I've been working on a soon-to-be-announced hexcrawl project with a few other people, and it's gotten me thinking about key design--more specifically what elements are valuable to include in a key that you're prepping and/or preparing to release for others to use. I figured I'd do a breakdown of all the information that a key (explicitly or implicitly) contains.
Key, in this context, just means any block of information describing a piece of a situation meant for play. Room keys and hex keys, but also to a lesser extent descriptions of monsters, NPCs, and general setting elements.
This list is meant to be as exhaustive as possible--what are all of the things that a key might need in order to be played out? Importantly, I'm not making a distinction (yet) between information that is decided by the key writer, the GM during prep, or the GM during play. Thinking through which types of key elements are best left to which stages (writing/prep/play) is the ultimate point of me writing this up, but this is long enough I need to save that for a future post.
General Information
The basics of a key. What do you tell to the players and when?
Immediate Sensory Impression
What is the immediate sensory impression received upon entering? Or, to put it more directly, what does the GM describe to the players upon first encountering the key?
"You enter a 30'x30' square room with a goblin in it, sitting atop a stained carpet."
Uncoverable Details
What is present in the key that requires some amount of exploration on the players' part to discover? Or, to put it more directly, what does the GM not describe to the players upon first entering the key? This contains both information likely to be relevant to play, and the answers to even the most inane questions the players might ask about the key.
"The stained carpet conceals a closed hatch leading downwards."
"The goblin's pockets contain 3 copper pieces."
"The goblin's name is Skronk Jr."
"The walls of the room appear to be carved limestone."
See Also: Hidden descriptions, via Landmark, Hidden, Secret
Immediate Response to Players
Similar to Immediate Sensory Impression, what happens the moment the players encounter the key? Does the presence of the players kick off some series of events?
"The goblin snarls, 'You've ruined your own lands, you'll not ruin mine!' and attacks."
Conditional Response to Players
Once the players start poking at things, what happens? Like Immediate Response to Players, but events that occur only if the players (or other forces) take certain actions.
"If the hatch is opened, the trap activates."
"If the players show a Worm Badge, the goblin lets them pass."
General Concept
What's the general deal with this key? If details need to get filled in about the key that weren't prepped, what basic concept should the GM visualize when improvising new details?
"The room is the lair of a goblin, tasked with defending the secret entrance to the goblin mines."
A Quick Aside
I hope that some of why I find this all interesting is already coming through. Once the players discover a key, all of these elements are needed to play it out--the scene opens with a sensory impression followed by an immediate response to players, as they players move through the key they uncover more details and trigger conditional responses, and as they prod at the key from unexpected angles the GM falls back on the general concept to improvise additional details.
Does that mean that a well-prepped key should explicitly contain all of these elements?
Almost certainly not.
Most of these can be inferred from each other. A good General Concept can imply everything else/a good Immediate Sensory Impression can imply the general concept/and so on. The GM needs to be able to do all of these during play, but it's overkill to include all in prep and/or writing. I'm doing this dissection largely to help me think through which of these elements are best come up with during which stages, and which elements are best stated directly vs. implied.
The Situation
Keyed descriptions exist within a moment in time. How does the hex describe how it might be on repeat visits?
The Temporary Situation
What in the key is happening just as the players first experience it? What won't be happening the next time they arrive?
"A child cries for help, surrounded by four hungry wolves."
"Six pilgrims pass through, on their way to visit the oracle to the south."
The Indefinite Situation
What in the key will be there every time the players arrive (or at least until they disrupt it)? What is 'business as usual' for the key?
"The shop sells basic adventuring supplies at a 50% markup."
The Possible Situation
What in the key may or may not be there when the players visit?
"There is a 1-in-6 chance per night of being attacked by 1d8 wolves."
The Reactive Situation
What in the key may happen in the future? Either based on player action or the natural progression of time, what will this key look like upon later visits?
"If the goblins are wiped out, a colony of kobolds move in to take their place."
"If not rescued within a week, the stranded sailors die of dehydration and exposure."
NPC Descriptions
The NPCs within a hex are some of its most unpredictable elements. In theory, each one is a full-fledged person. What information does the hex provide to describe them?
NPCs Present
What NPCs are in the key? How many of them are there? What's their general concept? What do they look like? All 'General Information' questions apply.
"There are three goblins."
NPC Motivation
What does the NPC want? What motivates the the actions they'll take? Both in the short-term (what they want out of their first encounter with the players) and in the long-term (what they want out of life).
"The goblin wants the players to leave."
"The goblin hates the ogre who lives next door."
"The goblin wants power, praise, and wealth."
NPC Abilities/Instincts
How does the NPC pursue their wants? What skills/abilities/powers do they have? What are their go-to strategies and instincts on how they behave? May or may not be mechanical.
"The goblin has +5 to stealth and can backstab an unsuspecting foe for double damage."
"The goblin throws themselves on the ground and begs pitifully for mercy when met with strong foes, blaming everything on the ogre."
"The goblin lies compulsively, and doubles down on the truth of those lies no matter how obvious the lie or costly the facade becomes."
NPC Backstory
Who is the NPC? What was their life like before the players met them? What's their lore? What was their relationship like with their parents? The types of information that won't come out in default play, but that a player might always ask the NPC about on a whim. It's a running joke that one of the cruelest things a player can do to their GM is to ask an NPC "What's your name?"
"The goblin is named Skronk Jr."
"The goblin has a pet rat-dog."
"The goblin used to be a bartender on Main Street until they were fired for embezzlement."
Misc Information
Here are a few more types of information that may come up about a hex in play that didn't fit with any other category. Not all of them are strictly necessary to run a key, but still may impact the way play occurs if included. There's overlap between some of them, but I find it helpful to take a step back and look at a key via each lens separately.
Lore & Backstory
What's the history of this key? What events occurred in the past to bring the key to the state it's in today? What's the explanation for why the key is the way that it is? Like NPC Backstory, encompasses info that's unlikely to be relevant to actual play.
"Here's the genealogy of the king, going back 500 years."
"The polymorph trap was installed by a long-dead wizard who liked to turn their foes into chickens and then dine upon them."
Relations to Other Keys
What other keys do you need to know about to run this key? How does this key combine with other keys to create something larger than the sum of their parts? May be explicit or implicit connections.
"Loud noises alert the ogre next door."
"The key opens the door to the king's chambers."
"The assassin knows the names of the three other conspirators."
"This goblin liquor is exactly the type of gift that would you get on the Sherriff's good side."
Authorial Intent
Why did the author include this key? What part does it play in the module's design?
"This goblin encounter was included because I felt the dungeon didn't have enough NPCs the players could talk to."
"The kidnapped children were included because I found players didn't have a strong motivation to go into the dungeon without a quest."
"This dungeon is my meditation on the five stages of grief. The goblin represents 'bargaining'."
Kickers & Quests
What should happen next? What in this key helps drive the action of the game forward and keep play from stalling out? What solicits the players to action and fills them with desire to keep playing?
"The innkeeper tells visitors of the quest to slay the dragon."
"The goblin attacks if not presented with the password within 30 seconds."
Potential Player Actions
The core element of roleplaying is the actions the players take. How does the key give the players fuel to come up with cool actions without dictating what those actions should be? This typically isn't something written directly, but it does inform how all the other listed elements get written.
"These unattended barrels are about to be brought into the impenetrable castle that the players want to sneak into."
"The ogre guard is a well-known alcoholic, unable to turn down a drink. In a nearby location there's a keg of double-strength rum--strong enough to knock out even an ogre."
Unanswered Questions
What elements of the key are unstable situations teetering on the edge of two or more possibilities? What powder-kegs exist? What are the Hegelian contradictions inherent in the current status quo? What are the parts of the setting where the players can have a meaningful impact on the world?
"The mercenary has been hired by the cruel king, but their last two payments were skipped. Do they stay loyal or betray their employer for better opportunities?"
"The ailing king believes in order, duty, and justice, but their heir is a hedonistic and irresponsible sociopath. Do they pass their crown along to them, as tradition demands?"
"The cult leader preaches a better world of love and peace but callously throws away their follower’s lives."
Mechanical Details
What stats do the elements in this key have? What are the monster statblocks, trap damages, and various difficulty ratings?
"Disarming the trap has a DC of 15, triggering it on a failure. Those within 20' must make a Dex Save at DC 13 or take 3d6 damage."
"Goblin: HD1 AC2 M7. 1d6 rusty blade."
Exciting Possibilities
What cool or evocative things might happen when the players encounter the hex? In some ways this is just "Conditional Responses", but the emphasis is on getting the GM excited to run the key more than on actual helpful info.
"If the players destroy the hedge, an army of undead awaken and overrun the world."
"There is a 1-in-100 chance that this opens a portal to hell, sucking everyone present through."
Cool Words
What are some exciting ways to describe what's in the room? When the GM runs the key, what are some words that they can read straight from the key to enhance their description? Or simply words to get them excited about running the key? Contains both the much-reviled box-text and the much-beloved purple prose of OSR darlings.
[insert any box-text from a 90's module you can think of here]
The Script
How will the scene of the key play out? What actions does the GM need to make sure the players take? This element is, thankfully, out of fashion and generally should not be included in any stage of prep. It is included here only because it is a common element found in many written modules.
"After the players agree to accept the quest, they exit the city via the west gate and have the following exchange with the gate guards: ..."
IRL Props
What solid objects or digital images can you actually give or show your players to help them visualize the key?
Art of the monster that lives in the room.
A fake newspaper handout, which contains clues relevant to the mystery.
An actual fake medal that the players get presented with at the same time it is presented to their character by the king.
Background music to set the tone.
Conclusion
Every one of these elements is something that may need to be invented by somebody at some point in play--either by the author as they write the module, the GM as they prep it before play, or the GM as they improvise it mid-play. The questions are: for a published module, which elements are best explicitly provided within the module's text itself and which should be left to the GM? What are some trade-offs being made when deciding which elements to provide and how to provide them? What are some useful ways of thinking about these elements as you choose which to include?
I'll be wrestling with those questions in my next post!
