7 thoughts on “What is the difference between “Impending Doom” and “Grim Portents” when making up fronts?”

  1. The Grim Portents are events that progress from one to the next over time. The Impending Doom is what happens if the Grim Portents are not dealt with.

    Moving forward from one Portent to the next would be a “hard” DM move that causes the plot to move forward. Sometimes this happens because of PC (in)action. 

    I believe it was Adam Koebel who told me some great advice when it came to writing Fronts, specifically Grim Portents. He told me to write the Portents as if they were happening in a world where there were no heroic PCs to stop this Impending Doom from happening. 

    So basically a logical progression of events that lead to this major catastrophe. 

  2. The Impending Doom is the thing at the end of the grim portents. The grim portents are a list of steps along the way to the doom that the danger has to do before the doom will happen.

  3. What they said, but I like to think of it like a puzzle… An evil puzzle:

    Click… A marker slots into place. Maybe a bell chimes somewhere in the deep? Perhaps it was heard by something darker than pitch?

    Whirr… The drums of war… Or was it just the rumble of distant thunder?

    Click… Is that an army amassing in a dark valley, beyond a portal gate, or just a shadow on the glass? If you don’t look now… You might be too late.

    Thunk… The final piece. A siren’s wail; the herald of Death himself, heard across the stars. But there’s still time! We just don’t know where it’s kept, now the clocks themselves are slowing down…

    When all the pieces slot together, they meld, seamless. They become one final form. The key to doom itself and the end of open skies and freedom.

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