It's dangerous going out there alone, take this. *You receive a Pen of Inspiration, +3 to Charisma.* Crafting stories, universes, and plots for games is an incredibly enjoyable and incredibly frustrating endeavor. Whether you're compiling a DnD campaign, working on a video game, or even fiddling with a new board game-you've got your work cut out for you. Do you have enough XP and supplies to pull it off?

Depending on the format of the game, be it board, dice, miniatures, or some other form altogether, as the story creator, you're going to need some plot. Not just any plot either. You're going to have build an adaptable plot that will be able to mold itself around whatever combination of characters and players that happen to take on your game.

Now, this is easier if the playable characters are pre-set by your own specifications. This can take some fun out of it for some players, but it makes your life a lot easier as you can build a universe, plot, and challenges based on the characters you have. You'll best understand their limitations and abilities so that they don't become completely overwhelmed by ultimate evil as soon as they step outside the tavern door.

And if they do get stomped on by the ultimate evil while they're still underpowered, you'll need to have some loopholes built into your universe to ensure that your players don't rage!quit and give up on you. Always expect the unexpected. *tosses a confused-looking tapir at you!* Were you expecting that? You better have been, or you still need to train a bit more.

Tapir tossing aside, players will not always be interested or willing to follow any rules you set down in stone for your game to work. Some players even enjoy screwing the rules (usually because they have green hair, money, and obsessions with dragon cards). And unless you're a DM, sitting in front of your players, you're not going to be able to stop them from breaking the rules and thus altering the gameplay.

So what's a writer to do? Well, for the most part, you're just going to have to live with it. But you could always try to make it easy to follow the rules. I'm not saying you build your universe for petty players who always want the easy way out. Make your rules clear and, if need be, explain the significance of why they should be followed. Don't have a character run off on its own. Why not? Because there are grues out there waiting to eat lone characters at night.

Plots can incorporate a lot of rules and regulations; that's generally how they hold their form. Sub-plots are more like crossbeams and supports for the overall structure, helping everything stay the shape it needs to be in. Rulebreakers and those that just like to mess with the story will smash, break, and burn your plot until there are holes large enough to swallow their characters and, occasionally, an entire solar system if the hole gets too large.

So, the stronger and more engaging your plot is, the better the sub-plots and support are, and the clearer and more justifiable the rules are, the better your chances are of creating a solid universe for a game. A universe that players won't want to crack and implode.

What sort of universes have you created, for games or otherwise? Have they held up under scrutiny? If so, congrats. Let us in on any secrets of how you succeeded. If your universe crumbled, where did things fall apart? Were you able to rebuild?