Hashing out session 2 for tomorrow's D&D game, I'm tempted to create cool tactical environments, interesting locations to explore, crazy challenges, and weird monsters to savage the party. For the past two hours I've let the garden of my mind grow wild with these ideas. But the truth is, I've been letting them choke out the only truly important element: character.
In any given adventure session, one or more characters must experience an emotional or psychological challenge. It doesn't have to be major, but it has to be there. In fact, the external physical encounters should ultimately reflect one or more characters' inner state in some form or fashion. Without that, there is no story. It's adventure porn. It has no real substance or meaning.
D&D gives us many shiny tools: monsters, treasures, locations, skill challenges, NPCs, skills, and powers. It's sometimes tempting to put them into some combination and call that a game. And by definition, that would be a game. A game, but not a story. In a story, the characters' emotional vulnerabilities need to be pushed. Without that...
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