Can You Adapt RPG Modules into Short Stories To Save Time?

I had intended to write some short stories based closely on pre-written RPG modules as an experiment.

There’s a dozen reasons to do this, but the benefit of using pre-written modules in particular was to save time with the prep before I started writing. I have a busy summer coming up and wanted to write x words per day without dropping the ball on something else in my life. Pre-written adventure modules seemed like an intersting angle.

When it comes time to write the story however, it turns out that this doesn’t save any time at all.

With one of these modules, you get a situation, a backstory, several maps, descriptions of characters, descriptions of encounters/scenes, ways the events could branch, descriptions of items, descriptions of threats like monsters or traps, and some other details. If this sounds like a ready-made-kit to just jump in and start writing, I would have agreed with you last week. But this week I basically disagree.

First of all, the characters, locations, items, etc., all need to all be fleshed out a little bit. Add 1-2 character flaws, a motivation, a name, etc to anybody who will be speaking or affecting the direction of the story. Including the stereotypical enemies who you want to make into real people. That’s not a big deal, and I was prepared for this (or so I thought).

Second, you try to understand the backstory and the situation and… suddenly you realize that nothing makes any sense. Or rather, it doesn’t make sense in the setting you were imagining these events to be taking place within. Or the style/sub-genre of story at least.

In other words, you might have a vague idea about the setting and sub-genre. Then you go to implant this story into that seting. And you hope that it will mesh nicely. But that story is built upon a different implied world and sub-genre, so it doesn’t mesh. It conflicts and contradicts.

It turns out that almost everything in an RPG, from the adventures to the resolution mechanics, imply a lot about the setting that these stories take place in. For example, having high hit points implies we’re in a world where fights are long, flashy, and dramatic.

So, in order to use these modules, I need to also figure out what this implied setting is, whether I like it, and what genre of adventure it’s going for—is this a Conan-esque swords and sorcery affair, or a high-fantasy epic, or will it be a gritty tale of throat-cutting like Game of Thrones?

Next thing you realize is that the implied setting that contextualizes the adventure is no good. Not because the story wouldn’t be fun, but because it’s just… problematic. Some are sort of like tales of colonialism told from the point of view of the British.

This is fixable! But you have to modify the adventures to do so. And that takes work.

Then, finally, after working all that out, you go back to your characters from earlier and realize that they no longer fit into the world or the sub-genre any more. And you have to rewrite them all over again.

You end up changing so many details that you’ve ended up doing the prep for an entirely custom scenario/story and you didn’t need the original module at all. All you got from it was 1-2 paragraphs of inspirational material that wasn’t really necessary because you have a big list of story ideas already with more usable notes.

So… I will still write some stories based on RPG scenarios. I’m just no longer sure whether they will be pre-made. I would like them to be, but it isn’t necessary for the experiment I have in mind. It might be best to just bite the bullet and make a few of my own from scratch. Unless I find some different modules to try. I have a couple in mind already actually…

I’ve been game-mastering for over twenty years by the way.

I’ll describe the experiment later. It’s a bit weird, but I believe it has at least some literary merit.

What I’ve Been Up To

I haven’t been writing my weekly posts consistently this month. This is very unusual for me, so thanks for bearing with me.

First, the car had issues and we had to go car shopping. That was an adventure and a half. I might write a short story based on how ridiculous that was. A slice-of-life piece of comedy-horror. The sort of story that drains the reader of their sanity points while hopefully also making them laugh.

Then, I started writing a short story based on an RPG module as an experiment. If it turns out, I’m hoping to write a series of articles about this approach, but two things got in the way.

1. I got sick and lost about a week of productivity

2. The RPG modules I was going to use as a basis did not turn out to save the planning time I had hoped. As described above

I’m actually sick as I write this. I had intended to publish something different, but I’m not up for it. I hope this article was interesting at least and didn’t contain too many spelling or grammatical errors!

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