The Rule of Three

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Friends, Romans, Countrymen

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

Three is a magical number to any number of people. It is a number that locks itself inside our head, bounces around, and comes out happier for it.

It comes out in speeches to punctuate importance, as well as in law ("...tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth..."). In fact, writing has made use of the rule of three for as long as we can remember. It is practically magical. Seriously, ask someone who believes in magic.

We say that good and bad things come in three. Three times the Karma, Three Celebrity Deaths (Leave it to Billy Mays to throw the 4th in for Free). Even when no pattern readily exists, we can often invent a pattern of three. In my personal life and development, I find the Rule of Three to help in a lot of things. The mind can focus on the number 3 quite easily. And since we all want easy game prep, the rule of three can help here as well.

It is extremely effective in use with Role Playing Games.

Examples can be found in The Three Clue Rule, The 3-3-3 Game Prep, and the 3x3x3 Character Prep (No source for the original, but it involves each player developing 3 Allies, 3 Rivals, and 3 Contacts for their character) .

I find personal use in using it for development of adventures, and it can be exponentially explosive in regards to political games.

(As an aside, one of the best starting points on making a political game sing can be found here: Central Tension (Matthew Colville))

Whether or not a central tension has been decided on, it is possible to use the Rule of Three to, at the very least, simulate a complex plot. It is also quite easy to modify it for use of a Prep-Heavy GM, or an Improv-Heavy GM.

1. Create 3 Underlying Problems

A lot of people think of complexity in singular terms. It is an easy task. It is a complex task.
But a lot of complex issues can be broken down into smaller, bite size pieces. In the same manner, we can build complex situations by taking smaller situations, and adding them together. These problems can be interrelated, or completely independent.

As an example:
Fantasy Campaign. The Heroes are your standard adventuring party.
They have been sent by a local magistrate to pick up a dangerous felon who has, luckily, fallen into the hands of a local sheriff in an outpost a few days away.
So, what underlying problems can we add to this?

• Let's add some weather. It is winter, the roads are dangerous, filled with hungry beasts that have a lack of food, and hungry men who have the same.
• Let's give the felon friends. The felon has a few friends, one with a minor talent for some weather wizardry. They plan to use an ice fog to use as cover to rescue their friend.
• Finally, let's add something with a little punch. Two older children, and an adult have gone missing. Soon after the Heroes come to town, a local trapper comes in, advising that remains have been found.

2. Create 3 Driving Personalities

As a GM, you will have to develop tons of personalities, and names. No adventure survives with just three. But here we are talking about Driving Personalities. Ones you can use to drive the story forward.
So, given our problems, who can we create?

• The Sheriff. 
• The Felon.
• The Mayor.

And because we like three a lot here, let's give them each three notes.

• The Sheriff, Markus Werth
• A proud man, protective of his people.
• Angry that the PCs want to take the Felon. He called the magistrate here so justice could be served here.
• Doesn't trust magic. If there is an obvious magic user, he hates them on sight.
• The Felon, Sessini Tralus
• A murderer, and a bandit, he was caught because of a wound he suffered during a robbery.
• Knows his friends are coming to rescue him. There is a villager in town who has been feeding him information.
• Always keeps his word.
• The Mayor, Daveed Gresh
• Pushing for the PCs to take the Felon out of town
• A minor ritualist
• Is quick to blame problems on the Felon and his bandits, but always outside of the Felons earshot.

3. Create 3 Secrets

Secrets... little surprises or gems. This can often be traded out for different aspects, depending on your game, but I like including it.

• The Mayor summoned a Wendigo to capture and eat the Felon, so he would not be found out as the traitor. The adult was a sacrifice, and the children were payment. They are still alive, waiting to be eaten. Unfortunately, he was not powerful to control it, and now it is hunting.
• One of the Felon's friends will take a shot at the Felon if he can disguise it. He hopes to take over the bandit group. He does not know the identity of the traitor, but he is willing to work with the PCs to achieve his ends.
• The mayor has been skimming off the top for years, and has been using magic to befuddle the Sheriff and blame extra losses on banditry. Because of this, he has a large chest filled with valuables... and he is not afraid to bribe the PCs if they get too close.

In this way, we can lay down a quick framework for complexity. As you can see, if you keep adding things, it gets infinitely more complex.

Imagine creating three problems, then three personalities for each problem. Instead of three notes for each personality, you include three goals, three allies, three driving forces. Instead of 3 secrets, you create three places, or three items, or anything else.

On the PC side, give yourself three motivations - and if you do not believe someone can have three motivations, look at great stories. Part of the heroic journey is when those motivations come into being and clash.

The point of all this? Use 3 to help bring a level of depth and complexity to your design... to bring your game to life.