Ah, yeah, looks like I carelessly just threw out a term here, without explaining what I meant. Thanks for getting my back, Claudio and Kit.
Bangs are a great technique: basically, the GM (or whoever) introduces a turn of events into the game that a) offers an interesting, open-ended choice to the player, and b) has consequences even if it’s ignored (so that, too, has implications). It’s a way to prep material for a game which poses questions rather than mandating a direction of play, so the outcome is always open-ended.
For GMs who are used to linear games and planning “what the players will do”, it’s a good alternative to that: a way to prepare for a game without deciding how it will turn out or what will happen next. I know it’s been useful as a concept for GMs whose experience is running linear modules (often published adventures) and just don’t have a different model to work from.
Here’s a really simple and effective formula for a Bang (it sounds very formulaic, but is nevertheless very effective - you can get surprisingly far just doing this in a game, as it’s a powerful technique):
- Pick a character.
- Identify two values, themes, or issues - two things the characters really cares about.
- Put forward a situation which puts pressure on the character by setting those two values against each other.
Example
Officer Martinez is a scrupulous, principled policeman. He is also a family man, and loves his wife.
These are the two values or themes: (1) his love for the law, and (2) his love for his wife.
We can frame a situation which puts these two things at odds, and see how the character reacts.
Officer’s Martinez’s wife comes home late one night. She’s in a panic. She shows him why: she’s got a dead body in her trunk! She asks him to help her dispose of the body. She can’t go to jail! She’s begging for help.
What will he do? He could choose to do anything at all. But we know it’s probably going to be interesting.