D&D General The Alexandrian’s Insights In a Nutshell [+]

[TheSword]

The Alexandrian blog and JA himself come in for a lot of flack partly because of the style but I do feel he says some pretty smart things even if you have to sift through fair bit to get to it. For instance one of the distilled pieces of wisdom he shared in his post about Avernus was…

• Design situations not plots because then you don’t actually care what the PCs actually do; you just want to expose them to the situation so that they can begin interacting with it.

I find it very hard to argue with this really useful piece of advice as a DM. It makes me reflect on my own encounter design in a constructive way and that can’t be bad!

For all those folks out there who know the blog better than me. What other gems re hidden there in 19 years of blog posts. To save us having to read through hundreds of posts?

I’ve made it a + thread to keep the all the personal stuff out of it. Really interested to know what other people had learned.

[Edit] Further Nuggets of Sense

• For any conclusion you want the PCs to make, include at least three clues. Three Clue Rule
• Structure adventures so multiple clues refer to multiple encounters each referring to each other with further clues to avoid wasted effort but leave control in the players hands Node-Based Scenario Design – Part 1: The Plotted Approach
• Make keyed locations dynamic by organizing foes into an encounter roster to allow you better control over NPC actions on the fly and influence the pace of the adventure.
  

  The Art of the Key – Part 4: Adversary Rosters

  Go to Part 1One of the great things about a well-executed location-based scenario is that each keyed area is effectively “firewalled” from the other areas: The GM generally only needs to process

  thealexandrian.net
• Build interesting dungeons with multiple exits and entrances and routes through them. Otherwise known as ‘Jacquaysing the dungeon’ or Xandering the Dungeon

 

[Reynard]

• Design situations not plots because then you don’t actually care what the PCs actually do; you just want to expose them to the situation so that they can begin interacting with it.

The thing is stuff like this isn't some insight developed by JA. It is advice that has come down since the 70s. Some personalities are better at presenting it as such. Others like JA package it like they figured it out.

 

[Shardstone]

His book is really, really, really good. It is the best dmg for someome who didnt grow up with older editions.

 

[TheSword]

The thing is stuff like this isn't some insight developed by JA. It is advice that has come down since the 70s. Some personalities are better at presenting it as such. Others like JA package it like they figured it out.

Ok, I’m not attributing copyright to him. I don’t really care about the personal stuff. Please note the plus thread.

Just interested in what specific points and maxims he has made in his blogs that can be useful for DMs and adventure design. I don’t really care if and where else they originated. It doesn’t matter to the thread.

 

[TheSword]

His book is really, really, really good. It is the best dmg for someome who didnt grow up with older editions.

Any particular gems in there that stand out?

 

[Alzrius]

For all those folks out there who know the blog better than me. What other gems re hidden there in 19 years of blog posts. To save us having to read through hundreds of posts?

There's the three clue rule of designing mysteries, which is basically that you should always make at least three clues for any given instance where the PCs need to find something to progress, since if you have less it's entirely possible that they'll fail to find the clue(s) and the game will grind to a halt.

His node-based design articles basically outline how to prep non-linear game sessions.

While he didn't invent the term "ivory tower design," he has a great article reminding us of what it actually means, since everyone seems to get it wrong.

I really enjoy his calibrating your expectations article about D&D 3rd Edition and what the game system tells us about what high-level characters can do.

Those are just a few of my favorites.

 

[Quickleaf]

I was impressed by his thoughtful analysis of what constitutes a “city crawl” and the many examples he uses. Hard to distill to a nutshell sentence though… “Differentiate zones of your city on multiple levels” would be the closest I can get.

My experience of his blog is that he is good at breaking down existing adventures to improve them, and also good at looking to past gaming material/adventures to get ideas for what worked / what didn’t, and distilling a set of design parameters from that. Very thoughtful thorough analysis.

When it comes to novel thinking or innovation in the RPG space, I don’t think that’s his forte so much. To be fair, many gamers don’t care about that unless they’re bougie unrepentant homebrewers who think they know better. Like, uh, ya know…me.

 

[pukunui]

There's the three clue rule of designing mysteries, which is basically that you should always make at least three clues for any given instance where the PCs need to find something to progress, since if you have less it's entirely possible that they'll fail to find the clue(s) and the game will grind to a halt.

Yeah, the three clue rule is fantastic, and I really wish WotC writers (both staff and freelance) would incorporate it into their adventure design. Official 3e, 4e, and 5e adventures tend towards bottlenecking far too often.

I doubt WotC will veer away from plot-based adventures any time soon, though, since they’re all about the story now.

 

[Oofta]

Yeah, the three clue rule is fantastic, and I really wish WotC writers (both staff and freelance) would incorporate it into their adventure design. Official 3e, 4e, and 5e adventures tend towards bottlenecking far too often.

I doubt WotC will veer away from plot-based adventures any time soon, though, since they’re all about the story now.

Well, unfortunately some DMs just don't understand how to run non-linear adventures. Candlekeep Mysteries for example can be very open, but it's up to the DM to flesh it out and react to what the players are interested in. Started it with one DM and it was a lot of fun but then the DM ghosted (it was an AL game, not sure what happened). Played again with another DM since we hadn't finished it the first time and it pretty much fell flat and just sort of petered out at the end. The guy just didn't really understand how to involve the different factions or handle things like running the tavern as a business.

So I get why most modules default to a linear storyline, it's easier for a DM to run in some ways.

 

[aco175]

• Design situations not plots because then you don’t actually care what the PCs actually do; you just want to expose them to the situation so that they can begin interacting with it.

I get this in concept, but are hung up thinking if I do this or what the difference is with situations and encounters and plots. I might have a tribe or orcs planning to attack the village. I plan out an encounter where they attack and their size and tactics. I plan on the PCs fighting, but guess it depends on them. I also plan on the orcs taking some prisoners and going back to a cave. I plan on the PCs going to save the villagers.

The plot of the adventure is to survive the attack and rescue the villagers before they are sacrificed. I have a few situations that the PCs walk into but they could also just not want to do any of it.

I guess I'm thinking that all of these words might just be the same.