The Upcoming Adventures thread

I've also been thinking I might be interested in trying my hand at DMing, but have NO ideas for an adventure or really how to go about creating one from scratch...

[MENTION=6676620]VanderLegion[/MENTION] : Hit me up in PM and I'll be happy to help you out if you'd like!

Then don't make one yourself.

Steal! Adapt!

There are loads of neat little adventures in Dungeon magazine.

You could run one of the short Chaos Rift adventures for example. Real easy to slot in, and short and sweet.

jbear said:

Then don't make one yourself.

Steal! Adapt!

There are loads of neat little adventures in Dungeon magazine.

You could run one of the short Chaos Rift adventures for example. Real easy to slot in, and short and sweet.

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I'm actually reading through one of the Game Day adventures right now, looks fairly simple, 2-3 encounters.

VanderLegion said:

I'm actually reading through one of the Game Day adventures right now, looks fairly simple, 2-3 encounters.

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Nice!

Fairly simple is the best way to start, my first one was 3 encounters and done.

Maybe I should cut my teeth on something simple before I tackle a long paragon tier game...

WEContact said:

Maybe I should cut my teeth on something simple before I tackle a long paragon tier game...

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If my experience is of any worth, you really should. There are plenty of available adventures appropiate for pbp. Generally speaking;

- Starting with a vague project and thinking that you can fill the details as you go is a big mistake. At least it was for me.
- Plan no more than 3 or 4 encounters with a small bit of roleplay or exploration in between for some variation.
- Sandbox-like adventures where the players have a lot of freedom tend to not work well unless carefully monitored. With slow communication, it takes too long to reach a consensus about what to do; if a player takes leadership and decides the course of action, more often than not he feels like he's playing alone and the rest feel like they aren't playing. Try to encourage everyone in those situations to act; have NPCs ask their opinion or mention the players a lot, or if there are divergent opinions in the group, or to force an agreement quickly by some out of character mechanics like a die roll or group vote.
- Don't include encounters that are long, gindy or repetitive. These tend to kill games really fast. Fights that nullify the PCs too often should be avoided, for example terrain that the PCs can't move through or that force a roll to move or act.
- Don't expect the players to remember details of what happened months ago in real time.
- If you read the encounters and think you're going to crush the PCs, then they're probably well tuned. 4e characters are tough even at low levels, and with increased stats and themes l4w's are even tougher.

I would add:

- Combat encounter should not last too long. So don't overcrowd your map with Soldier type monster and go instead for Brute, which deal more damage and get kill faster.

Someone said:

- If you read the encounters and think you're going to crush the PCs, then they're probably well tuned. 4e characters are tough even at low levels, and with increased stats and themes l4w's are even tougher.

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And yet I still managed to kill most of a party......

yeah, to echo Velmont, avoid soldiers if you can, especially higher level ones, it'll be a whiff fest. I personally love Brutes and Artillery. Both hit hard, but tend to get dropped quickly, fast, high-damaging fights are better (IMO) than slower ones (I try to avoid controllers with dazing/stunning effects (except against River, sorry Vel))