Pre-planning/preparation in your saves

[HWRP]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and I don't believe I've seen this question posted anywhere else, but apologies in advance if it has actually been asked.

 

I'm wondering how you all pre-plan/prepare your saves?

 

I'm currently doing a WCW 1991 save. The way I plan is by booking one or two PPV's in advance and then I book the shows. For the shows though, I now give segments a write-up and humanize my storylines a little, rather than just put two or three wrestlers together as I found myself losing interest quickly (basically doing my own diary I guess).

[Kingster]

I pre-book my whole next pay-per-view and also some important matches for the following pay-per-views if I have ideas already. Usually, I know how I want my world title picture to be in the next five months or so.

From there, I book my television shows pretty much on the fly, although I'll sometimes have a few angles or matches pre-planned in order to set up certain plot points in my storylines.

Speaking of storylines, I usually try to come up with interesting names for my storylines, not just "Worker A vs. Worker B". My storyline description is usually pretty detailed. One reason is that you don't need to remember why this feud is happening in case you leave the game for a while. And another reason is that, while doing these write-ups, you often come up with more ideas for that story and you'll have a better grasp of how you want it to play out. It gives the workers a reason to fight each other, which makes it easier for me to book.

[LigerLiger]

Generally I plan the big Main Event bout with my most important/over guys(or main eventers I want to push),then I pick up a few champs and see title history or someone I want to push to go on and challenge for the title(not the main one),a few build up angles here,a few title matches ending by DQ there(usually to set up a gimmick match) and you're all done(just see your product to avoid penalties by having not clean finishes,in WCW you shouldn't have any problem,except if you already have that many egocentric Main Eventers[i.e:Hulk Hogan]).

 

Other than that,I don't plan things thaaaaaaaaaaat much.

 

And by the way,welcome.

[Jama7301]

Generally I plan the big Main Event bout with my most important/over guys(or main eventers I want to push),then I pick up a few champs and see title history or someone I want to push to go on and challenge for the title(not the main one),a few build up angles here,a few title matches ending by DQ there(usually to set up a gimmick match) and you're all done(just see your product to avoid penalties by having not clean finishes,in WCW you shouldn't have any problem,except if you already have that many egocentric Main Eventers[i.e:Hulk Hogan]).

 

Other than that,I don't plan things thaaaaaaaaaaat much.

 

And by the way,welcome.

 

This guy, I'm with him.

 

I generally plan out my overarching arcs, my characters, and then the rest is stream of conscious. I may get inspiration for a segment or angle from a random source, so then I'll try to either plug it in, or build to it, if I really like it.

[Rickymex]

I like to make a timeline anywhere up to five years depending on the size of the company. I set up key matches and storylines in that timeline that I want to see and build up to them while making changes where necessary.

 

For example my BHOTWG save has 2020 set up as the beginning of the clan wars that lasted a decade. So I have an end point for the first 7 years of booking. When I reach 2020 I'll decide the next 5, then in 2025 the last 5 years. I like to make eras in really long games.

[bigtplaystew]

<p>Depends on my company level and things like that. At a smaller level, I always focus on like 4 guys at a time that I constantly put over no matter what so that when big shows come around I have at least two big matches to make. </p><p> </p><p>

When I'm doing my WWE save, I generally have an outline for a few matches I want to see at Wrestlemania about a year ahead of time, and the rest I let play out as it happens. I find too much planning makes the game unfun for me, plus, crap happens. Guys get hurt, guys dont get over like you thought they would, they have bad chemistry, etc. That said, I like to focus on maybe 10 guys over that year that I anticipate being the main attractions by next years wrestlemania and I tend to find the most success that way.</p>

[St. Templar]

<p>I sketch out my main event anywhere up to three or four months out, very much less so for my upper midcard and lower. I try to know about how long I'll have somebody carry a particular title before I give it to them. Obviously, it's hard to have too many concrete plans since there's always the possibility you'll have to get rid of somebody or that a great free agent will come available and they'll shake up your company or you'll get a flash of inspiration or decide that you need to extend a title reign or a winning streak or what-have-you.</p><p> </p><p>

Particularly, I plan out my shows on a month-to-month basis, but the plans are "plans" which can be changed on the fly when necessary or when I decide a storyline's not working out the way I wanted it to.</p><p> </p><p>

St. T</p>

[Andylion]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="bigtplaystew" data-cite="bigtplaystew" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41002" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>When I'm doing my WWE save, I generally have an outline for a few matches I want to see at Wrestlemania about a year ahead of time, and the rest I let play out as it happens. I find too much planning makes the game unfun for me, plus, crap happens. Guys get hurt, guys dont get over like you thought they would, they have bad chemistry, etc. That said, I like to focus on maybe 10 guys over that year that I anticipate being the main attractions by next years wrestlemania and I tend to find the most success that way.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I am the exact opposite. In my Undisputed save, I had things booked all the way up to Wrestlemania 27 for my major championships, and I hadn't even fully booked Wrestlemania 26 yet. I actually love when guys get injured to throw a wrench into my plans, as well. I wish it would happen more often.</p>

[Remianen]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Rickymex" data-cite="Rickymex" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41002" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I like to make a timeline anywhere up to five years depending on the size of the company. I set up key matches and storylines in that timeline that I want to see and build up to them while making changes where necessary.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I go a bit further. I set up an outline that includes title lineages (who I want to hold what titles, in a rough order), which workers I want to focus on developing, who I want to be my aces and so on.</p>

[shawn michaels]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="Remianen" data-cite="Remianen" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41002" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>I go a bit further. I set up an outline that includes title lineages (who I want to hold what titles, in a rough order), which workers I want to focus on developing, who I want to be my aces and so on.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> How does one plan 5 years or more of wrestling? Do you guys write every single match down? This must take more time than actually booking. I'm curious as how you make it work. I plan pretty much who my world champs will be, maybe even a couple of other title champs at most, the rest is on the fly. I write nothing down about feuds, except in the description and, strictly if necessary, something in the notepad if I need to remember something. I do my best not to use notes outside of the game.</p>

[Spud1305]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="shawn michaels 82" data-cite="shawn michaels 82" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41002" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div>How does one plan 5 years or more of wrestling? Do you guys write every single match down? This must take more time than actually booking. I'm curious as how you make it work. I plan pretty much who my world champs will be, maybe even a couple of other title champs at most, the rest is on the fly. I write nothing down about feuds, except in the description and, strictly if necessary, something in the notepad if I need to remember something. I do my best not to use notes outside of the game.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> This is pretty much how I book, I have a rough idea of who I want to be the main champion and approximately how long. Other than that everything else is done on the fly.</p><p> I'd also be interested to see how people plan several years in advance. It's always good to see how other people make their plans.</p>

[Rickymex]

<blockquote data-ipsquote="" class="ipsQuote" data-ipsquote-username="shawn michaels 82" data-cite="shawn michaels 82" data-ipsquote-contentapp="forums" data-ipsquote-contenttype="forums" data-ipsquote-contentid="41002" data-ipsquote-contentclass="forums_Topic"><div><strong>How does one plan 5 years or more of wrestling? Do you guys write every single match down?</strong> This must take more time than actually booking. I'm curious as how you make it work. I plan pretty much who my world champs will be, maybe even a couple of other title champs at most, the rest is on the fly. I write nothing down about feuds, except in the description and, strictly if necessary, something in the notepad if I need to remember something. I do my best not to use notes outside of the game.</div></blockquote><p> </p><p> I have 1 big scenario/Storyline/rivalry planned per year, I plan certain matches for every PPV's, and just book on the fly for the TV shows in between.</p><p> </p><p> If injuries and other thing affect things then I'll happily rewrite.</p>

[soxfan93]

<p>When I start a game, I like to have at least 5 or 6 major storylines to last me the first six months. On my cell phone, I have a notebook app that I use to book PPV shows - in their entirety - up to 2 years in advance. These notes will include everything from the main event to squash matches, with extras if I want to remember something. For example, before I started my 1997 WWF game, I had Owen Hart beating Shawn Michaels for the title at WrestleMania, Steve Austin winning a handicap match to earn a title shot the next night on Raw, then being viciously assaulted and "no-showing" forcing Mr. McMahon to give the title match to Kane, who beat Owen after just 24 hours as champion.</p><p> </p><p>

That was all decided well in advance. This gives me goals, structure, and honestly, quite a bit of enjoyment. Other than that, though, the TV shows themselves are on the fly, with a few notes to remember angles I want to run.</p>

[michael20001]

Using WWE i book towards the two biggest events. For example post wrestlemania ill plan what i want my main events at Summerslam will be then work backwards from there, filling in my PPV cards, then using those as guidelines ill book my tv shows on the fly.

[Remianen]

How does one plan 5 years or more of wrestling? Do you guys write every single match down? This must take more time than actually booking. I'm curious as how you make it work. I plan pretty much who my world champs will be, maybe even a couple of other title champs at most, the rest is on the fly. I write nothing down about feuds, except in the description and, strictly if necessary, something in the notepad if I need to remember something. I do my best not to use notes outside of the game.

 

For me, it gives me a point of focus, something to base my booking on. I do use notes outside of the game, because I have to. I might have a dozen different saves going at the same time so I need a way to keep things organized. I have a 1 subject notebook for each save (as well as for each MMO I play - I buy them in bulk) that I keep notes in. An example from my current game, first try with the Thunderverse, running PEWWA:

 

Ace: Marie Chevalier

Ally: Sabine Maier

Future Legend: J-Pow/Tamsine Baker* (excellent chemistry as a team which will make this MUCH easier)

Wildcard: Jess Gilmour-Hart

 

PEWWA (World, eventually) Championship

Svetlana Deushi

Joleen LaFontaine

Dianna

Gretta Brittaine

Dianna

Marie Chevalier

Svetlana Deushi

Dianna

Marie Chevalier

Mai-Li Kato

 

That's roughly five years of title reigns.

 

I don't write down five years worth of matches. I can't be that rigid. What I do is focus on individual matchups with a goal of developing skills (overness is easy, skills are not). Wild cards are workers I can't get yet (on written elsewhere, not available in my area, too over for me, etc) but when/if I can get them, they plug right into the plan wherever I can put them.

[AfRoMaN36]

Similarly to others, I stack my main shows (Mania, and Summer Slam), and then book backwards from their in an effort to slowly build to those big events. My divas brand also has their own "Mania" like show called Diva La Revolucion that I try to stack as well.

 

Like Remi, I keep in mind who I want to put the title on and roughly when I will give it to them. Off the top of my head in the next game year I want to take the Divas title off of AJ Lee (my top face), give it to Layla (As I'm partial to her and she could retire soon), have her drop it to Michelle McCool (my other top face) at Diva La Revolucion, then have her face AJ for it at Mania. Future candidates for the title after that include Mickie James, Portia Perez and Natalya.

 

I also keep a notebook with me at all times. I book a months worth of angles and matches at a time. That way I can breeze through my booking once I'm able to sit down and actually play the game. It also helps me know who I need to put over a certain week based on previous weeks.

[shawn michaels]

When I start a game, I like to have at least 5 or 6 major storylines to last me the first six months. On my cell phone, I have a notebook app that I use to book PPV shows - in their entirety - up to 2 years in advance. These notes will include everything from the main event to squash matches, with extras if I want to remember something. For example, before I started my 1997 WWF game, I had Owen Hart beating Shawn Michaels for the title at WrestleMania, Steve Austin winning a handicap match to earn a title shot the next night on Raw, then being viciously assaulted and "no-showing" forcing Mr. McMahon to give the title match to Kane, who beat Owen after just 24 hours as champion.

 

That was all decided well in advance. This gives me goals, structure, and honestly, quite a bit of enjoyment. Other than that, though, the TV shows themselves are on the fly, with a few notes to remember angles I want to run.

 

Why would you do that to Owen, though? Nothing against Kane, but...Owen!!!

 

 

For me, it gives me a point of focus, something to base my booking on. I do use notes outside of the game, because I have to. I might have a dozen different saves going at the same time so I need a way to keep things organized. I have a 1 subject notebook for each save (as well as for each MMO I play - I buy them in bulk) that I keep notes in. An example from my current game, first try with the Thunderverse, running PEWWA:

 

Ace: Marie Chevalier

Ally: Sabine Maier

Future Legend: J-Pow/Tamsine Baker* (excellent chemistry as a team which will make this MUCH easier)

Wildcard: Jess Gilmour-Hart

 

PEWWA (World, eventually) Championship

Svetlana Deushi

Joleen LaFontaine

Dianna

Gretta Brittaine

Dianna

Marie Chevalier

Svetlana Deushi

Dianna

Marie Chevalier

Mai-Li Kato

 

That's roughly five years of title reigns.

 

I don't write down five years worth of matches. I can't be that rigid. What I do is focus on individual matchups with a goal of developing skills (overness is easy, skills are not). Wild cards are workers I can't get yet (on written elsewhere, not available in my area, too over for me, etc) but when/if I can get them, they plug right into the plan wherever I can put them.

 

Hmm. Interesting, but a little confusing. I expected more detailed notes, even knowing that you couldn't book every single segment and match for those 5 years. I know that I wouldn't be able to work like that, with a pre-determined list of who wins in the next 5 years, since I often change my mind and I like to focus on building the show around a few select workers and then have them put others over when they've had enough time headlining and then repeating when necessary.

 

Doesn't mean I make them headline for 10 years, like Cena or Hogan, not at all. I always like to keep things fresh, but I also like to have my top guys be my top guys for quite some time. But if I did such plans they would all fall apart since I often change my mind based on several factors that happen in game or personal preferences that eventually emerge.

 

And once one thing changed than the whole big pictured wrote for those 5 years would crash down like a house of cards.

[Rickymex]

Why would you do that to Owen, though? Nothing against Kane, but...Owen!!!

 

 

 

 

Hmm. Interesting, but a little confusing. I expected more detailed notes, even knowing that you couldn't book every single segment and match for those 5 years. I know that I wouldn't be able to work like that, with a pre-determined list of who wins in the next 5 years, since I often change my mind and I like to focus on building the show around a few select workers and then have them put others over when they've had enough time headlining and then repeating when necessary.

 

Doesn't mean I make them headline for 10 years, like Cena or Hogan, not at all. I always like to keep things fresh, but I also like to have my top guys be my top guys for quite some time. But if I did such plans they would all fall apart since I often change my mind based on several factors that happen in game or personal preferences that eventually emerge.

 

And once one thing changed than the whole big pictured wrote for those 5 years would crash down like a house of cards.

 

The most important thing in long term booking, at least in my opinion, is that having things crash is a good thing. You have to be flexible and roll with the punches. The pre-planning isn't something set in stone but an outline to what you want to accomplish.

[soxfan93]

Why would you do that to Owen, though? Nothing against Kane, but...Owen!!!

 

My main event scene was very face heavy. Owen, Austin, Mankind, Undertaker, Vader, Shamrock. I needed a strong heel champion. Hart could continue his feud with Michaels without the title. Plus, having Austin attacked and replacing him in the title match was a very Mr. McMahon thing to do.

[Big Mark Smark]

I tend to do my planning in Contract negotiation and Storylines. When starting off, I'll tend to put guys into old-fashioned programmes, working a feud with someone else with the intention of getting at least one of them over. Depending on skills, overness, and personality, I might be OK with transferring popularity. (For example, when I was playing the Ruthless Aggression mod with TNA, I brought in guys like Hall and DDP on short contracts to Pass the Torch and used them to help build up my younger workers, but I also had Jeff Jarrett put people over from time to time because in that Mod he's an Overness-generating machine!) I don't apply a hard rule, but I usually get 80% of the Main Eventers and Upper Midcarders in programmes, plus about a third of the Midcarders and Lower Midcarders. In the latter case, it's usually just the guys I want to push.

 

Offering guys particular roles in contract negotiations tends to save money, and it sets up the worker to remind me when I'm misusing them. I actually went through a phase of giving everyone Creative Control and it worked fine, but I've backed off on that for younger workers who I might want to send to Development. (This is basically the only thing that I can't work around with Creative Control.) And yes, I have played Monday Night Wars type scenarios as WCW without losing sleep over the nWo guys.

 

When booking a show, I'm usually aiming to get at least one segment for each storyline. Between Distraction, Interference, Botched Interference, and Guest Colour Commentary it's not hard to insert a rival worker into what's otherwise a throwaway match, though to avoid making the game too mechanical - and in "kayfabe", making the product too predictable - I sometimes put the feud segment in an angle after a nothing match. Short of a worker leaving the roster, their rivals can always cut a promo on them or something like that, so relatively short injuries aren't too disruptive.

 

As a matter of preference and getting hotter matches in events, I tend to save blow-off and false blow-off matches for events and I often pre-book them to save time. Putting the worker who's going over first in the pre-booking helps to remind me of what I'm doing. I also do some ad-hoc pre-booking when I'm running shows, more or less noting down ideas that come to me.

[FixingTNA]

When I first started I had no idea what I was doing. Fantasy booking show to show with no real story, kinda like TNA early 2015 in real life! LOL. I eventually got used the game and started booking alot smarter.

 

I always have my main event picture planned out pretty fully up until my year end show. Like when I finished generating Bound For Glory 15, I already had the main event of Bound For Glory 16 pretty much locked in. Obviously things can change, but it's good to have direction. At this point I have title reigns planned out in advance, again tentatively, but the general guideline keeps me from overlooking people, especially where my roster is massive right now.

 

I don't necessarily believe in the solitary "ace" philosophy. Though Adam Cole did become the most over babyface in my company, when he left the void wasn't unfillable. There were babyfaces in the wings that were over enough to make the leap. Jay Lethal and Alberto El Patron both increased their popularity in the main event while lesser babyfaces like Rich Swann, Andrew Everett and Matt Tremont got a boost from more TV time making them more relevant.

 

Same goes for heels. 2016 my big heel was Bully Ray, 2017 was Bram, 2018 El Patron and 2019 was AJ. This year, AJ's still well over as a heel, but Gulak's neck and neck with him with Marty Scurll, Akira Tozawa and Trevor Lee all waiting in the wings.

 

Besides the main event, I always have storylines planned revolving the titles. From there I see who's left and try to figure out a short term, 1 to 2 month feud between guys who haven't wrestled before or haven't wrestled in a while. This is some of the most fun for me because after 5 years of TNA I get to go through the records and see when and if guys have ever met before. I lose track after booking over 500 shows .

 

Don't get too downtrodden on your openers is one thing I advise. I remember first signing Scurll and Sabre Jr. and it was taking me forever for them to get to the point people would take them seriously. Same with The Bravados. In Scurll & Sabre's case, I split the team, which originally gave Scurll alot of momentum. Sabre stalled briefly but being a great worker he got another opportunity and locked on with a new tag partner which caught this time in TNA. The Bravados just slowly but surely, loss after loss, became a really really great technical tag team. That and they're well respected. Now teams like The Wolves or reDRagon have zero problem putting them over clean, which helps a shit ton when booking. That's the worst when you have to assuage egos.

 

Always have jobbers, use em alot on dark shows and get em in ring experience. Be very selective when choosing jobbers though In the long run, those jobbers could become your future stars. Adam Cole came into my TNA save as a lower midcarder, he's now an A popularity babyface, making him one of the top 5 most popular wrestlers in the US (In case you wondering, the other 4 are Alberto El Patron, Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels/ROH & Triple H/WWE)

[BHK1978]

I am amazed at how much work some of you put into this game. I could never do it personally. My whole thought process is,"Well wrestler A and B look like they might put on a decent match and they have not wrestled each other in a few months let me book that."

 

The only time I actually have stuff somewhat planned out is when I do a diary.

[junkstuff1111]

All these different methods are fascinating!

 

Show-to-show I'll do one show at a time. PPVs I try to figure out at the end of the previous PPV. Title runs I like to try to know probably a half year in advance (playing as WWF, with WrestleMania and Survivor Series as good markers). Then with my Owner Goals turned on, I'll try to decide what I'm going to do about pushing the guys Vince McMahon wants pushed (in this case, Austin and Goldust), and try to craft the major storylines around them.

 

As for show-to-show, I'll mostly just try to create match ups that either further storylines or get guys experience in the ring with other good workers. I don't really know what's going to happen until I sit down and write it down.

[HWRP]

Thanks all for your comments, I find this really interesting to see how you plan everything out. I think I'll take different parts of what you all do and use it to help me plan my own saves as well. Thanks for the welcome Liger appreciate it and will post on here more.

[bigtplaystew]

I do find it so interesting how different I am from some of you, and then how eerily similar I am as I play. Really intriguing thread.