Introduction

Backward Design is a technique in which we begin our prep with the end in mind (what we want to see, or what our goal is for a certain point in the game). From that goal we identify precursors to it, that is, events/ideas that could directly reach the goal. Then, for each of those events/ideas, identify/create events and ideas that immediately precede them. We repeat this process until the direct links are something that we can do right now. It is “backward” because you are looking at the end of the journey and

1. identifying a step right before the end; then
2. identifying a step right before that; and so on, until
3. you arrive at a step you can take right now.

In Education circles, Backward Design comes up a lot in assessment and instructional design. Here’s a link that I think does a good job introducing it in that context: MIT Teaching Resource.

This visual might help. We start at the top and work our way down until we arrive at something that we have at the beginning of our session.

To illustrate this method, this blog post shows how I incorporate the Three Clue Rule, which I picked up from Justin Alexander’s blog, and Secrets & Clues I picked up from SlyFlourish’s Lazy DM steps. The result is something that The Alexandrian would call a node-based design, in case you are looking for such examples.

Disclaimer

The following scenario is for my homebrew campaign. Some canon changes feature below: Iuz is now a devil and rules a city of Impious Pinatus in the Soul Sworn Empire. Each district of Impious Pinatus is named after one of the nine hells. It is an oppresively lawful city.

Scenario Concept

The PCs are levels 16, 17, 17, 18 and ?? (owing to a death last session and a wish to not be resurrected). They seek to infiltrate Atria Dolores, a floating castle above the City of Impious Pinatus. We begin when they arrive at Impious Pinatus.

Starting with some Secrets

• Secret 1: The Floating Castle is an illusion; mundane access will not work.
• Secret 2: Atria Dolores is actually in Avernus.

Backward Design

Following the idea of the three-clue rule, we seek to dream up three different ways that the PCs to might gain access to Atria Dolores.

Way 1) As high-profile characters, if they were to be captured they would be held in Atria Dolores instead of the Stygia district.

Way 2) The highest court of bureaucracy is held in Atria Dolores. There is a portal to the waiting lobby in the Maladomini district: specifically in the Lex Praetorium.

Way 3) The party can obtain a tuning fork associated with Avernus and use plane shift (or choose Gate at level up). They might get shunted close by, due to wards, but it is a fruitful way forward. Mundane access from there would work.

At this time, I don’t want more details, so that I don’t waste prep on two of the ways when the party chooses one. Visually, we represent this like this:

Now we have our three ways for the party to get in. Now, applying the Rule-of-Three again, we seek to identify three ways the PCs can access each of Way 1), Way 2) and Way 3). Some of the below is already prepped stuff from previous excursions into Impious Pinatus, others I need to invent. So if you see “name later” or something similar, that’s what I mean. I don’t want to name or create anything until I know it will stay in this step, and until I see how it’s all connected.

Three ideas for Way 1

For way 1) What are three ways that PCs might get the idea to get themselves captured?
1.1 ) Rumors: Resistance group (give them a name later) has been looking for, and cannot find, high-profile criminals (also to be named) encased in the ice of the Stygia District. They conjecture that they’re held in Atria Dolores itself.

1.2) A major trial (against whom? decide later) is going on in the Phlegethos District, being overseen by the Androsphynx, Thoth, and the sentence will mention imprisonment in Atria Dolores.

1.3) In the Lex Praetorium, political protestors are upset about changes to maximum sentencing. Some prisoners may be imprisoned in Avernus itself instead of in the Stygia District. Some protestors think Atria Delores must be connected to Avernus somehow.

Three ideas for Way 2

For Way 2) What are three ways that they might discover the existence of a portal to Atria Dolores in the Lex Praetorium?
2.1) Political Protestors (from 1.3?) can be led by someone (name later!) demanding an audience directly.

2.2) Resistance Group (again name later) has been plotting a reconnaissance mission, centered on breaking in through the portal. They haven’t done much planning beyond that (that’s the player’s job!).

2.3) Overhear a high-profile merchant (perhaps Vae, the Merchant of Pain, or a merchant at the Horologium Diaboli (Artificer’s Guild) discussing having business directly with the upper bureaucracy.

Three ideas for Way 3

For Way 3) What are three ways they might discover that they could obtain a tuning fork to Avernus to get to Atrium Dolores?
3.1) This would be a basic result from research at the Librum Mallum (only a few PCs are actually allowed in there after their last visit, though!)
3.2) A low level mechanic (name later!) at the Horologium Diaboli is experimenting with them to pull infernal energies in to power their machines. His work can send messages to Atrium Dolores.
3.3) The Dream Eater G’her is aware of this, and where one might obtain them. It only costs a small price and a dream!

Updated Picture

In fact, now that we’ve laid it out, I can see an easy connection from a Merchant to the Tuning Fork, and from the Librum Mallum to the existence of a portal in the Lex Praetorium. And the resistance group probably knows something about direct access to Avernus, even though that’s far above the Resistance’s spellcasting ability.

Recap on Backward Design

To see how Backward Design is applying here, I think of it like this: I want my PCs to be able to access to Atrium Dolores. If they were captured, that would suffice. They could discover that being captured would suffice if they overheard the resistance group talking about a high-profile member who was captured.

The idea is to keep working backward (e.g., how might the PCs overhear that conversation?). We will keep working backward until we get to a place where we are at our starting point (in this case, arriving in the city or some immediate obvious action we know the PC’s will take upon arrival).

We don’t necessarily need to use the rule of three here; but with more connections, we can more robustly we can respond to PC actions and investigations. Put another way, if the PCs do something unanticipated, a web of connections is more likely to be able to be adapted in response. Let’s say they take their boat to Impious Pinatus and bond with someone at the docks. Maybe that dockhand’s brother is the resistance person being held in Atria Dolores; now the PCs have additional motivation but also a reason to talk to the resistance.

Finishing the Backward Design

So how might they connect to the resistance group? Well, I can put some resistance group members:

1. on random encounter tables for each district.
2. in taverns and inns — they might chat up the PCs especially if they recognize them from the last time they were in town.
3. as a planned resistance-vs.-law encounter to inject if the session needs some action.

Likewise, visiting a tavern or doing any kind of seeking for more information would point the PCs to the Dream Eater, G’her, as a sort of information broker. This is the kind of thing that I think Sly Flourish would classically call a secret. The existence of G’her is a bit of direction one can bring out in response to many PC actions.

Any merchants that they visit can be gossiping about Vae having special access, or the up-and-coming merchant/tinkerer named Clockwork (the name just came to me!), in the Horologium Diaboli.

I will also quickly prep wanted posters regarding a past PC-turned-antagonist, Maia, who has been raiding merchant routes in connection with the resistance group, and advertisements for the Dream Eater’s information brokerage, Sleep It Off. I’ll hand out these fliers as part of a random encounter.

Updated Picture…again!

The only thing that isn’t connected to something the PCs are likely to do naturally (e.g. go to a tavern / inn, or wander into a random encounter), is the Librum Mallum. This was a major adventure site the last time the PCs were in the city, so all I need to do is remind them that more information can be found there when I’m re-introducing the city and recapping some of their adventures therein.

This gives an outline of what is needed. I’m ready to dive in and prep these connections (which we can think of as nodes from The Alexandrian’s blog).

Prep…. what am I to do with this many things?!

I think it’s also unreasonable to prep all this in a lot of detail. In fact, the diagram structure shows that a lot of that prep could be wasted. After all, if the party goes to a tavern and realizes that they can obtain a Tuning Fork at the Horologium Diaboli, it will have been a shame if we spent a lot of time prepping details around the party getting captured and their eventual jailbreak.

However, we must be ready to do the jailbreak thing if they get that far!

Depending on how long the sessions are, and to what extent a group engages in roleplaying, we might not make it all the way to Atria Dolores by the end of the session. That means when we stop, we will know more about what path they might take, so we can prep that in more detail. So what I like to do is have the tools that:

1. Don’t take me a long time to make
2. Will let me spin up the needed scenario if it comes up.
3. Can be reused if possible.

As I write all this down, I realize I’m most anxious about the Prison Break scenario. So I’ll start there:

I need a way to generate a holding cell. My notes will say “3 rooms, dice drop and geomorph connection”. For you, dear reader, that means I’d generate three rooms by dropping d4s on a piece of paper. Where the dice land is a junction of walls, and the number of walls at that junction is determined by the number showing on the die. I’ll draw a room based on that, making some logical connections and add in the prison cells and a guard station. I’ll use geomorph tiles (I use these: https://store.inkwellideas.com/collections/dungeonmorphs) to connect the holding cells. As they explore those geomorphs, I’ll need to be able to quickly spin up some rooms, and some encounters. Since the PCs may be few in number and without their equipment, I used Forge of Foes’ combinations for a hard encounter for lvl 10 PCs just to get numbers of some of these monsters.

Room : 1) Quarters, 2,3) Legal Studies, 4) Torture, 5) Meeting room, 6) Storage (pre-roll some random treasure to have amid sundries)

Encounter: 1) 1–4 Merregons, 2) 1–4 Devils appropriate to the room (use Bearded devil up to Magistrates [from MCDM Flee Mortals] 3–6). Currently empty.

That’s enough to get me started with the prison break. With them split into different cells, the moment they rejoin and find their gear, would be an excellent end to the session and I can end on a cliffhanger (the door swings open to reveal!) and then prep a detailed map for the next session, since I know now where to focus the prep.

In fact, I can use this same random die drop / geomorph method for the Lex Praetorium. Fighting their way through the enemy force in the material plane feels like level 10 is about right – I want them to feel strong for forcing their way through; the real challenges will be in Atria Dolores, closer to the vault! If they get caught either sneaking or fail to bluff their way through that scenario (more on that later), I’ll use a Forge-of-Foes inspired hard fight: a group of Gilded Devil (from ToB 1) + 3 Merregons will be good enough for now! Just gotta get things on paper for this stage of prep.

If they happen to obtain a tuning fork and planeshift their way in, I’ll be prepared to use geomorphs and random generation to get a map in front of me. With some more prep time I’ll prep that map in more detail, but for now I need something good enough.

The encounters closer to the treasury they seek should be hard for them, again using Forge of Foes to get some numbers:
Mixes of Legates (MCDM) and Chain Devils up to 8 for one group, and another group of magistrate + 2 bone devils + 2 legates; sounds like a good deal to me to be ready for combat. Moving on!

Ok, that makes me feel prepped no matter how they arrive in Atria Dolores, I’m ready to describe some things and keep it moving until the end of the session.

I’ve got a map generation method to describe Lex Praetorium if I need to.

So what remains is to detail the bits that could come up in the city. Just a few sentences will do:

1. The Dream Eater, G’her:
   • Think seedy opium den. The way this works is that the Dream Eater will give you the knowledge you seek, in the form of a dream, at the cost of one of your hopes, dreams, or aspirations.
   • They can trade secrets about Iuz that they know instead of the hopes/dreams/aspirations. A particularly dangerous secret will make G’her panic.
2. Resistance. It’s a group of Tieflings, calling themselves The Finis Ordinis (in my homebrew, almost all denizens in Iuz’s Soul Sworn Empire are Tieflings)
   • Freedom: Tiefling dude, easy going
   • Chaos (the leader): Tiefling woman: think the Joker — is she serious?
   • Fierce: Tiefling non-binary, very intense.
   • Flock: Tiefling male, spiteful and angry — he’s the one on Trial for spreading information about Iuz.

That’s probably enough to go off of. We’ll just seed them into random tables in and around the city.

Leaning on some prep I’ve already done for the city, I can easily add these resistance members to random encounters in the districts, and have them show up at Taverns, and instigating in protests.

For example, here are my existing brief notes on the Phlegethos District:

“Justice” & Pleasure Palaces.

Half of this area is dedicated to holding Soulsworn & Freefolk accountable for crimes.  Cages, stocks.  The other half, often across the street, is pleasure palaces.  Gambling.  

Notable Landmarks:
The Laughing Stock — a tavern and jailing complex.
Wild Den — Exotic Dancers & Gambling
Sleep It Off — G’her, the Dream Eater, runs this establishment.

Random Encounters (roll 2 d10s, combine results)

1. A birdfolk, Bjorn, hanging in a crow’s cage
2. Children playing Anima Capens
3. The Androsphynx, giving a sentence
4. A drunk centaur, stumbling, Anahera
5. An emotionless Satyr, Deimos, his soul sapped by G’her, the Dream Eater
6. G’her, the Dream Eater
7. Advertising for the Wild Den
8. Beggers pleading for food or coin
9. A Tiefling, Night, locked in stocks
10. Merrogons taking someone in for justice.

Instead of my usual roll 2d10 and combine, I’ll add a resistance member and combine with the d10 roll.

Connecting back to the Lazy DM secrets and clues, the fact that there’s a trial to be heard in Phlegethos District, that the Dream Eater has information for sale, that the Horologium Diaboli has a new inventor on track for some breakthroughs, etc, all become secrets.

Rules of thumb for social situations in this scenario

The last thing I need to do is make a note to myself about the social situation. Fruitful ways forward in any social situation will be:

1) Appeal to Law. There are so many loopholes in the law, that it is always plausible that one applies, or some ancient law also applies. Generally, DC 20 check and a plausible loophole will get the PCs out of trouble.

2) Exploit Chaos. Strategic and convincing revealing of truths of Iuz’s chaotic nature can undermine authority.

3) Exploit treachery and ambition. As an organization of devils, they can be easily tempted to betray their superiors if they think they’ll supplant them. High level adventurers are just the type to disrupt the order!

4) Appeal to evil. Unlikely to come up on the players instigation, but selling one’s soul can make a lot of problems go away!

In Conclusion, at last

We started with the end in mind: we want to get the party to infiltrate Atria Dolores. We identified three ways they might do that. Then for each of those ways, we identified three possibilities through which that way might be realized. For each of those possibilities, we worked our way back until we had items directly connected to the starting point of the scenario.

Recognizing that we probably don’t have time to prep everything, we prepped tools that would allow us to spin up the scene if the PCs go that way. The thing I know for certain that I will need next is Atria Dolores, so I can begin to prep that in case the party goes super fast!

By visualizing the connections, we spotted new connections. I didn’t draw them on the image, but perhaps you can see horizontal connections too — this can lead the PCs from, say, G’her to the Lex Praetorium, which might come up in conversation.

With the arrayed scenes and tools, I feel like I can respond well to PC inquiry and actions related to their goal of infiltrating Atria Dolores. If they don’t have their own plan, I have ways to use what actions they do take to illuminate the possibilities of plans for which I am ready. If they come up with an unanticipated plan, I can use the random tools to respond to it or find a way to connect it to the prep that I’ve done.

One word of warning

This technique could theoretically be used to map out an entire campaign. However, if one’s goal is too far away from one’s starting point, then I think there is a great risk in wasting a lot of energy on aspects that simply will not be used because of an early PC action. I don’t mind losing a few branches of this prep because I didn’t prep a lot of details and the ideas weren’t so hard to come up with.

This technique is therefore better for session, or small arc planning, in my opinion. I use it repeatedly in the campaign. For instance, I’ll use a similar technique for when the party is in Atrium Dolores and seeking the treasure vault, and again for the next adventure. When I know more about how they completed this one, it is easier to connect those actions to the next Backward Design map (in the same way that I know handing out a wanted poster for Maia has a great chance of connecting the current PCs to the resistance group).

That all said, if you have a notion of what you want a major campaign event to be, then this kind of backward design can get you back to some things to seed into earlier adventures. Just hold it all loosely!