This episode, Keepers Bridgett & Evan unpack the best ways to begin a scenario! We’re going to define what the means, things to consider, best practices, worst practices, and even provide you with some recommendations on authors who truly stuck the landing on a strong opener!

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Bridgett’s Pet Pick Shout Out

Tonight, I’d like to shout out friend of the show, GroucyLenny and their cats, Lily and Camille, who are captured here with the caption– nefarious plan is to absorb all of the sun’s energy to destroy humankind.

Wait. You guys are getting sun? I’m in Ohio. I haven’t seen the sun since October 2025. Can I join this plan??

Thanks for sharing with us, GroucyLenny!

Main Topic

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Main Topic!

Tonight, we’re going to unpack the best ways to begin a scenario! We’re going to define what the means, things to consider, best practices, worst practices, and even provide you with some recommendations on authors who truly stuck the landing on a strong opener!

From a storytelling perspective and from a game design standpoint, this is such an important topic that I don’t believe it is getting enough affection. It needs some love, so I’m happy that we’re slowing down to really explore the impact that introductory scenes and onboarding have on the rest of your game and storytelling experience!

What is the beginning of the scenario?

Is this… a roundtable of character introductions? What do you look like, name, occupation?

Is this an opening scene?

Is this worldbuilding?

Why do we care about this topic?

Arguably, the introduction, climax, and conclusion are the most essential and vital points of storytelling

Essential things to establish?

The world

The vibe/genre/tone/expectation

Your PC’s place and impact in the world

Character connection

Level of buy-in/care

Good Examples:

Sorrow in Tsvao by Bridgett Jeffries (begins with a team meeting) buff.ly/3AvlvAr
Taken for Granite by Jade Griffin’s (begins with a car crash) https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/379700/taken-for-granite
Graham Walmsley’s Cosmic Dark
Opening scenes for a campaign: Two-Headed Serpent drops you right in the action and sprays your face with blood, while setting up the central mystery of the campaign. HotOE lets you fool around at a party with some characters who later become important but it doesn’t do much to establish the plot.
[As a counter-example, the start of The Haunting often flops because it’s geared towards new players and doesn’t immediately put them in the action.]

Homework

Dear listener, tell us of your favorite scenario start!