When we last left our kanban cards, they had ambitiously occupied the foreshadowing category. I had removed them and left their pins in that column, ready to foreshadow them in my game. That's why I had them with me as physical artifacts at the game table: to remind me to use them. You don't have to take these to the table with you if you're the fast-and-loose sort who keeps it all in his head, but the tangible card is part of the appeal of kanban. I won't issue you a citation for doing it wrong. Or rather, I will, but it's not a moving violation, so it won't affect your insurance.

Anyway, at the game table, I drop a hint or two about my upcoming events. These don't have to be anything specific or address any defined criteria. They're just there to give the players a sense that things happen with meaning in the game world, and to give the puzzle-solver players something to runimate over.

Note that I don't plan to spring the encounter during this game session. Right now, I'm just setting the stage, testing the waters, or using whatever pained simile strokes your esophagus like a pet owner giving the poor animal a pill.

Here's what I tease:

Example One: Vampire Chronicle (Blood Cult)

A ghoul the Kindred encounter sneers dismissively at them when they offer a bit of vitae in exchange for some sensitive information. "My master and his congregation see to it that I'm provided for," he replies. It seems like standard my-regnant-is-better-than-your-sire brinksmanship, but it certainly indicates that something is happening beneath the surface. A savvy Vampire player will pick up on the ominous innuendo, but it's not required for the current plot thread to move forward, nor is it critical to manifest the blood cult's presence down the road.

Example Two: D&D Campaign (Gnoll Ambush)

As the party makes its way out of the Silent Valley toward Duke Torgal's castle they hear the jackal-like howls of the gnolls, which are very different from the wolves that normally lurk in the valley. They mention that they're doubling their guard, paying acute attention, or taking another precautionary measure.

Obviously, the D&D example is much more direct than the Vampire example, but that's okay. In the D&D game, my players are used to a more action-oriented style of play, so ominous portents usually signify imminent kickass. My Vampire players are more used to culling through various cryptic statements for hidden meaning... when they're not blundering into their fellow Kindred's best-laid traps, of course. This is wholly a matter of taste and narrative. Decide your intent, and play to your group in the way you want them to interpret the foreshadowing.

After the game concludes, I have a decision to make. Having capital-F Foreshadowed, like my column on the kanban chart tells me to do, is the encounter "primed," as it were? If the answer is yes, well, hell, I can move it up into the Ready to Use column and actually turn it loose next time (or whatever time works best). The vast majority of the time, this is going to be the answer. Even if the players don't respond at all, that's okay. They've been introduced to the concept, so it can enter the game gracefully.

If the answer is no, I have some questions to answer. Why is this not ready for use? Did it fly completely over the players' heads? Maybe it needs to go stay in the Foreshadowing stage for a little more teasing. Did the players react negatively -- did they say, "Oh, man, gnolls again?" or take some course of action to steer themselves well away from the expereince? Maybe it needs a little more retooling to satisfy their tastes. If they hated the very idea of it, and not in the savoring mock-dread sort of fashion, maybe it's best to ditch it entirely.

Whatever the case, the card goes somewhere. It's okay to send it back a step for more conceptual work, to be teased again when the idea is more solid or satisfying. It's okay to send it forward into the Ready to Use column if you as GM think it's time is nigh. It's even okay to throw the card away entirely. Not every idea is golden, and that opens a new card slot in the Planning stage to cultivate a new idea.

Back to the examples.

Example One: Vampire Chronicle

Let's say the ghoul's coment has intrigued one of the players. He mentions that he wants to take the haughty creep aside and coax more information out of him with a little "percussive therapy." We play out the scene, I tease a bit more, and then I take my card home at the end of the session and advance it to the Ready to Use column.

Example Two: D&D Campaign

The players have taken immediate precautions, which is gratifying, but I've teased it too soon. They think the creature howling through the valley is coming now. Too soon. I don't want to rush the ambush, so I lay off the foreshadowing. In fact, I keep it in the Foreshadowing column, so I can tease it again next session, or whenever the best time would be to revisit the idea.

The important thing here is to decide what you want to do with the idea. Advance it? Polish it? Throw it away? And again, this all sounds like a lot of work, but it's really lot. It's just an organization tool to help you keep track of your storylines.

In this GM exercise, an idea "overflows" into the next pipeline-column when it's ready -- when it can no longer be contained by its current column -- or it "drips down" into a prior stage of iteration. It's not a failure to take an idea a step back, you're just placing it back in the idea incubator.

Next, we'll cover Ready to Use and Revisit. See ya soon!