventure i write up i May use the ICRPG index cards I the same way and see how I go. Seeing I have 4 times the number rid cars images than Dice images.

#8

I have the PDF and after reading through the rules I printed off the 3 Charts and just use those. It is very easy to learn and use. I have never used the cards because they came out after I had the PDF so I just didn’t invest in them. I recommend watching an episode of “Me, Myself & Die” on Youtube to see it in action.

#9

Fantastic man

[must write 20 characters to enter!]

#10

I’ve been bingeing this all weekend and it has taken my solo gaming to a new level. Thanks for the recommendation!

#11

You will have a post something and the images you Used :slight_smile:

#12

The physical journal is pretty clutch. It helps me keep things brief. The campaigns I’ve run out of a google drive folder, I normally wind up writing buckets of unused text. Physical pen on paper forces a certain brevity, for sure.

That said - no wrong way to do it. If it leads to you being inspired to do cool stuff with your players and your group has fun at the table, that’s the ultimate mark of quality there.

I love the story cubes, and I like what you did with them in your journal. I’m going to look for some.

#13

I’m the same way. My Google Keep has tons of stuff but when I run games I’ll usually put the major points in a notebook and run off of one to two pages. Its good to get the story out and down on something but at the same time nothing slows a game down like digging through pages.