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Chapter Four: Narrating
The Many Roles of the Narrator
The Narrator wears many hats. As she is the primary story teller, she has utmost authority over the game. But with this power comes a great deal of responsibility.
Fortunately, this responsibility doesn’t go unrewarded. Narrating the game is possibly the most satisfying gaming experience of all!
To get you familiar with the Narrator’s duties, we’ll look at them one at a time and dissect them as we go. Buckle up, kids.
STORYTELLER
It is your verbalization that cements the setting in the minds of the players. Your words shape the images their imaginations project. By giving them a vivid (but not over-loaded) description of their surroundings, the things they see, smell and hear, you are giving them mental pictures that draw them into the story. Therefore your job as story teller is to make the setting come alive with your words.
PLOT WRITER
You are the one who comes up with the basics of the plot. The PCs’ actions drastically affect the story, but you are the authority when it comes to the plot. The trick here is to allow your players a tremendous amount of control over their characters’ actions....but don’t let them guide the story all by themselves. If Gould allowed Dick Tracy to determine everything that happened, the strip would be horribly boring. But he didn’t. That’s why the stories were so incredible. It’s more fun to see the protagonist have to sweat a little bit.
MASTER ACTOR
All characters not played by the players are played by you. This presents you with an interesting challenge. You have the opportunity to portray a wide range of characters. The challenging aspect of this is to make each of them different and entertaining.
REFEREE
From time to time, problems arise within a game group. It can happen any time a group of diverse people gather together. It’s not a big deal. But the key thing to remember is that this is your story, therefore your word is law. If someone is disrupting the game, you can by all means give them the proverbial boot if they refuse to cooperate. You should always listen to the players’ arguments and do your best to solve the issue diplomatically. If it has to do with the game, however, be reasonable, but do not allow yourself to be railroaded or bullied by them.
RULES EXPERT
Before you run the game, it’s a good idea to be familiar with the Drama System. You can change it, bend it or even disregard parts of it, but you should at least know it to the best of your ability. This eliminates potential confusion and speeds the game up tenfold.
The Time Frame
The Dick Tracy comic strip has been around since 1931. That’s a long time. And any time an ongoing series has continued for so many decades, it evolves and changes with the times. Dick Tracy is no exception. The style has changed, the atmosphere has changed, the villains have changed and the technology has drastically changed.
This begs the question; what era is the Dick Tracy rpg set in. Truthfully, that’s up to you and your players.
This initial book assumes that the game will take place between the 1930's and the early 1950's. I’ve generally left out the science fiction period, not because it lacks roleplaying potential, but because it’s a whole new can of worms and is a bit too ambitious for the basic book. Perhaps a source book will be released later on down the line to facilitate the sci-fi material.
Likewise, the later years have been avoided for much the same reason, though you will find artwork from various periods in this book.
So, for now, the game is focused on the early era of Dick Tracy. Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from making a few simple modifications and blasting off to the moon or catapulting into the technological modern age. In the end, it’s up to you.
Sessions, Story Arcs and Campaigns
It’s important for a Narrator to understand two basic ideas; game sessions and story arcs.
Every time you get the gaming group together for a game, it is considered a game session. Typically, a game session lasts from three to five hours, but this definitely doesn’t always hold true. Regardless of the length of gaming time involved, it’s still considered a session.
A story arc, on the other hand, is a group of sessions that make up one distinct continuing story. Once the climax of the entire story has concluded, the story arc is over.
Just because a story arc ends, the game can still continue....with yet another story arc. This initiates it being a campaign. By definition, a campaign (also known as a Series) is a collection of story arcs that involve the same protagonists. The Dick Tracy comic is considered a campaign.
Experience
As characters gain experience, they learn new things, sharpen existing abilities and improve as a whole. In game terms, they gain Experience Points. Experience point cumulate over time and can be spent to enhance the character’s abilities.
As Narrator, you’re the one who dishes out Experience Points to the PCs at the end of each session. Fortunately, we’ve included some guidelines on awarding Experience Points to PC’s as well as important NPC’s.
Experience Point Awards For Various Actions and Situations:
- 1 to 2: Good Roleplaying! This is given if the player portrays his character within boundaries of the character’s personality.
- 1 Experience Point: Defeating Minor Enemies! Any character who helps defeat any number of thugs, goons, henchmen, etc. will receive this award.
- 2-3 Experience Points: Defeating a Major Enemy! Any character who helps defeat the main villain(s) will receive this award.
- 1 Experience Point: Doing a Good Deed! Each time the character goes out of his way to do something good (as long as it’s within reason), he receives this award.
- 1 Experience Point: Personal Accomplishment! A character who succeeds at something that contributes to saving the day or fulfills a highly important task, he receives this award.
As a rule of thumb, it’s best not to give PC’s more than five or six Experience Points per session. This will keep character advancement in check and will balance things out.
Also, villains gain Experience Points too. Use the same rules as for the heroes, but villains don’t gain anything for doing good deeds. I know it sounds like a given, but it’s best to set it straight right now.
Once the character gains Experience Points, the player may opt to spend them on improving his character’s abilities. Let’s take a look at how many Experience Points it costs to boost up your stats.
Advancement Costs
- Gain a new Skill at Rank 1: 20 Experience Points
- Raise an existing Skill Rating by 1: The cost is equal to the new Rating multiplied by 15.
- Raise an Attribute Rating by 1: The cost is equal to the new Rating multiplied by 40.
- Gain a Positive Trait (You must have Narrator permission first!): The cost is equal to the Trait’s listed cost (see Trait listings) multiplied by 40.
- Get rid of a Negative Trait (You must have Narrator permission first!): The cost is equal to the amount of points you get back for taking it (see Trait listings) multiplied by 30.
As you can see, advancement isn't very fast. Many roleplaying games emphasize speedy advancement, but that sort of thing doesn't fit in so well with the comic strip genre....and Dick Tracy in particular.
If the Narrator (that's you!) wishes to bump up the advancement rate, she can simply give out a few extra Experience Points for each of the actions listed earlier in this section.
Running the Game
This section is intended to give you a load of tips for running games of Dick Tracy. Armed with this information and some effort, you’ll become a master story teller in no time.
DESCRIBING THE SCENE
As a story teller, your aim is to give the players a solid idea of what their characters’ surroundings are like. There is a delicate balance to preserve in doing this. On one hand, you don’t want to skimp on the details. This will simply strip away the images in the players’ imaginations, making the game world a colorless, generic place. On the other hand, you don’t want to drown the players with your descriptions. If the players really want to know exactly how many buttons are on an NPC’s suit jacket, then they can ask you.
Give them enough detail to make the setting interesting, but not so much that the game becomes bogged down. In general, only give detailed descriptions of the things that will either add to the atmosphere or have some importance to the story. You can briefly mention the rest.
Below are three examples.
EXAMPLE #1: “You enter the Classy Dame Club and see a lot of people. Most of them look like underworld types. There’s a band playing.”
While the above example adequately tells you what your character sees, it lacks excitement, drama or pizzaz . It works, but it’s definitely a no-frills approach. Let’s try again, shall we?
EXAMPLE #2: “You push open the glass doors using the shiny metal handles and enter the Classy Dame Club. The first person you see is the door man and he asks to take your coat. The door man is about 5'7", weighs roughly 155 pounds, has short-cropped hair brown hair and is wearing a nice white tuxedo. The next person you see is an older guy, in his mid 60's. He has well-groomed white hair and a mustache. He wears a respectable looking black suit with a blue and white striped tie. The third person you see.....”
Wow! The Narrator in the above example was going overboard with describing every single detail. This isn't necessary. When the Narrator drones on, it can have the not-so-positive effect of making the players disinterested and bored. Let's have one more whack at it.
EXAMPLE #3: “As you open the glass doors to the Classy Dame Club, upbeat music fills your ears. A well-presented door man in a white tux offers to take your coat. As you gaze across the room, you see primarily underworld types. From the petty thieves to the big boys of crime...they’re all here. Even in the rather dim light, you can spot several major players in the crime business. The center of the room is dominated by a slick looking oak bar and the tables and booths pock mark the surrounding areas, right up to the dance floor.”
See? The above example provided a good atmosphere while giving the players a decent amount of information about their surroundings. The players immediately get a sense of their surroundings, yet they weren’t bombarded with a ton of useless information. This is what describing a scene is all about....implant images in the players' minds without having to spend an hour to do so. Which brings us to.....
Setting a Mood
A good story is one that is able to evoke various moods when appropriate. This applies to roleplaying games as well. Without establishing a mood, the story will quickly come off as being cardboard. You don’t need to worry about the mood of every single scene in the game, only the more crucial or important ones.
Setting a mood isn’t as difficult as it sounds. It’s just a matter of using the right words and playing up certain elements of the scene or situation. There’s no one true way to do this, as every Narrator will have her own style, but we can try to give you a few pieces of advice for evoking different moods.
EVOKING HORROR
To bring this across to the players, you should mention sights, feelings or sounds that give them the creeps. Try to scare them, not so much with cheap thrills (“...when suddenly a cat leaps out and scares you!”), but through atmosphere. Describe the lightning outside or the rain pattering against the window. Tell them about the eerie silence of the graveyard they’re in or the howling sound the wind makes as it blows through the naked tree limbs. The human imagination is powerful....and it doesn’t take a whole lot to get the players (& yourself) in the right frame of mind.
EVOKING SUSPENSE
This is possibly the most common mood you’ll need to establish in the Dick Tracy rpg. Characters in the comic strip were frequently placed in tense situations that put readers on the edge of their seats. That was always an incredibly prominent feature of Dick Tracy. Likewise, you should become adept at putting the players on the edge of their seats.
The key to doing this is to transform even the most mundane situation into an opportunity for pulse-pounding story telling. Naturally, you don’t want to over-use this, as too much of a good thing is still too much. When you want a situation to become suspenseful, stretch it out. Don’t rush through it. Nothing ruins a suspenseful scene like having it chopped off too fast. Take time to build the drama. Let the players sweat it for awhile.
If, for example, the villain knocks the hero off a building and he’s just dangling by a ledge while the villain starts taking pot shots with his pistol, don’t allow the player to simply make a roll to escape. Draw it out a bit. Have the villain shoot a few times and describe how close each bullet came. When the player does roll to pull himself up, but fails, tell him one of his hands slipped off and he’s now suspended only by one arm! If the player succeeds in pulling himself up, tell him that there’s a window about 20 feet away. And if the character tries to make a break for it, start rolling for the villain’s shots. For every shot that misses, describe the stray bullets as taking out chunks of the ledge...right behind the hero. This creates a tense moment that will keep the hero moving and add suspense to it all the while.
EVOKING THE MACABRE
The Dick Tracy strip is often grim....especially when it comes to death. It can get downright grizzly at times. Fortunately, this is a remarkably easy mood to evoke. All it takes is a knack to bring out the horrific elements in naturally morbid scenes
Try to add a sense of gloominess to situations. If the PCs stumble upon a corpse, make the players feel like they actually do see a dead body. Describe the glazed stare the dead person has, detail the expression of pain....whatever it takes to make the players understand that this isn’t just a prop....it’s a deceased human being.
It must be noted here that gore isn’t the answer in most cases. Don’t entirely avoid “blood and guts”....just don’t rely on it to convey a sense of the macabre. While Chester Gould did show gore from time to time, he primarily utilized a more Poe or Hitchcock-like approach to morbid things. In other words, sometimes it’s what we don’t see that tingles our spine, not what we do see.
EVOKING MELODRAMA
Yeah, I know....many people think of action and suspense when they think of Dick Tracy. But there was always a softer side to the comic strip, a side that brings out the emotion in all of us. This can be a tad tricky to pull off, since it really only works if the players care about the characters involved. If, for example, a character the PC’s just met dies, it’s going to be an uphill battle to grab the players’ emotional strings and give ‘em a tug.
One of the important things to do when doing a melodramatic scene is to speak in a fairly soft, quiet tone of voice. And don’t talk fast. Slow the pace down and make the mood come off as genuine. By the same token, don’t make the melodrama hokey. Few things seem as lame as a poorly done dramatic sequence.
EVOKING HUMOR
Even a serious comic strip has to have some humor to it. Dick Tracy has had plenty of it. Get it? Plenty? As in “B.O. & Sparkle Plenty”? Umm....never mind. Anyway, humor can be brought into the game numerous different ways.
One popular method is “the comic relief character”. This is usually a background character that pops up from time to time to lighten the mood. It is possible for comedy character to appear more regularly. The problem with this is the danger of the players growing bored with the character if he’s around too much. By their very nature, comedy characters can get on people’s nerves amazingly fast if they are over-exposed. Try to make the players laugh when the character makes an appearance, not grumble.
Another popular way to bring humor into a story is “the running gag”. Running gags can be hilarious if played right. But, like comedy characters, they can become stale if used all the time. Used wisely (& sparingly), running gags can become a cherished part of the campaign.
One mistake some writers and Narrators make is not knowing when to shelve the humor and get serious again. It’s all too easy to get in a humorous mood and not come out of it. If not kept in check, this can ruin an otherwise great game session.
Embracing the Genre
Try not to lose sight of the fact that the game is emulating a comic strip. The comic strip is a time honored story telling format with a lot of inherent strengths. These strengths can be used to make the game even better. By inserting such traditions in your games, you’ll not only make the setting richer, but also give the players the feeling that they truly are creating their own comic strip, in a manner of speaking.
INDICATOR LINES
Anyone who’s ever read many Dick Tracy strips can tell you about indicator lines. The indicator line is a story telling device Gould utilized to avoid confusion and to let the readers know exactly what is going on. And it’s such a simple thing....a little arrow or line pointing to a particular object, with a caption telling the reader what the object is. The most famous example of this is the 2-Way Wrist Radio. Just about every time Tracy used it, Gould accompanied it with an indicator line. Granted, everyone pretty much knew what it was...but the arrow was more a tradition than it was a useful tool.
Using it in the game really just continues the tradition. Does it make a major difference? Not usually, but it’s an excellent way to tell the players, “Hey, we’re playing the Dick Tracy rpg”!
But don’t be mistaken....the indicator line can be useful. The best usage of the line is to tip the players off that a particular item will play an important role in the story later on.
When you wish to use an indicator line, simply say something along the lines of, “The indicator line points to a match book laying on the table next to Pruneface”.
THOUGHT BALLOONS
The thought balloon has been a staple of comic strips for a long time. And there’s a reason for that. They allow the reader to know what an NPC is thinking, even though their characters would have no clue. Additionally, the players can also use thought balloons for much the same reason. And like indicator lines, they add to the feel of the game.
To use a thought balloon, just say “Thought balloon”, followed by the "message" in the balloon.
RECURRING VILLAINS
In truth, Dick Tracy dispatched most of the villains he crossed paths with. But the ones who did survive often made reappearances at a later time. These villains often had fanfare all their own. The biggest example of this was Flat Top who, after he was killed off, received a mock funeral in front of the newspaper office by his fans.
The use of recurring villains creates a sense of continuity and familiarity. Chester Gould usually limited his characters to a small handful of appearances, but made each one of them totally unique and memorable. Ideally, this is what you should aim for as well. But if you wish to keep a villain around for longer, it’s definitely your prerogative.
THE FAMILY TREE
Over the years, Dick Tracy has had many enemies. And these enemies sometimes had spouses, siblings, parents or other relatives who would come around to make the detective’s life hell. While it may sound cheesy at first, it’s decidedly a convention of the genre. So in case you use this method, here’s a few things to keep in mind.
• Most of the time, the relatives have names that are oddly similar to the villain. For example, Flat Top’s daughter was called Angel Top. Similarly, B.B. Eyes’ brother was named B.D. Eyes.
• The ones who didn’t have nearly identical names simply had a Mrs. or Jr. attached to the original’s name. Take Mrs. Pruneface for example.
• In many cases, the relative looked a great deal like the original villain. This enforces the fact that the two are related.
RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
There’s no disputing the fact that Dick Tracy is a world-class detective. But a lot of his success came from being in the right place at the right time. This logic didn’t apply exclusively to Tracy, however. The rest of the world was bound by it as well. Often times, though, it could best be described as being in the wrong place at the wrong time, especially in the case of the villain.
Using this rule of logic is a genuinely great way to tie the story together....and best of all, it’s in the spirit of the comic strips!
This usually requires a little bit of forethought on your behalf as well as some on-the-spot ingenuity, but the results can be immensely rewarding.
IRONY AND SYMBOLISM
This was a common element of the Dick Tracy strips....especially when it came to the villain’s undoing. This usually involved the villain’s death or capture resulting from something he had done or something symbolic of his modus operandi. A great example of this is when Influence was captured after Dick Tracy nailed him in the eyes, smashing his hypnotic contact lenses (ouch!).
Of course, you can implement irony and symbolism almost anywhere within a story. Just try not to get corny or preachy with it or the point will be moot.
HOLIDAY CHEER
During the holiday season, it was common for Christmas to be mentioned or in some way written into the story. For example, after the Mole’s underground lair overflowed with water, almost his entire stash started coming out of drainage pipes and such. Several under-privileged children began snatching the bills with joy. Mole, who had just been handcuffed by Tracy, yelled at the children, saying “That’s my money! My money!”. With a smile, the detective looked at Mole and replied, “Mole, this is Christmas week! Think of your Christmas spirit. Don’t be a meanie!”. Later, while sitting in his prison cell, Tracy brought him a bundle of cigarettes, fruit and candy as an X-Mas present. Mole was touched. The scene faded out with Mole hearing Christmas music being played from a big speaker outside.
And on Christmas day, it has become an annual tradition for the main characters to give the readers their holiday greetings.
You too can encourage this sort of thing. And it doesn’t have to just be Christmas either. Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Years.....it’s up to you. Having a holiday be the backdrop for a story (or at least a segment of a story) can add some flavor to the game.
Presenting Clues to the Player Characters
In a game that focuses on detective work, characters are bound to encounter clues. It’s an important part of the genre. As Narrator, you’ll be the one to dole them out for the players to find (or not find). This brings up a certain issue that has been the bane of rpg Narrators for years.
You see, if you suddenly tell the players to make a Perception / Observation NTR when they walk into an area with a clue, you may as well say, “Yoo hoo, there’s a clue here!”. It’s a dead giveaway, which seriously puts a damper on the game.
The best way to get around this is to sit down before the game session and have each player make a slew of Perception / Observation rolls. Write each players’ results onto a sheet of scratch paper under their own separate section, in a random order. Then, whenever the player needs to make a Perception / Observation roll, just look at the first number on the sheet and count that as the roll. This way, the player will have no idea that a Perception / Observation check was even made.
Running Combat Scenes
Running a fight sequence can be a fairly confusing prospect at first. But once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it becomes second nature. To get you off to a good start, we’ll examine the various aspects of battles and give you a few scraps of advice.
NARRATE IT
The first thing to remember is that combat is merely a part of the story. Many rpg Narrators halt the story and run combat as if it was a simulation separate from the plot. Then, once the combat is over, they go back into the story. In actuality, fight scenes serve as a means to further the plot, therefore they should not be segregated from it.
Along those same lines, try not to get bogged down in game jargon. Keep it at a narrative level, describing things as if it were any other kind of sequence. It’s easy to fall into the trap of foregoing narration during combat. Try to avoid this at any cost—otherwise your battles will mean far less.
EXAMPLE #1: “Okay, Mr. Jibbers tries to shoot you from his hiding place. (Rolls dice) He rolled a 16. He hit you. Now, let’s make a Damage Roll. (More dice rolling) You rolled a 10 and he rolled a 12. His roll beat yours by two. Let’s look at the Lethal Damage Chart. You’re Wounded. All physical rolls will be at -1 to the results. Also you get knocked back & down......(rolls dice).....five feet.”
The example given above is about as dramatic and exciting as a box of stale crackers. It’s all “game talk”, with almost no real narrative. Lifeless, boring and not very interesting. Let’s see what the second example will be like...
EXAMPLE #2: “The insane Mr. Jibbers peeks out from his hiding place and lets loose a shot from his pistol. Damage Roll time. (lots of dice rolling...the Narrator quickly glances at the Lethal Damage Chart) The bullet bites deeply into your left shoulder! The impact knocks you back about five feet and you land on your behind. The pain is pretty bad, but you should be okay, which should give you enough time to take this rat out!”
Much better. The second example described the exact same situation, but did it with story telling in mind. While “game talk” was mentioned by necessity, it was kept to a minimum so that the narrative would be the focus rather than the game rules.
FUDGE IT
Don’t be a slave to the dice. This actually applies to the entire game, but is particularly poignant in combat situations. If a roll gets in the way of the story, simply ignore the die roll! The story is of utmost importance. The rules are nothing more than a tool to help you tell the story. You aren’t bound by them by any means.
Of course, this can be easily abused if gone unchecked. Never, ever use fudging to screw over a player! Keep it fair. Don’t use this method to “beat” the players...use it to make the story better.
KEEP YOUR COOL
Combat can become a chaotic affair sometimes...especially for the poor sap narrating it. But that’s okay, it doesn’t take much to alleviate this fact. The primary defense against confusion and pandemonium is to not lose your cool. Stay calm and try to keep some structure to the fight. Organization is paramount. If you let yourself get frazzled by everything, you’ll experience control slipping away from you in a big hurry.
DON'T LET THEM BE SLOW-POKES
Some players like to think every single attack or action out in painstaking detail before committing their character to anything. In combat, this should be a “no-no”. I’m not encouraging you to rush them in a harsh manner, but try to keep the action moving in a fairly rapid rate. Give the players a minute or two to contemplate their characters’ actions, but if they dawdle, give them a 30 second warning. If they still haven’t chosen a course of action, tell the slow poke that his character spent that time thinking about what he wanted to do.
INTERACT WITH THE SURROUNDINGS
When characters fight it out with bad guys, they aren’t doing it in a clear area of nothingness. Hardly. Every location has a lot of fantastic possibilities for drama. If a gun shot in a bowling alley misses, describe the stray shot as knocking over a bunch of the bowling pins. Anything to make the battle come alive! Let the players know where they are at. Use the location to your best advantage story-wise.
KEEP IT SNAPPY
Battle sequences were rarely very long in the Dick Tracy strips. They were normally pretty short, but potent and often decisive. In the same vein, try your best to prevent the fight scenes from dragging on. Make a lot happen in each fight, but avoid making it too long and drawn out. Play it by gut instinct. You’ll know when a combat scene should conclude. If the villain(s) are getting beaten, make them retreat.
Setting Up the Series
Before we can even discuss "designing adventures", we need to go over how to plan out the basics of the series itself. In many ways, this process is more important than designing adventures and story arcs. This is largely because the series or campaign determines what kind of stories can be told.
The stories you can run in a campaign based on police investigators will be drastically different than the stories centered on, say a group of self-styled vigilantes.
Try setting the series up using the following procedure.
STEP ONE: TALK TO THE PLAYERS
This is something some rpg Narrators forget about. But it’s actually highly important. After all, if the players aren’t interested in the campaign, they’ll most likely grow bored and drop out. Just sit down with the players and talk about what they’d like in a series, as well as what they wouldn’t like. One way to do this is to ask them to rate their preferences in several categories, on a scale from 1 (they want very little of it) to 10 (they want it to be a major feature). The categories are;
Action: Fist fights, chases, gunplay, etc.
Mystery: Who-done-it’s, murder, etc.
Drama: Romance, melodrama, etc.
Once you get everyone’s scores, find the average. This result should give you a general guideline in terms of which elements to include the most of in the series.
STEP TWO: DEVELOP THE CONCEPT
The concept of the series will be influenced by how many players are involved. If you only have one player, it would be perfectly suitable to have a solo series ala Dick Tracy. But if you have more than one player, you might need to put on your thinking cap and go off the beaten path.
The first problem that arises is that very few players will want to be supporting characters, while one player is the “star”. Who can blame them? The upshot of this is that you’ll need to develop a concept that allows everyone to be the main characters on an equal basis....while still maintaining the feel of the comic strips. This can be a real toughie, but once you succeed, the series will most assuredly be outstandingly original and (or) entertaining.
If you find yourself in a rut here, go back and discuss it with the players. You never know----they might have an outstanding idea for the series. This has the added benefit of enabling the players to be interactive with you in the creation of the series.
Here are a few ideas for campaigns. Use them or modify them as you see fit.
Police Detectives
Following along the lines of Dick Tracy, the PCs are the top detectives for the police force. This works best for a small group of players (one to three).
Private Detectives
In this series, the PCs are freelance private dicks. This can work well for any number of players, as you can easily say that they work as a team.
Self-Styled Vigilantes
No, no, no. We’re not talking about costumed super heroes here. You see, in this series, the PC’s are members of an organization or group dedicated to fighting crime in all it’s incarnations. This works good for any amount of players.
Beat Cops
Beat cops are the unsung heroes of crime fiction. So this series is designed to show the world that the detectives aren’t the only ones who have tough jobs. This is most suitable for smaller groups of players (one to three).
Reporters
Believe it or not, news reporters get a lot of action. In this series, the PCs are members of the press. This type of series is best with one or two players.
Criminals
While the Dick Tracy strips never, ever glamorized criminal activity, you might find it to be a nice change of pace to have a series told from the criminals’ perspectives. But remember....no Hero Points. This series can work well with any number of players.
STEP THREE: DESIGN SOME NPC'S
The PCs shouldn’t exist in a vacuum. There should be other characters for them to know or meet. It stands to reason that, since supporting characters were vital in the strips, you should take some time to create some for your series as well. Think of who the PCs would encounter on a regular basis. Once you get a hand full of ideas, work out their stats. Be sure to pay extra attention to major NPCs. They should be not only useful, but unique. After all, nobody wants to be around uninteresting people in real life, so why would the PCs?
STEP FOUR: GET READY TO ROLL!!
During the last step, you simply have to do the last minute preparations and maybe assist the players with creating their characters. It’s a good idea to spend the equivalent of a whole game session designing the PCs. Get everyone together, let them brainstorm ideas for the characters and give them a hand when necessary. You’ll find it to be an amazingly enjoyable experience and it gets the players more “into” the characters (not to mention the campaign).
Designing Adventures and Story Arcs
Creating adventures and story arcs for the Dick Tracy rpg is quite different than creating them for other rpg’s. In order to retain the feel of the comic strip, there are several highly crucial things you’ll need to take into consideration.
STORY ARC IDEA
A story without a premise isn’t much of a story. The same thing goes for adventures. For the first adventure of a new story arc, the premise is especially important, as it sets up the plot for the rest of the story arc. Once you get past the first adventure, the premise is mostly set, though each separate adventure should have it’s own direction as well.
To better explain what I mean, let’s take one of Chester Gould’s classic stories and treat it as if it were a story arc and then divide it up into separate adventures, detailing what happened.
"The First Appearance of Flattop"
Adventure One: “The Abduction of Dick Tracy”
Premise: Flat Top has been hired by three men to kill Dick Tracy.
Major Events:
• Dick Tracy is taken captive by Flat Top. He prepares to kill Tracy but gets a better idea, netting him a lot more money.
• Flat Top takes Tracy back to an apartment. He contacts the men who hired him, telling them he’ll release Tracy and give him their names....unless they pay him ,000.
• Ordering his men to keep an eye on Tracy, Flat Top leaves to get a newspaper and a malted milk.
• Once outside, Flat Top meets Margie (the girl who lives underneath the apartment he’s staying at). He finds out she’s planning to join the WACs and is studying telegraphy.
• When Flat Top gets back to the apartment, he tells his henchmen all about Margie...Dick Tracy overhears the conversation and starts using Morse code by tapping his foot on the floor so that Margie can hear it.
• Margie picks up on Tracy’s distress signal and fetches the police.
• Meanwhile, Flat Top is getting ready to rub Tracy out.
• Tracy takes them by surprises, diving into Flat Top and dispatching one of Flat Top’s goons in the process.
• During the commotion, another goon goes down.
• Flat Top makes good his escape amidst the chaos, heading down a fire escape (& gunning down an awaiting cop).
• The police bust through the door and find that Tracy has cleared the henchmen up single-handedly.
Adventure Two: “Flat Top on the Run”
Premise: Having fled the scene, Flat Top tries to hide out.
Major Events:
• While taking the subway, Flat Top meets a pick pocket (Bud) who he pays to hide him out for awhile at his house.
• Meanwhile, Tracy, who’s still at the apartment, has the police call the press & tell them that Tracy was found dead....murdered. Dick plans to sit there and wait for the inevitable phone call from the chumps who hired Flat Top.
• Meanwhile, Flat Top tears a picture of himself out of Bud’s mother’s newspaper, so they don’t identify him. His mother rents a room to Flat Top.
• Flat Top’s employers call to Congratulate him, but get a hold of Tracy, who poses as Flat Top. He tells them he’ll be there shortly, asking for the address.
• Flat Top accidentally drops the picture from the paper and Bud picks it up. Bud blackmails Flat Top for quite a bit of cash.
• Tracy and the police raid Flat Top’s employer’s, arresting them all.
• Meanwhile, Bud goes on a shopping spree, buying all sorts of nice stuff.....including a pair of ice skates.
• Later, at a local park, Bud goes ice skating and falls through thin ice and drowns!
• When Tracy finds out about the kid’s death, he thinks it might be the suspicious kid who’s been passing lots of big bills. When Tracy sees the body, he finds a sales slip for the skates, figuring that such an expensive pair of skates would probably be registered.
• Meanwhile, Flat Top carves out a photo album that belongs to Bud’s mother, so he can stash his money in it.
• After finding Bud’s name and address from the place Bud purchased the skates from, Tracy breaks the news to the kid’s mother. He tells her he’ll need a photo of Bud for the newspapers. She tells him where the photo album is. And they find Flat Top’s stash! The mother tells Tracy the only person who could’ve stashed money there....is her roomer!
• Flat Top hears the conversation from his room and decides to scram. He exits the window & climbs to the building top.
• The cops are hot on his trail and they head up to the roof as well. Out of desperation, Flat Top hides in a chimney...but there are bees inside it.
• The cops see no one on the roof, so they leave. But Flat Top finds himself stuck in the chimney...with the bees.
• The man who rents the apartment with the chimney finds honey dripping down into his home & goes to the roof to see if he can get a bunch of honey. Instead he finds Flat Top, who talks him into helping him get out of the chimney.
Adventure Three: “Flat Top’s Desperation”
Premise: Running out of options, Flat Top tries to, once again, escape but Tracy is onto him.
Major Events:
• Tracy, who has a hunch, heads back to the roof top to check things out again.
• Meanwhile, Flat Top is recognized by a “snake oil” salesman named Hawker Davis, whose product is supposed to be dry cleaning fluid, but is really just gasoline. Hawker threatens to call the police, so Flat Top takes him into a hallway and sets him on fire, killing him. But before he lit the fire, Flat Top swapped clothes with him.
• Later, Tracy & Pat are at the murder scene. They figure out Flat Top’s ruse of trying to make them think he was the one who was burned to death.
• Flat Top finds a new hide out (a cheap hotel) and is going through Hawker’s coat pocket. He finds war bonds & one of them is caught by the wind and is blown out the open window.
• A few seconds later, a newsboy and his friend find the war bond and one of them mentions the name on it, noting that he’s heard of Hawker Davis. He wonders if Davis lives in that cheap hotel, but is told that he can’t be living there because he’d been murdered. In turn, the newsboy tells a beat cop. They point to the only open window in sight----Flat Top’s room.
• Flat Top figures out what’s going on and takes refuge in what he thinks is a vacant room...but it’s actually the room of Vitamin Flintheart.
• Seeing an opportunity, Flat Top attacks Flintheart and takes some of his make-up kit (since Vitamin is an actor), including a wig, cane and hat. With this, he exits the hotel unnoticed. He hops a cab to a theater.
• Back at the hotel, Tracy and crew discover the beaten Vitamin Flintheart, who tips them off that Flat Top took his make-up kit..
• Tracy picks up Flat Top’s trail and goes to the theater, where he is attacked by Flat Top. In return, Flat Top is shot as well (but not killed) and is captured by the police.
The above is merely an example of how a comic strip story could be segmented into several “adventures”. The three adventures above make up one complete story arc.
TIDBITS
Tidbits are things that you want to fit into your story. This involves a small amount of brainstorming. Just sit down a write a selection of little snippets or ideas onto a piece of paper. You needn’t take a long time on this, just whip some out. Had Chester Gould been doing this when he created the Flat Top story above, he might’ve had the following tidbits;
• Flat Top hired to kill Tracy.
• Flat Top blackmails his employees.
• Flat Top hides in a chimney with bees in it.
• Flat Top meets an old retired actor.
The above list isn’t complicated and wouldn’t have taken too long to dream up, but it contains a lot of the best elements of the finished story.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Once you’ve come up with the premise and jotted down some tidbits, it’s time to slap it together into a cohesive whole. Figure out how each of the tidbits should happen. Often, though, the actions of the PCs will alter this, but that’s fine. It keeps you on your toes.
Try to organize your ideas into a basic structure and keep it kind of general to account for the fact that the course of the game is largely dependent upon the PCs.
Here’s how it could’ve been done for the first “adventure” in the Flat Top story arc above.
1. Dick Tracy gets kidnaped by Flat Top
2. Flat Top tries to blackmail his employers. This should give Tracy’s player some time to figure out an escape plan.
3. Plant a few “hints” for possible ways to escape. Perhaps have a downstairs neighbor who can assist somehow, bringing the other PCs in on the action.
4. A big fight should happen, with Flat Top finding a way out.
PLANTING SEEDS
Once you have your story structure hashed out, you’ll need to figure out how to fill in some blanks. What kind of clues will be given? How will the PCs be able to find the villain if he hides? All these questions need to be addressed. Fortunately, some of them can be addressed on the fly in an impromptu manner if you’re good at such things.
Let’s look at the Flat Top story again. This time, we’ll be planting the seeds.
• The downstairs neighbor knows Morse code. This will allow Tracy’s player to act on this if he thinks about it.
• Have Bud find Flat Top’s picture from the newspaper.
• The skates can be registered so the cops can find out Bud’s name, thus leading them closer to Flat Top.
• While Flat Top hides in the chimney, honey leaks out to the lower apartment.
• A war bond belonging to Hawker is lost and subsequently found by someone...and Hawker’s name is on it.
PLANTING SEEDS
There is no need to plan everything out. Try to keep the adventure loose and easy, so that you aren’t railroading the players onto a set path. Nothing turns players off like feeling as if they have absolutely no control over anything. This will force you to be adaptive, responsive and flexible as a Narrator.
If the players get off the path, that’s okay, just give them a few clues to lead them back. But again, don’t force anything on them. Ultimately the players should be the masters of their characters’ destinies. By leaving some blanks, you’re giving them breathing room to do their own thing, which is good unless they ignore the story altogether.
Miscellaneous Tips For Designing Adventures and Story Arcs
To keep the flow of the Designing Adventures and Story Arcs section smooth and easy, we left out some things for you to learn once you got the basic ideas in your brain.
IDEA SOURCES
Inspiration for an interesting story can be found practically anywhere. Look around you. They are around. You just have to spot them and cultivate them.
Newspapers: Yep, you heard that right...the newspaper. Any newspaper. From the weekly tabloids to USA Today, you can find a veritable trove of story hooks.
Novels and Movies: Don't be afraid to borrow from such sources, so long as you put your own spin on things. Take the basic premise and contort it into something all your own! It's easier than you think! And to really mix it up, borrow bits from multiple novels and movies!
CREATING THE GOULDIAN MASTER-VILLAIN
The villains in Dick Tracy have always been unique. No other comic strip presented villains so Despicable, vile or grotesque as Chester Gould. The bizarre criminals eventually became just as much a signature element of Dick Tracy as the yellow coat & snap brim fedora.
With a bit of practice, you can produce villains on par with those Gould created. To get you started, we’ve included a few hints on making your villains feel like something that could’ve leapt from the pages of the comic strip.
Try creating a theme, no matter how minute for some of your villains. Themes can be achieved in many different ways, such as creating a name and making the villain resemble it (Pear-Shape looked like a pear, Pruneface’s face was wrinkled and looked like a prune, the Brow had a peculiar forehead, etc.). Another way to do this is to make the name reflect the personality or behavior of the villain (Sleet was cold hearted, Itchy Oliver scratched a lot, and Mumbles....well...he mumbled).
PLOT TWISTS
Nobody wants to be involved in a predictable story. We don't want to see them on television, we don't want to read them in novels, we don't want to watch them on movies.....and we don't want to experience them in a roleplaying game. If we already know what's going to happen, then a gargantuan amount of the enjoyment is gone.
That's where twists can help you out as Narrator.
In most instances, plot twists come in the form of incomplete information. The unexpected happens or the expected doesn't happen.
The Ol' Switcheroo: This is a very popular plot twist, where the players are given a particular goal or objective....but right in the middle of the adventure, they find out that they're goal or objective is something else entirely!
It's A Trap: While this may sound a bit typical, you should rest assured that it will not feel typical to the players. I don't need to elaborate on what this kind of twist is about. We've all seen it. It deals with betrayal in it's truest form.
Wrong Bad Guy!: With this kind of plot twist, the enemy isn't who the players think it is. Maybe the "innocent" villain is framed by the true villain of the story. Or maybe they're both in cahoots, but the true villain uses the other as a scape goat.
Misleading Clues: One or more clues lead the player characters in the wrong direction. Often, the players themselves will try fervently to piece all the clues together in order to solve the case. And with this plot twist, they might well "solve" the case wrong!
CLIFFHANGERS
We all enjoy action-packed excitement, where the hero is duking it out with the malevolent baddie for all the marbles with the entire world at stake! But what if, right at a crucial and suspenseful moment, you see the words "To be continued"?
Yep, that's what I thought. You'd be on the edge of your seat wanting more! Would you come back again to see what happens?
Of course you would.
That's what cliffhangers are all about----making the audience (or players!) come back for more! It works in roleplaying games even better than it works in just about any other form of entertainment because the players are a part of the action---not just watching or reading it.
When you feel it's appropriate and you want to wrap up the session, cut it off right at the key moment....and you'll have the players beating down your door the next night to get you to run more of the game.
So, when you're setting up your story outline, try ending one or two of the adventures with a cliffhanger.
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