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View Full Version : DM Help How to add foreshadowing without being over obvious? (Stellaris spoilers)



Resileaf
2019-06-02, 12:27 PM
For my Starfinder campaign, I'm taking an event that happens in Stellaris that will happen at high level, but I intend for it to be foreshadowed for most of their adventure until it happens. The event in question is "The Worm-in-waiting", a Lovecraftian horror kind of thing that attempts to take over your civilisation, and in Stellaris, its appears with events that involve the phrase "What will be, was. What was, will be."

I want to have that sentence appear during their adventures, but I want to keep it subtle, without tipping my hand too early. I already had it appear as a graffiti in the slums of a metropolis, but I'd like ideas to have it be in the background for future games. Think of it like "Bad wolf" in Doctor Who, where the meaning and importance of the sentence doesn't become clear until the reveal.

redwizard007
2019-06-02, 01:30 PM
For my Starfinder campaign, I'm taking an event that happens in Stellaris that will happen at high level, but I intend for it to be foreshadowed for most of their adventure until it happens. The event in question is "The Worm-in-waiting", a Lovecraftian horror kind of thing that attempts to take over your civilisation, and in Stellaris, its appears with events that involve the phrase "What will be, was. What was, will be."

I want to have that sentence appear during their adventures, but I want to keep it subtle, without tipping my hand too early. I already had it appear as a graffiti in the slums of a metropolis, but I'd like ideas to have it be in the background for future games. Think of it like "Bad wolf" in Doctor Who, where the meaning and importance of the sentence doesn't become clear until the reveal.

Work parts of it into company logos, national (planetary?) mottos, criminal pass words, pop culture (memes, speeches, songs,) have it scratched onto the side of a computer terminal, spoken as part of a glitch in a droid, written over and over on every surface of a crazy guys living quarters. Stuff like that.

Jay R
2019-06-03, 10:14 PM
Start with something that is deliberately way too subtle. Then keep adding slightly more obvious clues until you find out, by experiment, what level you needed for this group on this adventure.

[And don't assume that you know what level to use next time. Do the same thing -- every single time.]

Also, listen carefully to the nonsense that the PCs come up with, and decide if it's better than your idea. If so, run with it.

I heard of one group in a superhero game that had gotten three clues "chess" "clock", and "match". One player said, "Chess clocks used in chess matches have two faces. I wonder if Two-Face is behind this."

If I had been the GM, I'd have instantly changed it to include Two-Face -- because that was cooler than the GM's original idea.