D&D: Make Your Plot Twists Feel Like Actual Twists With These Five Tricks
It takes more than just saying “what a twist” to pull off a plot twist. Don’t worry, these five tricks can help your D&D plot twists out.
Plot twists in D&D can be a dramatic moment. The sudden reveal of a stark betrayal? It turns out that the friendly Cleric you were working for all along actually had dark designs? Magic is actually science that comes from an orbital network of satellites and an invisible, worldwide network of nanites that respond to gestures and voice commands?
All of these big plot twists can make your D&D game very cool and fun. Emphasis on can. They are notoriously tricky—because plot twists have to be earned. If they come out of nowhere, they can feel weirdly stilted or jarring. Reveal too much too soon and the players will guess. But the right mindset can help you stick the landing—and sticking the landing makes all the difference.
Set the Baseline
First things first—you’ve got to establish the pre-twist reality. Are you planning for a loyal NPC to turn out to be a villain? You’ve got to give them “screen time”. Going to reveal something about the fundamental nature of reality? You gotta establish what everyone believes and reference it in a very natural way.
Basically give the players a chance to experience the world as it is assumed to be. Whatever the twist is, whether it’s a surprising relationship reveal or the appearance of a monster, or like the kind of thing where a secret villain from a previous campaign is back for this one—the time spent in the pre-twist reality is what people are going to be looking back on to be like “whoaaaa we should have seen it coming.”
Play the Slow Game
A great twist is the result of a long simmer with a sudden, sharp turn up of the heat, so to speak. You have tolet thing s simmer long enough to release the juices. The longer the time before the twist, the bigger the impact it’ll have when it happens.
We got two whole movies before we learned that Darth Vader was Luke’s Father. We didn’t learn that Bruce Willis was one of the dead people that Haley Joel Osmont was seeing until near the end of the movie. It can be tempting to want to get to the twist. But timing is everything.
Let There Be a Chance to Discover It
Also, the best twists are those that you could have seen coming when you look back on them. Not necessarily that you should have seen it coming—bad guys can be good at lying and scheming. This makes them very hateable to the players, because nobody likes to be tricked.
But if the players have a chance to discover it (or at least to feel like they might have) then you’ll really nail the reveal. PCs can be a suspicious bunch, so depending on what you have planned, you might tie it to a roll. After all, it can be just as satisfying to catch someone mid-scheme; one need look no further than A Crown of Candy to see how this can play out.
The best twists work out even when the players discover it. It’s just a question of who sets off the reveal.
Make It Make Sense
Also, you shouldn’t just have a plot twist come out of nowhere. Otherwise what are the stakes? Where is the emotional investment? A guy who acts one way and then does something completely different reads as inconsistent without reason.
In other words, you can’t just suddenly reveal that it was aliens all along. Not unless we care that it’s happening. And also maybe don’t make them allergic to water if you do go that route.
It Has To Be More Interesting Than the Story Would Be Without a Twist
Perhaps the most important thing when planning a big plot twist in your narrative—the story should feel better after the twist. It should be more interesting than if events had proceeded on as they were. Because, sure, it’s a big moment when you find out someone betrays you. But if it doesn’t mean anything for the larger story other than “and now we kill this guy who we thought was our friend” then you were probably better off not having done that in the first place.
A good way to tell if the story feels more interesting is if you feel slightly guilty for thinking about how it could unfold. If you get the “oh ho ho you bastard” vibes from your own plot, then you’re probably on the right track.
Happy adventuring!
