With the basic groundwork laid out through the QuickNDirtyAdventures section, it's time to see how such adventures can be made a little unusual. Note that this does not mean that they are better. Many people like the straight forward adventures better than ones with weird twists and angles. A GM should not aspire to make twisted adventure 'just because'. These twists are for spicing up adventures when needed; if it is just to throw a single curved ball at the players to keep them on their toes, put a twist on that one adventure. A healthy mix of creative but 'untwisted' adventures and twisted ones is usually much better than constantly making adventures more and more strange. In the end, when to run twisted adventures and when not is a GM call, so be sure twists are what your players need before using them.

Just Rivals

The Initiator and Complicator are not really fighting each other directly; they are simply both trying to do something and do not want others to beat them to it. It could be two teams of treasure hunters wanting to get to the treasure first. Their actual goal is not to bea tthe opposition, they are just rivals for the same goal. Thus, their infighting becomes an important 'secondary story' while trying to get to the treasure.

This is not really that hard a twist to insert. Basically, the plot is just what happens on the way to the goal. If other twists are thrown in, it can become quite confusing, though.

Moving Targets

In the basic Quick'N'Dirty structure, one of the parts of the plot is the target, the one that the Initiator wants to do something to, for good (like rescue) or bad (like harm). It is implicitly assumed that the target is just there, either standing around or moving in a highly predictable manner. This need not be the case; the target, if a living being, could suddenly decide to take a trip, get into trouble, or even become suspicious about all the unusual action around it (if it does not already know that someone is interested in it). If the player characters are working to keep villains from assassinating an important witness, the witness might suddenly decide to skip town and go into hiding, with both assassins and protectors on its heels.

Basically, a moving target will force a shift of locations; the fleeing witness would force the Initiator/Complicator struggle to shift to another city, possibly bringing either or both on thin ice because they are suddenly outside their normal territory. It also means a big piece of control might be lost, because they siddenly need to figure out once again where the target is hiding out (and the target might suddenly not be in unknown territory anymore!). This could bring an entire cast of new possible connections and encounters into the game.

To do a Moving Target, find out where and why the target decides to move. Then think about what trouble this would cause for both Initiator and Complicator, as well as what advantages they, or the target, would get. Quickly sum up those new circumstances under which the adventure will continue.

Note that it is not very practical to use a Moving Target if either Initiator or Complicator is also the target. If, for example, someone is trying to kill a person and that person tries to keep this from happening, making a big deal about the Complicator/target (the one to be killed) being a 'moving target' is usually taking things a bit too far. In such cases, just run with the Initiator vs. Complicator and go from there.

One variation on this is a changing target. In this case, the 'target' does not really moves in any significant way. But when it is finally reached, it turns out to be the wrong one. Either the real one turns out to be somewhere else, or no one knows where it is, and the mission becomes to find the real target in the first place. If there are several possible ones, this can be quite a challenge ("all right, we know he is a short guy with black hair. Of course, we are in Beijing, so...").

Outsiders Interfering

In the basic structure, the player characters are assumed to be on either the Initiator's or the Complicator's side. This is not a given! There are plenty of ways they could be involved in the struggle without actually being a part of it. Maybe the Initiator is an invading army, and the Complicator is the defending force of a small nation. The player characters, however, are a bunch of civilians caught up in the battle, now fighting to get themselves, and possibly a handful of refugees or VIP personnel to a neutral safe-zone. The plot will guide their surroundings and circumstances, but they have no interest in either side winning the battle; they just want out!

Alternately, they could be opportunists, or hired by opportunists, to take advantage of a situation. The Martian Seperatists have decided to sabotage an Earth Colonial Authority outpost in Mars orbit, and the player characters are sent in to use that little skirmish as a cover for accessing sensitive Earth Colonial Authority data files at the outpost. The main plot will be playing itself out around them, and they may get involved without being on 'either' side (suddenly running into Martian Seperatists in a MS/ECA shoot-out), but their mission is an entirely different one.

Because the players have no particulat interest in influencing the main plot, the GM will probably need to detail that plot a little better, or it will not play itself out in a meaningful manner. Any scenes in which the plot and the mission run across each other (like suddenly fighting next to the Seperatists by sheer coincident) should be carefully considered to make sure that they do not seem completely irrational in regards with the plot. If the scene is important for the mission of the player characters, it needs to be set up so that it will not be avoided, e.g. the players do not run in an entirely unrelated direction just to stay out of the two fighting sides' way.

Outside Interference

A bot the opposite of the above, someone else might get mixed up in the plot, without really being part of it. This is not just the occasional innocent bystander getting used as a human (or other) shield; that is a minor part of the scene in question. Outside Interference is when someone takes an 'active interest' in what is going on. The classic is the police or a private investigator being put on the case of <insert whatever unfortunate side-effects the plot has>, and starting to tail the player characters. Such outsiders may simply be a nuissance, but they may also play a bigger role, from giving away the presence of the player characters (the police storms the bandit hideout that the player characters had so carefully set up to trap the secretive mastermind in, ruining the setup entirely) to actually becoming sources of help and information (even keys). The point is, that for at least part of the adventure, someone else is interfering with the plot going on between Initiator and Complicator.

It is possible to combine Outsiders Interfering and Outside Interference, resulting in an adventure in which the player characters are partially involved in a plot that officially does not concern them, and someone else suddenly causes trouble from the outside. But this can quickly become very confusing, and should only be done with somewhat experienced players (and GM!). Otherwise, take a look at Parallel Plot, which might be what is actually the thing in mind.

Multiple Plotters

The default structure is one Initiator versus one Complicator. Each may be composed by many cooperating parts, but they essentially act as one, like three police departments all chasing the same criminal. But it is not hard to imagine situations in which two sides are trying to do essentially the same thing, but do not trust each other enough to cooperate (or maybe they don't even know what those other guys are trying to do). Two Initiators may both want a certain person (the target) to turn up dead, but neither trusts the other, so they keep trying to do the job themselves (very common with fictional crime syndicates). they may even be rivals, wanting the kill for themselves, for prestige. Or the target might have something that both Initiators want to retrieve, and do not want to share. So the local FBI agents (the Complicator) must fend off two problems instead of one.

Two or more Complicators are also possible, though the reasoning is usually a bit more odd. In the above example, there might be just one crime syndicate wanting to kill the target, while both the FBI and the other crime syndicate want him to live to witness in a trial (crime syndicates sometimes like to see competitors get caught in criminal cases). But of course, the FBI and protective syndicate do not trust each other ("they are criminals!" "the FBI is full of corrupt bastards!"), and cooperation is not likely to happen. So the Initiator might suddenly find that getting through one problem-causing Complicator is not enough, they have to run around two obstacles. How this affects the target is up to the GM; he might simply be in FBI custody with the 'friendly' syndicate watching over him from the shadows, or the two Complicators may be regularly snatching him from each other to keep him safe.

The main thing to worry about when using Multiple Plotters is how the two Initiators (or two Complicators) interact with each other. Why do they not trust one another? Do they actively try to destroy the other's efforts, or even kill each other? The Just Rivals twist can be an inspiration, too.

Hidden Parties

To put it simple, someone is either not what was expected, or they are not truly known at all. This will usually be the Initiator ("who the Devil would be trying to destroy this train??") or the Complicator ("who is keeping us out of that forgotten city??"), but it could also be an Outside Interference ("something tells me we are not the only ones on the Mafia's trail..."). Other than the lack of a clear enemy to fight, the motives of the enemy are also likely to be a mystery, which makes it pretty hard to predict anything. In essence, the player characters will be fighting in the dark part of the time, or they will have to make it their mission to Discover the Enemy (and their plans).

There are two variations on this worth mentioning: Hidden Plans and Secret Masters. The first involves the enemy being known, but not their plans. The players know that it is the alien mercenary regiment causing trouble, but they do not know why, and thus have a hard time making it stop (this is even more interesting if the aliens are usually peaceful, or at least friendly with the player characters). The other involves visible Initiator, Complicator etc., with clear intentions, but with signs that they are working at the behalf of someone else. This is very common with professional hirelings, like mercenaries, who may clearly be trying to capture the ancient starship ahead of the player characters, but not for themselves; who are they working for?

In any form, Hidden Parties involves some part of the plot being unknown from the start. In extreme cases, the entire plot could be unknown; the player characters are simply thrusted into a mess of events that seem to somehow have to do with them, their situation, or anything that explains their unexpected involvement. In any case, there will be the player choice of either finding out what is going on (an extra mission), or simply trying to survive without that knowledge. In some cases, they can be forced to accept the confusion for a time, until they are deep enough into the adventure to actually get the clues needed to discover the hidden facts. But that just means that it is a secondary mission, which starts a little later.

Parallel Plot

There is someone else doing something else, and they are on a collision course with the player characters! Basically, another storyline exists, which at some point turns up in the same scene as the adventure. It could be another organiation chasing another target, but they need to get information from the same street informer that the player characters are trying to get something out of. And in the home of that informer, the two teams meet, neither knowing the other and both a bit to triggerhappy.

This is basically a variation of Outside Interference. The difference is, the outsiders have no particular interest in the player characters, their mission or the main plot at all; they are running their own show, that just happens to be on the same stage as the player characters. This opens a row of options, like trading favors and swapping info, or blasting the living daylights out of each other at will, or a mix of the two. It also allows the GM to introduce some new faces (perhaps with potential as long-term friends or enemies) without having them be an integral part of the plot.

To add a parallel plot, simply whip up a plausible storyline for the 'other party' and decide on what scenes their paths will cross in. Putting some memorable characters on the other party will make the situation far more interesting.

Sudden Change

Something is taken for granted for the better part of the adventure. It turns out to be wrong. the classic is the turncoat, a character thought to be on one side, but who suddenly turns out to be on the other (or a third side entirely). A changing target is described under Moving Target. But it could also be the mission that turns out to be wrong; they cannot simply destroy the blueprints for the Doomsday Device, they have to find where the prototype is and destroy that. Or they realize that it is against their own wishes to destroy it and end up trying to defend it against the people they have been helping all along.

One heavy variation of this is if it is the plot that suddenly turns out to be different. All this time they have been chasing a serial murderer, when they find out that he has in reality been killing demons possessing the bodies of little girls, and they have to reevaluate everything they have been trying to do. this can go as far as adding or removing Initiators, Complicators, targets, outsiders, and anything else involved. In effect, the players suddenly find themselves in a whole new adventure, unable or unrequired to complete the original. Elements may of course carry over from the 'old' adventure; they may still want to catch the killer, but to get his help rather than take him to trial.

A Sudden Change can basically be designed as a new adventure entirely, but with the 'old one' unfinished, and a lot of its components usable in the new one (possibly in new ways, like the murderer/demon-slayer). How 'new' the new adventure is depends entirely on how big a sudden change the GM wants. Theoretically, it can be an almost irrelevant change (their bland employer turns out to be someone they have known for a long time, but it doesn't really affect their mission, just their attitude about it).