Escalating Challenges

As we discussed before, stories are about problem solving. Now that we know the key plot points that can provide us with the general story structure, we can figure out the rest of the plot by creating a series of escalating challenges the heroes have to overcome on their path to the goal.

Challenges are Sub-Goals

Just like in real life, accomplishing a big and difficult goal involves achieving a number of smaller sub-goals. Primary Objective is the big overarching goal, which can be broken down into a series of smaller challenges.

Every scene the characters try to solve a small problem, their successes take them closer to achieving their goal, the setbacks and complications take them farther away from that goal.

Imagine a todo list the heroes would write as they try to achieve their Objective, list a series of steps that can take them from where they are to where they need to be, and then figure out what makes each step difficult.

In order to Rescue the Princess we need to:

Follow the clues to figure out what happened to the Princess, why did she disappear.
Convince a cowardly Knight, the only person who knows where the dragon's lair is, to take us there.
Learn that the dragon can only be slayed using the legendary sword, which he keeps in his hoard.
Travel through the deadlands to the Dragon's Lair and face the dangers on our way there (defeat various beasts living there, survive heat and thirst, overcome traps laid by the dragon).
Cross the rope bridge to the dragon's castle.
Sneak through the castle and stealthily acquire the sword before the dragon notices and kills is.
Slay the dragon while making sure the princess doesn't get hurt.

Challenges are just small Objectives

Just like the goals are made out of sub-goals (which, in turn, are made out of even smaller sub-sub-goals), the Primary Objective and the Challenges are fundamentally the same kind of thing, just the goals/problems of a different scale.

A Primary Objective from one adventure can serve as a Challenge in another - you can have a whole story about defending the village from a werewolf, or your heroes can slay a werewolf as they walk through the forest on their way to some larger goal.

And the other way around, many Challenges your players face can be turned into a whole adventure of their own. In a One-Shot, acquiring the Legendary Dragon-Killing Sword is one of the Challenges the players need to accomplish, but in a campaign about killing a dragon, acquiring this sword can be a whole adventure - just make the challenge more difficult and break it down into even smaller sub-challenges to use as plot for that adventure.

This is very useful to understand, because it means that you can apply everything you have learned about designing the Primary Objective to designing the challenges, and vice versa. It makes it much easier to generate ideas as well - you can use your Objective ideas (or ones taken from the movies) as challenges, and you can turn your challenges into bigger adventure ideas (by making them more dramatic and difficult to accomplish).

Using Objective Ideas as Challenges and vice versa:

Take a primary objective from Titanic (surviving a sinking ship), and use it as one of the challenges your heroes need to overcome on their path to the goal.
Take a small challenge from Harry Potter, let's say, stealing a Hippogriff, and make a whole adventure about performing the legendary Hippogriff heist.

Types of Challenges

You don't want your players to go from battle to battle, or from one trap-riddled corridor to another - it would get old pretty quickly. Try to mix a variety of different challenge types to make the experience more interesting.

I have organized some of the common and useful challenges I tend to see in stories into 4 main categories. Don't hesitate to invent your own challenges and categories, if you can think of anything I haven't mentioned.

Action/Adventure

Kill/defeat a person or a creature.
Obtain or steal an item or information.
Capture or chase a person or a creature.
Rescue someone from trouble.
Escape from pursuit.
Protect someone or something from an attack.
Invade or defend a location.
Complete or sabotage a project (for example, a ritual).
Race someone to the destination.
Destroy a dangerous item or a location.
Win a competition.

Social

Accomplish any of the other challenges through social, non-violent means.
Convince someone to do you a favor, reveal a secret, do what you need them to do.
Intimidate, bribe, blackmail, seduce, or distract someone.
Resolve conflict between parties, broker peace.
Pit people/factions against each other.
Negotiate, close a deal, bargain.
Make allies. Impress or befriend someone.
Find a non-combat resolution.
Persuade a group of people.
Gain status, influence, fame, prove yourself.
Organize or sabotage an event that must go without a hitch.
Ensure the event goes as planned.
Put down or incite rebellion/mutiny.
Navigate a strange culture/customs.
Recruit people to your cause.
Put on a show, entertain.

Exploration

Overcome environmental obstacles (cross a river of lava, climb a mountain).
Survive natural hazards, extreme weather, natural disasters.
Explore/scout/survey a dangerous place, gather information.
Overcome security, defenses, traps.
Invade or defend a location.
Prepare and execute an ambush.
Escape a trap/ambush.
Gain control over the territory.
Track something/someone.
Deal with a natural disaster.
Clear the location of danger.

Stealth

Accomplish any of the other challenges stealthily, without being seen.
Plan, prepare, and execute a heist.
Break into or break out of a location.
Infiltrate and spy, go undercover, impersonate someone.
Steal an item/information.
Smuggle or plant an item, information, rumor.
Hide, cover your tracks, lay low.
Sneak through undetected.
Deal with unwanted attention.
Get caught lying/cheating/sneaking.
Frame someone for a crime.

Like in a good spy movie, you want to combine those different challenge types in interesting ways:

An exciting chase scene ends at a old mansion and turns into an undercover mission with a bit of social intrigue, which then turns into a tense stealth mission with sneaking through corridors, evading the guards, exploring the secret rooms, to eventually reach a well-protected vault surrounded by a bunch of traps and perform the ultimate heist. After the heist the players may get caught and have to fight or talk their way out.

Villain's Moves

In the last lesson we have learned that Villain's actions can serve as plot twists and complications, but they can also serve as regular challenges. Anything the Villain can do to make life more difficult for the heroes is a challenge they must overcome.

(see the list of Villain's moves in the Main Characters lesson).

You can use Villain's actions as yet another challenge type to design into your adventure, or just improvise them during the game.

Pacing and Rising Action

Think of your adventure as a roller coaster - you want to have periods of rising tension, excited anticipation, intense action, and calm periods allowing the players to catch their breath in-between (calm periods of non-dramatic storytelling between the action are important, don't skip them!).

Organize your challenges such that the level of threat, difficulty, stakes, and pace keep increasing throughout the adventure and reach their peak at the final climactic challenge.

That will create the most engaging and memorable experience for your players.

Activity

Make a list of 3-5 escalating challenges, the obstacles the players will need to overcome on their path. Try to use challenges of different types.
Make a list of things the Villain can do to make life more difficult for the heroes.
Share your ideas in the #designing-encounters channel.

Key Plot Points Intriguing Mysteries