Stephen drummed his fingers on the table, waiting. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for—some clue, some revelation, some progress. The game was cool, sure. The hospital scenes had been immersive, Kathmandu felt real, but… he still wasn’t a wizard. And that was the problem.
Scott, the game master, could argue that a lot of things were happening. Stephen and his fellow player, Christine, pulled a bullet out of a man’s head and saved his life. Stephen flew to Kathmandu and had a lively conversation with two NPCs on the street. A lot was happening. But it didn’t feel that way to Stephen.
Scott’s game is missing something: story pacing. Specifically, mileposts.
Not XP, not level ups—those are rewards. Mileposts are different. They show you where you are in the story, how far you’ve come, and how far you still need to go. Most importantly, milestones give players a tangible sense of progress.
GM Problems
GMs have two problems when it comes to pacing:
- They see the whole journey, but players don’t. You know where your story is going: Stephen will reach the monastery, fight a magical duel in New York, and have a climactic battle in Hong Kong. But the players cannot see the roadmap. What feels like progress to the GM might feel like aimless wandering to the players.
- They want the world to feel real. Great NPCs and detailed environments make the world come alive. But in a slow-moving plot, player focus will be on progress and not on details. All this extra stuff will feel like an anchor keeping them from moving on.
So how do we fix this?
Story Pacing through Story Goals
To help your players feel they are moving, start at the ending. What’s big goal?
- Become the supreme sorcerer
- Stop the galactic empire from blowing up planets
- Save the Ark of the Covenant from the Nazis
Once you have that, work backwards and identify key steps. This is not to railroad the players. Rather, these steps are just signposts so players can tell that they’re getting somewhere.
You might explain the milestones when you first extend the quest. For example, the GM tells the players about Kaecilius, the evil sorcerer, and his plan to unleash a dark power onto the earth. To defeat him, the players must:
- Find the magic travel rings
- Master the manual of astral form fighting
- Retrieve the time stone
Players now have a map of the journey. Even if they don’t know all the details, they know what they are headed toward.
But what if you don’t want to spill everything upfront? No problem. Give the characters a clear first step. For example, the GM could tell them:
“Your first task is to find and master the magic rings.”
As soon as they have achieved that step, give them the next goal:
“Now you must learn astral form fighting from the Ancient Master.”
At any given time, players should know the next milestone and the final goal.
Beats and Milestones
One way to think about your milestones is with beats—story beats. Robin Laws has a great book on this, Hamlet’s Hit Points. A story beat is when an encounter inspires hope (upbeat) or fear (downbeat). Change the direction of story beats to provide variety to your game.
Upbeats include all encounters where the players achieved something. For example, the Ancient Master accepts Stephen into the monastery. Every milestone is an upbeat because players feel hope about achieving their goals.
Downbeats introduce setbacks—obstacles that complicate player goals and raise tension. GMs add fear into the encounter—fear that their current goal has been made more difficult. Instead introduce the villain presence or plans. Show how these interruption makes their goals more difficult:
- The villain’s goons invade the mystic sanctuary
- Characters take a wrong turn and fall into a trash compactor
- The local authorities show up and demand that the characters return the Cross of Coronado
Avoid complete failure because that kills the pacing. Instead, create a scene that provides the players with a clue on how to get back on track.
- The characters find a room of windows that transport them to other lands
- The droids perform a skill check to stop the trash compactor
- The mercenary NPC encourages them: “You lost today, kid, but that doesn’t mean you have to like it.”
In your downbeats, you close some doors to story goal completion. At the same time, you need to open up doors that go in another direction.
Character Goals
During your downbeats, you can still give direction by focusing on character goals. The entrance of the villain nudges in the direction of character growth.
During character creation, encourage players to create goals for their characters. Character goals, just like story milestones, should be structured at different levels:
- Short-term: Completed in one to two sessions
- Heal my hands so I can perform surgery again
- Mid-term: Completed near the halfway point of the campaign
- Own a magical mansion in New York
- Long-term: Completion might require the entire campaign
- Earn the title of Supreme Sorcerer
When players have several goals for their characters, they will always have a direction.
Character goals can come from two sources: character desire and player vision. Character-sourced goals are at the forefront of the character’s mind. Stephen’s sorcerer wants to heal his hands so he can do surgery again. This character will make decisions based on this goal. He might also talk about it often.
Player-sourced goals are part of the meta-game. The player tells the GM how they envision their character in the future. In our example, Stephen wants his character to live in a magical mansion in New York City. His character does not see this in his future. He is busy with character-sourced goals.
When a player approaches you with a player-sourced goal, work with them to decide what steps are necessary to achieve this goal. You do not need to come up with every step—one or two will do. Have your player write down those goals and steps. Then have them give you a copy. Now you have a few more milestone ideas to place on the map so your players will see the story’s progression.
A Real, Moving World
We have talked about giving the players a map, but what about making the world real? An immersive world and story progression are not mutually exclusive.
- GM’s Goal: Make a rich world
- Player’s Goal: Achieve story and character goals
- Combined Goal: Achieve story and character goals in a rich world.
Have characters interact with the world as they achieve their goals.
When the GM plans his game for the fighting sorcerers, he will keep all the goals in mind.
- GM’s Goal: Show off the different areas of the monastery
- Player’s Goal: Learn to use the travel rings
- Combined Goal: A timed test for characters to travel to six sites in the monastery. In each room, they must retrieve a gold-colored flag then return to the Ancient Master in the starting area.
In each room, give a brief description of what they see: the library with chained books, the practice yard lined with sweating monks, the world observation room and its spinning globe, etc. You could put the flag in plain sight. Or you could make the characters interact with the room to find the flag.
When characters need to interact with your world to achieve their goals, they will be asking you to share details. No need to force the world down their throats. They will come to you.
Conclusion
A great RPG campaign isn’t just a collection of cool moments—it’s a journey. Clear milestones help players see that journey. Make sure that at least the next milestone and the final goal are explicit so that players always have a sense of direction. Add character goals to keep individuals engaged. Use story beats to mix up player emotions. And encourage interaction with the world by intertwining GM and character goals.
When players feel their progress, they stay invested. And that makes for a better game.
Photo by Aydın Photography: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-of-a-milestone-at-sunset-13393750/
All text copyright @ www.consaves.com
