How I Create Roleplaying Games

As a GM, there are several ways I try to go about starting ideas for a new campaign.

First, the genre method:
Sometimes the reason I want to run a game is because there is a particular genre that I really want to run a game for. Could be that I’m really stoked for a post-apocalyptic setting, or a sci-fi setting. Or maybe I want to run a city-based game, or a game taking place in childhood stories. Regardless, I first think of the basic setting and start from there. What do I see in this setting? For a superhero genre, I may decide that the things I really want to see happen are the superheroes not being accepted by the general public (like X-Men) and a combination of five set powers (like Push). In this method, I start macro and slowly put together what the world I want to play around in looks like. From there, the story starts to form as I figure out how things interact.

Second, the story method:
The flip side to this one is where I have an idea for a story I want to tell, but that’s about all that I have. I don’t know what system I’m going to use or what the world surrounding it is. In this method, I have the main pieces of the story and build everything else around it to fit what I need. If I find that I needed a large corporation as a villain, suddenly there is one in the world. I remember doing this particular style of story back a while ago when Sadam Husain was captured and his trial was going on. I decided I wanted to tell a story about a group where the major villain of the story started the game already defeated and captured, but that the players could not simply kill him – they had to get him to stand trial. Meanwhile, other factions were trying to free him, etc.

Third, the system method:
This is probably my least favorite way to start a story, but it does come up from time to time. I may find a system of game that I think is so interesting that I have to try to run a game of it. I look over the basic rule book, figure out the story it’s intended to tell, and try to work from there. Generally these stories are the least interesting for me because, when it comes down to it, I don’t bother with game systems much anyway.

Most campaigns I run can be traced back to one of these inceptions. Which do I prefer? Well, with the system method taking a clear third place, I can’t really decide which of the other two methods I like more. It just depends on what has been inspiring me – a world or a story. Both have their merits and, in the end, I think they both can come up with fantastic stories.