Time Loop Adventure: Distant Star Space Station

Over the last year and a half, I've developed a kind of format for time loop games, ttrpg one-shots that have mostly-scripted events occurring at a variety of locations and a sort of puzzle for players to work out in order to resolve conflicts in those locations. I started with a quiet seaside town called Standstill Cove, where players had to prevent a mysterious foe from exploiting the time loop to cause destruction. After that came Hourton City, a much darker adventure set in a large city; this one-shot centered around completing the necessary steps to break the time loop. To this developing tradition, I'd like to offer this, Distant Star Space Station, a one-shot where players must manipulate the time loop in order to escape the failing station and its dangers. 

As I've said of the previous time loop one-shots, there is a strange balance to strike with these adventures. On the one hand, there is a need for there to be a certain level of scriptedness (which I mostly provide in the notes below) in order to seem like a time loop at all. On the other, players will rarely have occasion to live out parts of the loop in exactly the same way for strategic reasons, and there's little reason to not simply say, "You successfully maneuvered this before, so there's no reason to make you repeat your success" once the players have figured out a section of the puzzle and don't want to change anything. This means that you will have to do some improvising with the notes below as more of a guide than a strict and complete script. I recommend reading through the entire adventure's notes below to familiarize yourself with the general aims and story moments that will be the most important and trusting your instincts as you try to help your players navigate this adventure. 

 

One key difference between the Standstill Cove/Hourton City time loop adventures and this one is that those games focus on interacting with people in the locations at various times, while this adventure has no NPCs in it at all. Instead, this game revolves around environmental storytelling, where all of the discoveries are made and the objectives completed based on observing the space station itself. This is a quite different mode of game which requires a great deal of investigation and puzzle-solving without the complication of social interactions. I hope you enjoy this experiment in environmental storytelling.

Please have fun with this adventure, and good luck! 

How to Write a One-Shot

The art of the one-shot can be complex, but it can also be simplified. To design a campaign requires different skills altogether--while a campaign required sustained, connected effort, a one-shot requires focus and a different kind of perspective. In the past, I've addressed specific needs for one-shots: how to write a one-shot about a murder mystery, for instance, or how to write a one-shot based on a movie. But thinking about a general one-shot is important, too, so let's consider the steps to take when writing a one-shot for a general purpose. 

[Remember to check the top of the homepage for a catalog of one-shots based on movies, original systems, and D&D.]

In this guide, I'm going to provide two approaches to developing a one-shot: one for planner GMs and one for improv GMs. They're functionally very similar, but the level and type of preparation is different. Both follow the same basic formula: 

opening scene + intermediate step + escalating incident + intermediate step + finale

Let's address the formula first, and then we'll get into how to develop the parts of it. The opening scene establishes the one-shot's stakes and setting. It's here that you'll deliver the quest, so to speak, that will define the one-shot. Because of the nature of a one-shot (it's contained and short), you'll really only be concerned with one primary goal, and this is the quest. You should also spend some time developing the setting by describing the environment, the NPCs, and the other things that may be relevant. By the end of the opening scene, the players will be on their way. 

Then, there will be an intermediate step. For planner GMs, this will mean establishing a small step between the beginning and the escalating incident. This could be a complication or a distraction, or perhaps some time for characterizing the player characters. For improv GMs, this will be an exploration sequence. The players will be allowed to freely investigate and interact with the world while they move forward in their quest. For combat-oriented one-shots, this is often a small-scale fight. 

Next is the escalating incident. This is the midpoint in the story, and it will raise the stakes of the adventure. There are several ways to do this: you can give the players a glimpse of their foe, perhaps in a short fight which doesn't end in the foe's death; you can reveal that someone is working against them, and they are now racing the clock to succeed; you may add an obstacle that complicates their progress. The vital thing here is that the story pick up momentum as it heads into its second half. For combat games, this should be a major battle.

Then, there is another intermediate step. For planner GMs, this will be another complication or distraction, or more characterizing time if your players wish. The complications shouldn't rise above the level of the escalating incident, but you can make things more dire and frustrating. For improv GMs, this can be more exploration, especially to see what the players do about more threats to their success. For combat games, another small-scale fight. 

Finally, we move into the finale. In the finale, you resolve the story and try to offer a dramatic conclusion. For planner GMs, you will want to devise consequences for a few of the overarching ways that the one-shot might end. For improv GMs, you'll be focusing on offering a satisfying ending off the top of your head. For combat games, this is the big battle with the big bad that everything has been building towards. There should be some meaningful challenge overcome here. 

This is how the formula works: introduce the tension of the opening scene, lessen it slightly with the intermediate step, heighten it again with the escalating incident, lessen it slightly again (but still at a higher level than the last intermediate step), and bring it to a head with the finale. This up and down effect with the momentum keeps things dynamic and allows the players to really get into the story with the allowance of some breathing room. So let's talk about how to write these parts of the formula. 

1. Opening Scene

Start with the quest. What is this adventure about? You need a hook or a concept to begin with. Look for inspiration and try to determine what the most distilled experience you're going for is. If it's a combat game, what do you want the players to get out of the fights? If it's a roleplay game, what do you want the players to emotionally experience? If it's a shenanigans game, where do the laughs come from? Once you know the central element in your game, it's time to really get started.

With your idea in mind, how do you present it as a story? If you have combat in mind, who is the enemy, and why is fighting them important? If it's a storytelling one-shot, what are the key scenes in the story? If you're playing for hijinks, what story will accommodate your laughs? Keep in mind that this doesn't have to be original or elegant. If you want to do a one-shot about evil lemonade that makes people into zombies, you don't need to reinvent storytelling to do it. What kind of story would easily be a home for that? A classic zombie story with the twist of the evil lemonade would serve perfectly well. Feel free to keep things simple in a one-shot--there just isn't time to really get carried away with the details. 

That said, there are details you need to prepare for, no matter how much you improvise. The setting is contained within the opening scene, and it's important to spend some time thinking about this in advance. How does the setting affect the story? How does the story affect the setting? With the evil zombie-causing lemonade example, if the outbreak has been going for a while, the setting will feature destroyed or abandoned buildings and lots of danger, whereas if the outbreak happens during the opening scene, the setting should be more normal. The way NPCs think, speak, and act should be changed by things like this. 

But even beyond this conceptual information, you need to know about the places in the one-shot. You don't need full detailed maps of everything, but you should know the layout of the areas, what is in them, and how the area functions both logistically and socially. These details come up in-game incredibly quickly, and establishing the setting means being able to furnish information about the world with little time. Even good improv doesn't match good preparation, so be familiar with the spatial details of your one-shot before you get going. 

The actual offering of the quest itself is also important. I cannot tell you how many times I have offered the quest in a one-shot and had resistance from the players over accepting it. This is partially due to the fact that I have played with a lot of shenanigans-type gamers, and they tend to be the ones who resist a fairly offered quest. But we cannot assume as GMs that the party will accept the quest. In the confined context of a one-shot, the quest is basically everything. So either offer a reward so sweet that the party would be fools to turn it down (and don't just go for lots of money--really offer something that you know your party in particular would want), or announce a hefty penalty for not complying (death can be a good option here). You could do both if so inclined. But the quest offer must be clearly considered beforehand, because the one-shot cannot start in earnest until it is accepted. (Note: if you are instead opting for a rescue mission, make sure to be very clear about how important kidnapped NPC is to the party.)

With the concept defined, the quest written, and the setting considered, the actual playing out of the opening scene is fairly simple. To be honest, I find this part of a one-shot quite boring. We all know that the one-shot requires compliance with the quest, but there are so many logistical details to attend to (the ones named above). Nevertheless, you shouldn't speed through the opening scene. Deliver the information, get the quest started, and get the party on their way so the one-shot can truly begin. 

2. Intermediate Step

There are a few approaches to the intermediate step. You can keep things thematically consistent and introduce a side element of the quest's story here. You might also choose to present your world as larger than the story and throw in a moment that is consistent with the tone of the story but involves separate dramatic stakes. Let's consider the benefits and drawbacks of both of these approaches. 

Keeping things thematically consistent is attractive for fairly obvious reasons: you get to keep your one-shot consistent narratively and tell a deeper story by saying more about the main story you have chosen to focus on. Let's imagine this using the evil zombie lemonade example. In the opening scene, you establish that evil lemonade caused an outbreak, and the party must follow certain steps to end the outbreak or cure people or both or establish a safe place to live away from the zombies. So in the consistent story, you present a small piece of information about the outbreak. You could reveal a lab where the evil lemonade was developed; you might have a person who is transforming into a zombie in front of the players; you could encounter a store which is totally ransacked except for dozens of bottles of evil lemonade. These keep the players' attention on the overall story. 

On the other hand, a scene with separate dramatic stakes can expand the scope of the one-shot. Rather than sticking with only zombie-related scenes, you could include a slice of life that steps outside of the overall story. So as the GM, you might have the players stumble on a family that doesn't seem to have noticed the outbreak. You could have a bandit raid happen on the settlement where the one-shot is set, only for the bandits to realize there's really no plunder to be had. You might even have a meteorite crash down just beyond the city--to respect the one-shot's story, that meteor shouldn't have many larger story implications, but the sense of impending doom would contribute to the atmosphere of the story. 

For planner GMs, these intermediate steps are things that should be planned out in less meticulous detail than the opening scene, the escalating incident, and the finale. Even if you aren't an improv GM, you should allow your players at least a bit of freedom here. Without a bit of reined freedom, the players will feel like the entire one-shot is already decided, and many players will lose interest. So I suggest writing a simple framework and filling in the spaces in between as the players explore. They don't need complete freedom, but just enough to explore a space and talk to someone in-game is good enough to keep the game moving while giving them a sense that the story includes them. 

For improv GMs, these intermediate steps are spaces to finesse the direction of the story. In the first intermediate step, you can help to make sure that the party follows the quest well enough. If they're hesitant in this step, offer them some incentive to continue (increased threats of danger can work) or show them the dramatic stakes in another way (the way the scene suggestions above demonstrate the direness of the situation). You want to guide the momentum of this section just slightly down from the excitement of the opening scene and then rise into the escalating incident. 

For combat games, these fights should be short and somewhat simple. I would recommend making the fights in the intermediate steps be about half the length and difficulty of the fights in the other sections. The goal here is not to overwhelm the party; we want to challenge the party a bit, but these moments are not the star of the show. The more substantial fights surrounding them should be the star here. 

3. Escalating Incident 

The escalating incident is where we raise the stakes, and so it should be something that intensifies the need to complete the quest or a complication that requires the party to complete the quest in a specific way. One strategy here is to allow the party to pursue an easy and simple strategy for the quest in the first two parts of the one-shot and then reveal in the escalating incident that something has occurred which renders that plan useless. (An antidote to the zombie lemonade has been proven to kill the patient the following day.) Alternatively, you can just apply more pressure. In combat games, this is where the big bad hires more foot soldiers or takes on a stronger form (or something to that effect). 

For planner GMs, this scene is relatively simple. You need to get your party from the previous intermediate step to the next, and you need to show a way that things have gotten more dire. This should be as simple as creating a transition from the previous intermediate step, developing the escalating incident itself, and creating another transition to the next intermediate step. Be sure that if you have an NPC appear in this part of the one-shot who you want to appear in the finale, you have taken precautions to make sure that they survive this scene. 

For improv GMs, the escalating incident can be delicate. You want to up the stakes, but still leave room for the finale to be the star of the show. You need to create a memorable scene that anchors the middle of the one-shot, but you can't steal the show in the middle scene and disappoint in the end. I recommend just a bit of planning so that you can calibrate the intensity just right, but that's really the only part of the escalating incident that's important to plan if you improvise. 

It's important when actually deploying your escalating incident to use appropriate dramatic pacing. I think that having the escalating incident revolve around a surprise is a really helpful strategy. The opening scene and the intermediate incident will likely follow a traditional and familiar series of beats, and that's perfectly fine--they're serving important purposes. But the escalating incident can buck that pattern and make the one-shot more memorable. So try to go with something that really inspires the players. For our evil lemonade example, let's say that the players defeat a horde of zombies only to discover that the zombies have lemonade-inspired telepathy and can communicate across the area. This then leads to more zombies appearing during any combat. The strength of this example is in how it escalates the stakes and also pushes the players towards a shocking moment. 

Once you've delivered your escalating incident, it's important to offer some indication of what the way forward is. You can make it obvious (an NPC directly tells the party how to move on, for instance) or subtle (there's a faint trail of glowing blood that leads to the next area, possibly). But a sign of what to do is pretty important. Remember that you've just confounded your players, so they'll be stuck in consideration mode until they can figure out what to do. You can offer a slight hint and get moving to the next part of the story. 

4. Intermediate Step

The function here is the same as last time: connect the escalating incident to the finale and provide some variation in tone and momentum. This intermediate step should be slightly to moderately more exciting than the last one. It should also include some foreboding omen of the struggle to come in the finale. For the zombie lemonade example, this might mean a massive horde of zombies in the distance, the death of an ally, or the appearance of a more powerful type of zombie. 

In general, you should follow the same steps and considerations here as before. Allow a bit more freedom than the major parts of the one-shot, slightly lessen the tension compared to the surrounding sections, and be conscious of how you are pacing things; you want a gradual dip after the escalating incident and a rise into the energy of the finale. 

5. Finale

The finale is the part of the one-shot which is hardest to write. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, a good ending allows the players to make a meaningful choice. But if they have a choice, there are infinite possible choices they could make, and no one could ever meaningfully prepare for that. So writing an ending that directly responds to players is fundamentally impossible. Secondly, that leave us with preparing an ending ahead of time, which I personally detest. But a simple binary choice isn't exactly rewarding for players. So we are left with preparing a number of likely options and having to improvise based on actual player input. But this is big picture talk; let's consider the actual details of writing and playing your finale. 

In a one-shot, actually seeing the final conflict through is vital. Some players resist conflicts that make them nervous; if you have one or more of those in your group, be sure that there is some mechanism that forces the party to commit to the conflict. If you're playing a system that has magic or magic-like forces in it, you can use those rules to confine players to the conflict. 

I want to add here as a disclaimer that I despise railroading. I think that taking choices away from players spoils the entire purpose of tabletop gaming. That said, one-shots are different. A one-shot is meant to be played in one setting and moved on from. But some players' natural tendencies tell them to not commit aggressively to much of anything, and allowing that as a GM would genuinely mean less enjoyment for everyone at the table, including the player who hesitates. Think about how much fun people have when games pointlessly drag on and on. Or how much fun players really have just sitting around and doing literally nothing. It pains me to say, but in the case of the one-shot, you do actually need to push your players around a bit more to be able to offer the experience they're looking for. 

So, you've gotten your party into the final conflict. There are many ways to play tabletop games. Maybe your players are trying to kill a big bad; maybe they're having a charged discussion with an NPC; maybe they're cracking one-liners at their foes. Whatever energy your players give you, run with it. The end of the one-shot is the most vital place for improvising. Use your best skills to match the players and manage the pacing. Build up the energy as much as you can without exhausting or overwhelming your players, and then allow the conflict to be resolved at just the right moment. [Check out this guide on managing a boss fight for more details if you're doing combat for a finale.]

The most delicate part of the entire one-shot is the final moment. After your party has emerged victorious (or not, depending on your type of game), you need to leave them with something that resolves the one-shot. This can be prepared if you can discern what your players will do ahead of time. More than likely, though, you will need to either improvise this moment or adjust something you've pre-written. The goal of this final moment is to close up the story of the one-shot and offer a glimpse at some consequence of the party's actions. 

Actually doing this is more complication than just saying as much. Let's consider for one last time the zombie lemonade example. The players discovered the zombie outbreak, made it past obstacles, discovered the problem was worse than they thought, braved even more obstacles, and fought to save humanity. How do we end this? If they did really save everyone, we paint a picture of a recovering city: destroyed buildings being rebuilt, people recovering in sick wards across the city, a ban on lemons entering city limits, families once again peaceful and safe in their homes. (For a fun twist, after this idyllic ending, we can also briefly mention a lone bottle of lemonade that went unnoticed until a young child found it, too thirsty to resist.) If they failed, we describe a ruined countryside, swarms of zombies devouring wildlife in the woods beyond town, plants overtaking the now-abandoned city. And after a while, the zombies pass on to other places, and settlers arrive in the forgotten town to forge a new life. (Again, we can twist this and add that they, unsuspecting, discover the lemonade and are grateful for a sweet drink.) You'll notice that both endings provide a tonally consistent resolution to the story, and the twists serve to make the one-shot feel like there's something more--but the adventure is over. The players are left wanting more and yet feeling satisfied at the same time. This is the ideal outcome for the finale. 

These five scenes together will take most parties between an hour and a half to three hours, depending on how much combat is involved, how much players investigate the world, and how much time the group is allotting to playing. With hijinks players, things take less time; with combat players, things take more time; roleplay players are somewhere in the middle. You can add or subtract more intermediate steps if you see fit for your party's needs. If you're having a hard time getting the game to follow the momentum you want, try this guide on how to pace your game. 

And while there is more to writing and GMing a one-shot than this formula, most everything else falls into place when you've done a bit of good planning and preparing for your players. Thinking of a one-shot as one continuous hours-long experience makes them seem daunting to write. But if you think of it as just being five short scenes, it's much more approachable. So give it a shot--a one-shot! (Sorry.)

That's all for now. Coming soon: public views of a historical event in my homebrew setting, transportation in my homebrew setting, and a time loop adventure set on a space station. Until next time, happy gaming!

Hourton City: A Dark Time Loop Adventure One-Shot

I had a lot of fun creating this time loop one-shot adventure from a while back, so I thought that for this site's 200th post, I would share another iteration of it. Where Standstill Cove was a 1970s New England town, Hourton City--the setting of this game--is a grungy city in a New York-like setting in the 1980s. This adventure deals with some relatively adult material, so please play responsibly. 

So, throw your players into this game. Every time they exhaust the day's time, the game will reset. They'll have to explore the setting, experiment with different strategies, and eventually put it all together to escape the time loop. This system uses no formal rules or dice, and this means that you as the GM will be called upon to improvise a lot of the material. But also, you'll need to make it so that things happen in generally the same way to sell the time loop effect, so there will be a need for balance between the two extremes. 

If environmental storytelling and sci-fi are more your thing, consider the Distant Star Space Station Time Loop.

Please have fun with this game! 

Time Loop One-Shot: The Mystery of Standstill Cove

I'm fascinated by time travel--that's probably why my most complete custom tabletop game utilizes it as the main gameplay mechanic. But even short of entire game systems, I like to experiment with time travel in games, and that's why I've developed a one-shot that allows players to explore and exploit time loops to complete an adventure. 

If you're thinking of 1993 Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, you're on the right track. The adventure below contains scripts for events occurring all over a small town so that you can present a living, breathing world for your players to interact. Then it's up to them to figure out how to stop catastrophes from occurring across town and thwart the mysterious and evil plans of their foe. Read on for the full one-shot. 

If you want to play another time loop adventure (maybe a darker one), consider playing the Hourton City Time Loop. Or perhaps a time loop focusing on environmental storytelling, like the Distant Star Space Station Time Loop.

Overview: 

There are 8 locations to visit in Standstill Cove. Each day will allow the players to visit a total of 5

locations. The players cannot split up, or they will become ghostly static creatures which the townsfolk

cannot see. The locations are: 

1. Standstill Cove City Hall

2. The Museum of Natural History

3. Standstill Cove Dockyard

4. Marshall Lighthouse

5. Standstill Municipal Bank

6. Sunrise Village Mall

7. Portia Standstill Community Theater

8. Peter Standstill High School

The adventure begins at 2pm and ends at midnight. The players are able to choose to spend two

hours at each location. Travel time is factored into time spent at a location. 

Unbeknownst to your players at the beginning of the adventure (unless you choose to tell them),

they are trying to foil the obscure and evil plans of a figure named Obedience Foster. Foster, like

them, is stuck in a time loop. They have begun to manipulate the time loop to get what they want,

and the players will need to stop Foster in order to complete the adventure. 

The gameplay will generally go as follows: For the beginning of the game, ask which location the

players want to begin with; then, describe that location and give them some narration about what’s

happening when they get there. This is where the timeline descriptions below will help you–just

describe what you read with as many extra details as you’re comfortable inventing. The players

may interact with the world and the people in it; simply do your best to offer a realistic or interesting

reaction. The players might be more inclined to either observe to learn what a location is like, or they

may interact a lot to try to shape things. Either of these approaches or anything in between should

work well enough. The focus should be on the players’ ability to explore and investigate. 

A basic map of Standstill Cove. 

Then, when the players have interacted with or observed a place, they may move to a new location

(or stay there–that’s fine too!). You may run this in whatever way you choose; you can have time

move realistically depending on what players do and charge them appropriate time given the map

below to get to the next location, or you might instead simply say that the day is broken up into 5

slots, and each slot means being at a location the whole time. I recommend the first approach, but

you can make the game more strategic by adding the second stipulation. 

When midnight arrives, a bright flash of light envelopes

everyone, and they awaken back where they were at 2pm.

Because the game is supposed to be a time loop, one necessary component is that things work the same way every time. I recommend paying very close attention your first time through a place/time so that you can remember what people do and say with good detail. To that end, I advise keeping things as simple as you can; opt for short and memorable with actions and words. It will help to make the time loop idea work at the table. 

The end goal is to figure out what’s happening and fix it. Here’s the short version: mysterious figure

Obedience Foster wants to use time loops to kill a rival, make a fortune, and skip town. To do that,

they try to forge a key to a treasure chest, divert a ship with magical treasure, and stage an accident

that will kill their rival. Please see the list below for a more complete guide to their plans. 

Beyond that, just have fun! I deliberately made this little world to be interesting and strange and an

easy host for all kinds of tabletop shenanigans. So when in doubt, go with what will entertain your

party, and don’t forget to have fun yourself. 

Obedience Foster in the Timelines

2pm - 4pm: at Sunrise Village Mall buying a blank key and precision cutter

4pm - 6pm: at The Museum of Natural History observing the locked treasure chest

6pm - 8pm: at Portia Standstill Community Theater replacing the prop sword with a real sword

8pm - 10pm: at Marshall Lighthouse turning off the light to crash the ship

10pm - 12am: at Peter Standstill High School getting directions out of town

Player Creation: 

Players must come up with a first and last name. The character is in a small coastal town in 1970s

New England. There are no powers, dice, or mechanics–only the choices the players make. The

only stipulation about characters is that they cannot have any money with them at the beginning

of the adventure. 

Location Timelines: 

Standstill Cove City Hall

• 2pm-4pm:

• At 2pm, Standstill Cove Mayor Ernest Tannenbaum holds a press conference to

• announce a new civic policy: all vehicles in town are to be serviced at a reduced

• rate for low-income, similar to food stamps. The announcement is met with polite

• applause and a smattering of dissent, particularly in the form of debate over what

• income constitutes low-income. At 2:45pm, Mayor Tannenbaum ends the press

• conference despite a large amount of unanswered questions from the public. The

• crowd largely disperses and then reforms with new members at 3:30pm in a protest

• over the new measure. The protesters are largely led by restaurant owner Tabitha

• Green, who argues that the measure unfairly punishes the middle class. 

• 4pm-6pm:

• The protest continues until 4:30pm, when Mayor Tannenbaum calls the police and

• announces to the crowd that police are on their way. Most of the crowd is gone by

• 4:45pm, and police arrive at 5pm. Police Chief Ty Hanford personally tends to the

• remaining dissenters and then meets with Mayor Tannenbaum until 5:30pm, when

• he leaves. Tannenbaum leaves work at 5:45pm and stays at home for the rest of

• the night. Civil staff work until 6pm and then close the City Hall, locking it for the

• night. 

• 6pm-8pm:

• Beginning at 6:15pm, local farmers start to set up stalls and display their various

• wares. Farmer Agnes Larson sells fresh produce–the beets are renowned throughout

• the county–rancher Bruce Sherman sells homemade jerky, and apiarist Susan Redd

• sells a range of honeys, among many others. A big hit at tonight’s market is farmer

• Whitney Vance’s massive hound Cobalt, who soaks up attention from any child who

• notices him. At 6:30pm, the farmer’s market opens, and business runs smoothly

• until 7:30pm, when the farmers begin to pack up. The City Hall square is clean and

• empty by 7:45pm. 

• 8pm-10pm:

• Under cover of darkness, Tabitha Green and 12 other protesters put on masks, and

• at 8:15pm, they arrive at City Hall and vandalize the building and the square before it.

• They paint “COMMUNIST” and “TRAITOR” in big red letters across the entrance and

• use sledgehammers to break the fountain (depicting drinking doves) in front of City

• Hall. By 8:30pm, they are done with their destruction and run off into the night. The

• scene is quiet until 9:15pm, when a passing squad car’s headlights illuminate the

• damage done; Officer Jamie Burkett investigates and radioes back to the precinct

• at 9:30pm. He watches the scene and investigates further. Backup arrives at 10pm. 

• 10pm-12am:

• At 10pm, three more officers arrive (Liza Foote, Victor Clarke, and Betty Reilly) and

• help secure the area. At 10:30pm, Mayor Tannenbaum returns to City Hall to determine

• the extent of the damage. He is shocked by the vandalism and answers questions

• from the officers until 11:15pm. He identifies Green as a probable suspect. Tannenbaum

• returns home at 11:30pm, and by 11:45pm, the police have left City Hall marked off as

• a crime scene. 

The Museum of Natural History

• 2pm-4pm:

• An exhibit on evolution features illustrations of ancient animals, their various

• descendants, and their modern day equivalents; visitors look on in wonder or disgust

• as Professor of Evolutionary History at nearby Chapel University Kurt Bismuth lectures

• on the beautiful mechanism that is natural selection. The lecture goes well until, at

• 3:30pm, logger Matt Harris interrupts and says that it violates the Bible. Bismuth tries

• to argue otherwise, but Harris winds up a few other visitors, and they leave together.

• Bismuth finishes his lecture but is frustrated and loses the attention of much of the

• audience. At 3:45pm, custodians quietly open a display of a locked treasure chest

• from the year 58. 

• 4pm-6pm:

• From 4pm to 6pm is “Kid’s Time” at the Museum of Natural History, and dozens of

• young people flood into the museum with their parents trailing behind. Museum

• employees circulate dressed as various exhibits; the T-Rex costumed-employee is

• beset with children of all ages pulling at him. Starting at 4:30pm, one branch of the

• museum projects the movie Charlotte’s Web on a wall, and children and their families

• watch sprawled out on blankets. At 5pm, a cloaked figure (Obedience Foster)

• investigates the locked treasure chest until 5:30pm. 

• 6pm-8pm:

• The Museum performs its final duties (a small reptile petting zoo, decorating fake

• fossils, and a puppet show involving animals from nearly every time period), and

• begins closing duties around 7:30pm. By 8pm, everyone has been ushered out,

• including a few vandals who removed part of the label on the Titmouse display.

• Museum Curator Nora McLaren locks the doors with herself and the museum guard

• (Bernie Hanford) inside and retires to her office to do some last work for the day. 

• 8pm-10pm:

• McLaren works in her office, heading to the kitchenette at 9:15pm to make a cup of

• tea and returning to her office at 9:30pm. Hanford patrols the museum slowly and

• deliberately; it takes him 15 minutes to perform a full lap of the museum. At 9:30pm,

• Hanford takes a break and eats a donut with coffee in the kitchenette while reading

• the newspaper. As he and McLaren encounter each other there, the ground shakes. 

• 10pm-12am:

• McLaren works on various financial information and a potential acquisition (an example

• of early tools from Mesopotamia) in her office until 10:30pm, then says good night to

• Hanford and leaves. Hanford continues to patrol until after 12am, but takes another

• break at 11:30pm to eat another donut with coffee and read more of the newspaper. 

Standstill Cove Dockyard

• 2pm-4pm: 

• Company Safety Training (employee Greg Haskell recently lost a finger in an

• accident). Safety Supervisor Rhett Engleson is exasperatedly leading a company-

• wide training full of reminders that they should have learned this stuff already. After

• an hour-long lecture, “safety games” are played in which employees are quizzed on

• safety procedures. 

• 4pm-6pm: 

• A ship (the Hughes Shipping vessel S1182765) has arrived, and the docks are in a

• rush to unload it and reload it. Using forklifts and a crane, it takes the dockworkers

• two hours to unload the ship. The unloaded containers are filled with consumer goods

• and are marked en route to Sunrise Village Mall. 

• 6pm-8pm: 

• The ship unloaded, the dockworkers begin to reload it with its new cargo. The new

• cargo is containers filled with raw materials gathered in the surrounding area–lumber,

• mined stone, and refined fuels. The dockworkers are especially careful with the loading

• process due to the dangerous materials, but manage to load the ship within two hours. 

• 8pm-10pm: 

• At 8:15pm, the dockworkers kick off a party with barbeque and beers. Dockyard

• Manager Mark Vannard makes a short speech praising their work and promising

• good holiday bonuses this year, which gets applause and hollering. The dockworkers

• joke and play games like cornhole and horseshoes. [Note: If the ship has been

• rerouted: Everyone is taken by surprise at 9:30pm, when the ship docks quietly.

• When investigated, no one is on the ship. Vannard immediately calls the police. If

• the ship crashes into the promontory, the dockyard shakes at 9:30pm, but no one

• is able to figure out what happened.]

• 10pm-12am: 

• At 10pm, the police arrive and search the ship. After a thorough search (10:45pm),

• the police announce that no one is anywhere on the ship. They order the dockyard

• closed until further investigation can be performed. This causes an outcry from

• Vannard, who demands to be able to work. The police, led by Deputy Chief Tricia

• Wellington, refuse, closing the dockyard for the duration of the day. 

• [Note: If the players steal onto the ship, they find it totally empty except for hundreds of

• keys scattered on the floor. An ominous creaking sound is apparent everywhere on the

• ship. In the hold is a collection of stuffed animals in a cell, all arranged carefully to be staring

• at whoever is outside the cell. In the middle of the stuffed animals is a large brass key. The

• key glows, and it creates a phantom version of itself which sticks with you through days. The

• key opens the chest in the Museum of Natural History. Inside is just sand, but opening the

• chest breaks the cycle.]

Marshall Lighthouse

• 2pm-4pm: 

• Public Tour: The steward of Marshall Lighthouse, Rhea Barnes, conducts a tour of

• the Lighthouse and its grounds at 2pm and again at 3pm. The tour lasts nearly an

• hour and involves seeing the promontory on which the lighthouse sits, hiking around

• the area to see the lighthouse from different angles, and finally climbing to the top

• and seeing the sea and the light itself. Barnes watches carefully to make sure that

• no one tampers with the light. If it has been turned off between tours, she resets it. 

• 4pm-6pm: 

• After the tours, Barnes sets to cleaning and maintaining the lighthouse. During

• today’s duties, she scrubs the lighthouse glass, sweeps and mops the floors and

• entryway, and performs the accounting duties involved with the tours. Around 5:45pm,

• Barnes locks the lighthouse to the public. 

• 6pm-8pm: 

• As the sun sets, Barnes ensures that the light is on and rotating properly. She returns

• to check the light every two hours (so again at 8pm, 10pm, and 12am). When she is

• not checking the light, she is either reading (Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters

• by J.D. Salinger) or writing her own novel (The Stars Below). [Note: Barnes keeps

• an unloaded shotgun by the door to scare trespassers.]

• 8pm-10pm: 

• Barnes continues to read and nods off at 8:15pm and doesn’t wake up until a distant

• train whistle rouses her at 9:45pm (or the ship crashes at 9:30pm, whichever comes first).

• When she wakes up, she checks the visitor center and then returns to her private

• quarters. At 8:45pm, Obedience Foster climbs the lighthouse and turns off the light.

• If the players don’t stop him, the ship crashes at 9:30pm. If they reset the light, the

• ship docks at the docks at 9:30pm. [Note: If the ship crashes, Obedience tries to

• board the ship and search it.]

• 10pm-12am: 

• If the ship has not crashed: Barnes checks the light at 10pm, returns to her

• quarters, makes toast and tea, and sits reading in the kitchen until 11:45pm,

• when she cleans up and makes a final round of the property before checking the

• light again at 12am. If the ship has crashed: Barnes runs to the exterior of the

• lighthouse and surveys the damage. She notices the light out and races to the

• top to relight it. After setting things as right as possible, Barnes calls the police,

• who arrive by 11pm and close the lighthouse but allow Barnes to continue operating it. 

Standstill Municipal Bank

• 2pm-4pm: 

• Bank Guard Wallace Norman begins his shift at the bank at 2pm promptly by

• taking a seat behind the desk and starting a crossword puzzle. He takes a long

• sip of coffee and says to a nearby teller, “This stuff goes through me like crazy–

• wish I didn’t need it to stay up!” He cackles to himself and returns to his crossword

• puzzle. Head Teller Debra Fields monitors the bank and occasionally takes

• customers when it gets busy. Norman finishes his coffee at 3pm but doesn’t

• get up to get more. 

• 4pm-6pm: 

• Business is relatively slow from 4pm to 5pm; a couple takes out a home loan, a

• young man asks the finer points of financing a new business, and a young woman

• makes several large deposits from local businesses–the tellers seem to recognize her

• right away. At 5pm, a flood of customers getting off work comes flooding in. Norman

• has to escort an unruly customer to the door at 5:15pm, and the bank closes without

• further event at 6pm. 

• 6pm-8pm: 

• The bank closes at 6pm, and bank employees immediately begin to transform the

• lobby into a decorated public space for an art show. False walls are erected to

• create more space for display, and around 7:30pm, the space is set, and the paintings

• and sculptures are placed. Security is loose in this phase, and the back door is

• unlocked from 6:30pm to 7:15pm.

• 8pm-10pm: 

• The art show begins. Patrons in expensive formalwear stream in and take martinis.

• The Bank Manager (Robin Flanders) and the Art Curator (Mindy Bishop) greet guests

• and introduce artists to the flock of viewers. The backstage area is heavily monitored

• throughout the art show. Towards the end of the party (9:30pm), drunken patron Grant

• Redmond spills his drink on an oil painting when the ground shakes, damaging it, and

• the artist is furious; the party is unceremoniously shut down early at 9:50pm. 

• 10pm-12am:

• The bank employees and cleaners set to returning the bank to its former state,

• collapsing false walls and repacking art. Flanders and Bishop try to console the

• artist (Edwin Packard), but he insists that the damage cannot be remedied; Flanders

• offers to buy the painting for the bank as-is, and Packard eventually agrees to a

• negotiated sum of $500. The bank is cleaned and ready for another day of business

• by 11:45pm and locked for the night. 

Sunrise Village Mall

• 2pm-4pm: 

• The mall is abuzz but mostly quiet until a shopper, Alan Gordon, tries to report a family

• of Asian tourists for disturbing the peace. Mall security guard Jenny Nguyen-Smith

• finds his report upsetting and argues with the man; when Head Security Officer Kevin

• Harlow intervenes and sides with Gordon, Nguyen-Smith quits in disgust and storms

• out of the mall. For the rest of the day, Harlow intermittently patrols Nguyen-Smith’s

• beat and watches at the security center. For even hours, Harlow is patrolling, and for

• odd hours, he is at the security center. A cloaked figure (Obedience Foster) enters

• Grossman Hardware and purchases a blank key and a handheld precision cutter. 

• 4pm-6pm: 

• Grossman Hardware is having a grand reopening after being partially damaged by a

• storm. Store manager Tim Grossman is personally overseeing a celebration with local

• food, giveaways, and the unveiling of a new product. From 5pm to 6pm, Grossman

• gives away a pair of electric hedge trimmers, a butane torch, a steel-frame 12 ft

• ladder, a sledgehammer, a nailgun, and a high-beam flashlight (one giveaway every

• 10 minutes). This culminates in the reveal that Grossman Hardware now carries

• all-terrain vehicles, which is announced as two helmeted riders speed through the

• store on ATVs. 

• 6pm-8pm: 

• The food court grows busy during the period, and a fistfight between two shoppers

• breaks out over who was first in line at the Sbarro. Retiree Kimmy Rutledge and life

• coach Heather Phillips take a few swings at each other before being broken up by

• bystanders, chiefly high school student Pam Weller. Both Rutledge and Phillips

• apologize after calming down; Rutledge claims low blood sugar, and Phillips claims

• lack of sleep. During the distraction, a group of denim-clad teenagers led by Dylan

• Jefferson steal their fill of ready-made meals from the Boston Market. [Note: Jefferson

• and his group are able to be blackmailed about their theft–they are on their final

• warning.]

• 8pm-10pm: 

• The mall’s movie theater opens with showings of the newest films on its three screens:

• Serpico, Soylent Green, and Goncharov. Each begins a showing at 8pm; Serpico and

• Soylent Green have another screening–Serpico at 10:30pm, Soylent Green at 10pm–

• and Goncharov ends just after 11pm without a second screening. During the movies,

• a good deal of the mall’s visitors crowd into the theater, leaving the mall much more

• deserted. At 9:30pm, the ground shakes, and the mall loses electrical power for a few

• seconds; the films take a few minutes to reset and match up audio and visual. Fewer

• people attend the second screenings, so the mall is progressively more populated

• again after 10pm. 

• 10pm-12am: 

• A public concert is being held in the center of the mall; local band Helium Soul plays

• upbeat soft rock to the crowd from 10:15pm to nearly 11:30pm. Shoppers gather

• around the performers and are entranced. [Note: players can more easily achieve

• stealth goals in this circumstance.] At 10:45pm, there is an electric short that causes

• a 5-minute delay in the show during which the mall is completely dark. [Note: If the

• players didn’t reset the light, and the boat crashes, the mall loses all of its power for

• the rest of the night; it’s evacuated, but if the players can remain in the mall, they can

• explore it unimpeded.]

Portia Standstill Community Theater

• 2pm-4pm:

• Acting teacher Roxy Anderson is leading Beginning Drama for a class of mostly

• young adults who are paying fairly close attention. Anderson discusses various

• acting methods, being careful to describe both the advantages and disadvantages

• of each one. A student in a hoodie asks about method acting, and Anderson says

• it’s not always a safe approach, instead suggesting a few of the more radical

• approaches to acting. The students file out at the end of class (just before 4pm),

• and Anderson leaves for a bathroom break before her next class. 

• 4pm-6pm:

• Anderson holds an Advanced Acting class that begins just after she returns at 4pm.

• She has the students do acting exercises such as mirroring one another and vocal

• warm-ups, then transitions into rehearsing scenes that the students have been

• working on. Partners perform scenes from movies and occasionally from plays; the

• highlights are a young girl performing a monologue she had written and a pair of

• adolescent boys performing Hamlet’s clown gravediggers scene with extreme

• deliberate overacting. 

• 6pm-8pm:

• After class, Anderson tidies the theater along with a group of actors, and by 6:30pm,

• the theater is nearly ready for the public. From there, the actors begin decorating the

• set and applying the more cumbersome wardrobes and makeup. Rehearsals continue

• on and off, and by 8pm, the stage is literally set for the play: Absurd Person Singular

• by Alan Ayckbourn. Finally, a lit marquee is placed outside and the doors are opened

• at 8pm sharp. At 7:45pm, as the actors are most distracted, a cloaked figure (Obedience

• Foster) sneaks backstage and replaces the fake sword with a real sword. 

• 8pm-10pm:

• People stream into the theater and stand talking in the entryway as tickets are

• purchased and popcorn is popped. The actors are backstage with Anderson, who

• tries to keep actors from losing their nerve. Around 8:30pm, the people have taken

• their seats, and the show begins. It follows three couples, and during the second

• couple’s section, the female lead holds up an old sword to inspect it. At 9:30pm, as

• the sword is handled, the earth shakes, the actress (Nicole Peyton) accidentally

• thrusts the sword into her co-star (Brad Geiger). If medical attention is not gotten for

• Geiger (and the ambulance will show up too late), he will bleed to death by 9:40pm.

• [Note: If the ship is diverted, Geiger remains safe.] The performance is cancelled, and

• the audience evacuated by 10pm.

• 10pm-12am:

• Police officers arrive not long after the ambulance, at 10pm. They interrogate both

• Peyton and Anderson to determine if charges need to be pressed; they initially decide

• to allow Peyton to go free until more evidence is gathered, but Anderson is cuffed, and

• accusations of manslaughter are mentioned. Anderson is driven away in police custody

• at 11pm. The theater is covered in police caution tape but remains unguarded, and the

• bloodied sword is still inside. 

Peter Standstill High School

• 2pm-4pm:

• Classes are in session until 3pm; until then, about two hundred students sit in classes

• with teachers like Jim Rutledge from Biology and Kerry Quinn from History. At 2:45pm,

• student Billy Anchorage leaves class “for the bathroom” and vandalizes the boys’

• bathroom with red paint and animal excrement. He is caught at 2:55pm by school

• counselor Cal Donahue and sent to detention. At 3pm, detention begins, with junior

• Anchorage, sophomore Julie French, and freshmen Ryder Winters and Trent Bateman.

• Aside from grumbling, the students generally behave for English teacher Florence

• Tuthill. 

• 4pm-6pm:

• At 4pm, drills begin for the boys’ football and girls’ soccer teams. The boys take the

• football field and warm up with stretching and running, then scrimmage with light

• contact to avoid injuries before the game tonight. The girls take the area between

• the track and practice passing and run laps. At 5pm, a group of students is caught

• smoking weed and cigarettes under the bleachers by football coach Don Waverly

• and taken to the principal’s office. These students (Rita Gillespie, Vinny Worthington,

• Nancy Zinn, and leader Ollie Morris [female]) meet with Principal Tina Hoffman at

• 5:15pm and are held until the police arrive at 5:30pm to lecture and give a warning

• to the students. 

• 6pm-8pm:

• From 6pm to 7pm, Principal Hoffman and several members of staff work quietly, then

• head to the field. At 6:45pm, student volunteers set up at the entrance to the field and

• begin selling tickets to the arriving families. At 7pm, student Alyssa Whitford sings the

• national anthem, and the game between the Standstill High Blue Waves and the

• Lowland Glen Cougars begins. The Blue Waves finish the first half ahead 17-7 (their

• two passing touchdowns and a field goal giving them the advantage). The crowds are

• full of spectators, mostly clad in blue. 

• 8pm-10pm:

• At 8pm, the halftime show starts–the school band performs a complicated routine

• inspired by the animated movie Robin Hood, complete with anthropomorphized animal

• costumes and a medieval-flavored horn section. They finish their piece to great

• applause and a standing ovation with their arrangement for “Whistle Stop,” the opening

• song in the film. At 8:15pm, the game resumes. At 9:15pm, the game ends with a final

• score of 30-13 (Standstill High’s rushing touchdown and two field goals besting Lowland

• Glen’s two touchdowns). By 9:45pm, the stands are mostly empty, and the scoreboard

• still displays the final score proudly. Some families linger in the parking lot, but even it

• is empty by 10pm. 

• 10pm-12am:

• The school is deserted until 10:15pm, when Ollie Morris and her crew return to the

• space under the bleachers. They smoke weed and cigarettes and play a long game

• of truth or dare. The game ends at 11pm, when Nancy Zinn refuses to streak for a lap

• around the track despite Rita’s daring her to do so. They prepare to go but are a

• pproached by a figure in a long cloak (Obedience Foster), who asks them directions

• to Chicago. Vinny recommends getting on the interstate west, and the figure begins

• to walk west. The group grows quiet and awkward and splits up; by 11:15pm, the

• school is silent and empty. 

That's all for now. Coming soon: how to use downtime in and out of game, common misconceptions in my homebrew world, and why you don't need to recreate the real world's problems in your gameworld. Until next time, happy gaming!

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