How I Decide Which Moments Become Canon

There are a lot of really great moments within the story that have been unfolding with my friends for the better part of the last ten years. I spent about a year planning, then the following seven running the game with them, discussing the plotlines, the character development, their backgrounds and families that they, in character, can’t really remember for reasons they don’t understand in book yet, but made them yell at me in real life. So much has happened that we have two Google Docs worth of Nicole’s notes that are so long they barely even open anymore, and a third that is on its way there. 

You would think that with a book series, I’d be able to include every single moment of what has happened in-game in each novel. If I wanted to, I probably could, in all honesty. However, currently, based on how I break down the books by number of sessions and length of notes, I have over twenty novels ready to go with this series, nine of which are already written, and the game isn’t done yet. We’re not even half way through the fourth and final arc yet, to say nothing of any post game adventures they may want to go on. If I tried to include every moment of what happened in-game, it would either increase the number of books I had to write by fifty percent or make them exceptionally long. 

So this begs the question, of all the hilarious, heart-warming, and emotionally devastating moments that didn’t make the cut, how do I make these decisions? I actually have a system in place for that (go figure, the ADHD/Autistic Dungeon Master has a system. Who would have seen that coming?).

1. Does it progress the story?

There have been times, either when it's getting late and we’ve gotten a bit goofy, when a joke starts going a little too off the rails, or when we’ve imbibed a little too much at the local tavern, when events in the game get to be a bit… much. Events happening in game no longer connect to the story, the conversation has gotten completely derailed, and we’re slipping into our real world selves more than we are being the characters we’re role playing as. While these events do tend to end up in the notes, that’s mostly the work of Nicole being a dedicated and honest note taker. She’s like a stenographer most of the time, except in the parentheses where she adds her insights, questions, or moments where I break the fourth wall and shout “Notetaker! Remind future me to…” which she dutifully does. 

(Quick aside, thank you again Nicole for all you do, honestly, without you this series would NOT exist).

So sometimes, when writing, I need to look at the chaos of a night in the progress of devolving and decide whether or not the humanity of the characters is worth the insanity of what I’m going to have to write. Sometimes it is, and sometimes a measure of it makes it into the final product, but sometimes there are moments that are so unhinged and so far removed from the actual story we’re trying to tell, that I need to sit down and just say no more of this nonsense. 

This is actually a moment where I’ll lean into the GMing crowd for just a moment. This doesn’t just apply to the written portion of the work, but the gameplay itself. Sometimes its okay to let your players just go a little crazy and be goofy. Let them just blow their spells and abilities doing the dumbest most unhinged shit… and then just saying it never happened. People, especially in the world we’re in now, need to blow off some steam. They just need to take out their day on a random Kobold or Flaming Fist guard who won’t let you loot a buried chest that you just dug up or body that you have IN YOUR OWN DAMN INVENTORY! SUNBEAM THEM ALL!...

I digress. 

Sometimes you just need to let it out, but just like a save scum player in BG3, you need to reset afterwards and get back to the story when you’re ready to progress. If I look at a moment and say: “You know what, they were just blowing off steam here, let me give them a little leeway in the story” then I’ll probably cut that part. 

2. Does it develop the characters?

Now, there’s a lot of things that happen in the books that don’t progress the story. There are moments that are just funny, or quippy, or help frame the characters in the world to make you connect with them the way I’ve connected with them or they’ve bonded with each other. These are important moments, however there are a lot more of them in the book than you may have seen. So how do I choose the right ones to frame the characters properly?

These moments really break down into three basic formats. The first is the easiest windmill slam auto-include. These are moments your players ask for, deliberately singling out another PC or NPC that they want to talk to. They find this person, have a heart to heart moment with them (be it touching or intimidating) that somehow develops their relationship with that character or shows the other players and myself who they are and where they are mentally. These may get edited for fluidity of the conversation (sometimes the conversation can get circular, or they say “hey, this is what I’m trying to say or ask, can you help me articulate it?” and we as a table will workshop it, but in the end, these moments make it into the story relatively uncut. 

Next up, we have organic moments. These are moments in the story where the players are either interacting with each other, or stop to tell me a bit about what is going through their character’s head. More than once I’ve been told, “Yeah, the smart thing to do here is this, but currently, Luis is thinking or Timm is feeling…” and they make the right character decision which feels like the wrong gameplay decision. It feels almost like a justification of their actions when in reality it is a characterization of their actions. These may not get included, or they may get included in different ways. Show don’t tell is an important tool in writing, and it makes more sense to allow the expression of these feelings to come out naturally in the book through the character’s actions or dialogue. While this isn’t a removal, it is a good moment to just let the character “speak for themselves.” 

Finally, if the players asking me to include something is a windmill slam auto include, then when they ask me not to include something, it is a windmill slam auto rejection. Sometimes players will look back on their actions, reflect, and tell me, “Hey, I don’t like the way I handled [insert character name here]’s reaction to this or that, can you remove it or change it so that it’s more in character for them?” While I won’t remove major plot points, they know I’ll frame it in a way that befits the character over the ignorance of the player. 

Now, quick reminder for all you readers out there that may be a bit like my old students. We live in a world where the word “ignorant” is an insult, where all it means is that you don’t know something. I am ignorant on a lot of topics, as I’m sure you are as well, so when I say the ignorance of the player, I’m not insulting my players. They are all great people who are currently playing as other people. I don’t expect Nicole to know as much about nature and animals as Morgan knows, I don’t expect Andrew to know as much about martial arts as Timm knows, I don’t expect Matt the Younger to know as much about swordplay as Luis knows, I don’t expect JJ to know as much about medicine as Lee knows, and I don’t expect Matt the Red to know as much about guns and military procedure as Smithers knows. In return, they also recognize that I’m trying to be a whole fucking world and whole cast of characters, and when I get something wrong about any of these things as well (and the multitude of things beyond it), they provide me with the same level of grace. Sometimes we just gotta rule of cool it and move on, there’s a reason suspension of disbelief exists in stories. Don’t believe me? Ask anyone in the military what happens if you try to pull the pin off a grenade with your teeth. 

So sometimes, the player will make a choice that the character would know better than to do. Later on, we look at it, discuss it, (or if I’m alone when looking at it, I’ll alter it and tell them), and we’ll either remove the problematic moment or scene, or alter it to make it fit the story properly. 

In the end, most of what gets cut gets cut because we need to preserve the integrity of both the characters and the story itself, while at the same time not diminishing the actions of what made everything that happened possible. The great wizard Retcon doesn’t come down from the mountains and erase massive parts of history, even in a fantasy world it's nearly impossible to rewrite swaths of your whole life, but for the sake of story, character, and fun, we’re able to build a world we can all be proud of and enjoy to share with the rest of you.