Choice Design

Choices are the levers of reality. To give players agency - design and present choices.

A choice is different from a test. A test can be passed or failed, while a choice is a fork in the road. A choice presents two or more options, each of which has its own costs and benefits. This makes it impossible for the chooser to select a best outcome. They must commit to an option, and accept its consequences. Situations with a clear best outcome are not choices, they're tests.

In reality, there are innumerable possible options for every choice to be made. It's not reasonable to make a plan for every single possibility.

To deliver choices, the first half of the GM's job is to reduce the number of possible options down to only the ones with the most unique, interesting consequences. Then, the second half of the GM's job is to frame those options in such a way that choosing between them feels natural in the story.

Priorities

To build choices, ask PCs questions to understand their priorities. By asking some of these questions, you can build a palette of priorities.

  • What's the main goal of your plan?
  • Does your plan have any secondary goals?
  • What factions are involved?
  • What obstacle do you want to avoid?
  • What's the deadline we're racing against?

Choice Tips

  • Grey, not black and white. Choices present trade-offs, with no outcome being a clear winner. The benefit of each option comes at a cost.
  • Mutually exclusive. You can only commit to one option of a choice. Frame choices such that committing to one option means not committing to the others.
  • Unique and impactful. Choices are meaningful forks in the road. Choosing each different option should yield unique, different outcomes.
  • Focused. Focus on a few options, rather than juggling many. Aim for most choices to be between two options at a time. This makes them simpler to understand, less work to plan, and quicker to resolve.
  • Foreshadowed. Choices are more tense when you understand the costs and benefits of the options. When possible, foreshadow the trade-offs of a choice before it must be made.
  • Unavoidable. Avoidable choices feel less urgent, and can lead to procrastination. When presenting a choice, aim for it to be unavoidable, or urgent in some way.
  • 1-2 Per Session. Too many choices is complex to manage and understand. Too few limits agency to influence the story. One good choice per plan is an excellent goal. Three per plan is a reasonable limit.

Forks

Forks are the tool to simplify and deliver choices.

A fork arranges two competing priorities:

  • Achieve the main goal.
  • Achieve the secondary goal.
  • Avoid the obstacle.
  • Meet the deadline.
  • Befriend (or appease) a faction.

Each option of the fork preserves one priority at the cost of sacrificing the other. When presented with a fork, PCs must choose one priority to sacrifice. Then, the story carries forward the consequences of that choice.

TODO: Diagram

Crafting Forks

To craft a fork, pick two remaining priorities. These are the fork's options.

For each option of the fork, envision a situation which would cost the other option's priority.

Then, envision the fork - a physical or rhetorical situation where PCs must choose only one of the two options.

Physical fork. Physical forks pressure PCs with the fact that they can't be in two places at once. They are literal forks in the road.

Take the long, safe way, or the quick, dangerous way?Save the dying victim, or chase the fleeing thief?

Rhetorical fork. Rhetorical forks pressure PCs to choose between people, beliefs, goals, and ideas. They are figurative forks in the road, usually prompted by an NPC or a situation which requires a decision.

Will you marry the Prince, uniting the kingdoms? Or will you run away with your lover, plunging the realm further in war?

Don't overthink choices. Physical forks are simple, so they're a good place to start. Once you're comfortable with physical forks, draw on PC and NPC motivations to craft rhetorical forks. Any plan with two competing factions also offers a simple rhetorical fork - which of the factions will PCs support?

When designing forks, consider how to make the choice natural and unavoidable. This isn't easy, and requires some creativity.

If it's challenging to present a fork naturally - consider presenting it between scenes. Then, players still get to make a choice, and the group can work it into the story together in the next scene.

Presenting Choices

When foreshadowing or presenting choices, remember to focus your efforts on contrasting the costs. It's simpler for players to understand that they are choosing between a single priority that they will lose, than it is to understand choosing between multiple priorities that they will preserve or gain.

If we choose 1st option, we will sacrifice cost / priority a.If we choose 2nd option, we will sacrifice cost / priority b.

To frame a choice, present the two options of a fork through the story. Qualify each option with what it will cost.

Fail Secondary Goal

Doing this, we won't be able to achieve SECONDARY GOAL.

Offend Faction

FACTION won't like this.

Face Obstacle

_Doing this, we'll need to face OBSTACLE.

Miss Deadline

_This will take a lot of time, and we'll be late for DEADLINE.