Writing Children of the Stars (Part 3)

This is the third part where I describe how I wrote Children of the Stars, the third part of my first-contact freeform series.

Because I’m discussing plots in this post, it’s pretty spoilery.

Here’s the overall process.

The process

1. Choose a subject
2. Themes
3. Character basics
4. Outline characters
5. Character Sheets
6. Structure
7. Plots
8. Rules and mechanics
9. Background
10. Finishing off

So far I’ve worked out who my characters are, and I’ve decided on the setting and structure of the game. It’s time for stage 7—plots.

My approach to writing Children of the Stars is that, although the series is linked (and has some returning characters), I want it to be playable by anyone. So I’ve tried to write characters and plots to be self-contained. (I may not be the best person to judge.)

Step 7 Plots

I started with The Midwich Cuckoos plot—the players must decide what to do about a village of strange children. To bring in an international angle (the previous two freeforms were US-only), I introduced several international characters who had villages of their own to deal with and hadn’t decided what to do about them.

In The Midwich Cuckoos novel, the Russians nuke “their” village, and I wanted that to be an option.

I organised the plots so they were each in their own Word file. I wrote the plot from the character’s perspective, including background, other people, objectives, and any handouts (or contingencies).

Once I had the cuckoos plot done, I started on the other plots:

The science projects: There are more science projects wanting funding than funds available—and several people have pet projects they want funding. Which projects will be funded?

Steering humanity: The aliens already on Earth have plans—but they conflict. It’s time for them to settle their differences—what do they choose? And are they going to make first contact with humans?

The Consciousness: The alien encountered in All Flesh is Grass has withdrawn cooperation with the US government. What is it up to?

Intelligence task force: Some characters want to start an international task force for dealing with aliens. Will they succeed?

As I wrote the characters, I filled in a plot matrix, which I used to check that none of the characters had too little to do.

Assemble the characters

With the plots written, I then assembled the characters by copying and pasting the text from the plot documents into a blank character sheet.

In a few cases I needed to adjust the plot text to make the character flow properly, but that’s normal.

The last character

Once I had pulled all the characters together, I thought I had finished—then I remembered I needed a replacement character (in case one of the early scenes became violent). So I created a conspiracy nut writing a book about aliens—and let me pull in details from the first two games.

Step 8 Rules and mechanics

Children of the Stars is a purely talky-freeform. There are no items or abilities. There is one handout, for a character if they think to ask about something. But that’s about it.

Step 9 Background

I wrote the backgrounds as I wrote the plots. I ended up with four background documents:

• Setting and cast list: As described last time.
• Alien #1 background: I based this on the background sheet I used for All Flesh is Grass, updated slightly with some new information.
• Alien #2 background: This was a new sheet, but I used the same structure as the alien #1 background, which saved some work.
• US intelligence briefing: This was new information for the US government characters about what happened in Millville (in All Flesh is Grass) and what has happened since then.

Step 10 Finishing off

Step 10 can feel like it takes forever—getting everything ready so that a game can be run can take ages. But it didn’t take long for Children of the Stars, as I hadn’t written complicated rules, abilities or items.

• PDFs: I created pdfs of the game files (the characters and backgrounds) ready for sending to players.
• GM notes: I started a GM notes file. Should I set the game up so others can run it, I must work on this, but at the moment, the most important thing it has is a game timetable and the single handout.
• Discord and Kumospace: I’m running the game online, using Discord and Kumospace, and I have set these two up. I have also prepared an information sheet for the players on how to get the best from Discord and Kumospace.
• Sign-up sheet: I’ve prepared a Google Forms signup sheet and casting form.
• Post-game survey: I’ve prepared a post-game survey in Google Forms.

Next time

With the game ready, it’s time to run it.