Writing Adventures

[Puskara]

Greetings all:

I am looking for advice on adventure creation. I am starting a Greyhawk adventure soon and I have lots of ideas for things which could occur, meeting X group of outsiders who were exiled to the Prime Material, discovering an island with a undescovered race, etc. I just cannot seem to create cohesive complete adventures out of this.

My battle tactics are sound and I have been told I use combat ability creativly so I do not think fights are the problem it is creating something engaging to go between the fights. I would prefer that the campaign not be just fight after fight.

If anyone could post thier method for adventure creation I woudl be very appreciative. I am particularily interested in what sort of details they make note of and what thier typical adventure outline looks like.

Also if anyone has any links to good articles on adventure writing that woudl also be appreciated.

Thanks!

Puskara

 

[DragonLancer]

I generally think in scenes. Get a visualisation of something, how you figure it will work out and make note of it. To me adventures are made up of these scenes, and even if your players deviate from how you expected it work out, you have a base to work from.

For actual creation, don't overdo it. Come up with an idea, even if that idea is just discovering an island with a undescovered race, and work on that. How they going to do this, are they paid to explore the island, or are they shipwrecked at the beginning of a campaign, what cool adventures could take place on this island...etc. Its all brainstorming. Then design areas on that island, and work out what this new race is. Perhaps the race are living in fear of a monster on the island that demands a regular sacrifice, and these new comers are either perfect sacrifices or perhaps the ones able to deal with the monster.

Theres a good basic adventure idea without too much detail. Then if your campaign is going to based around this island, think of repercussions. Perhaps this island has a villain or cult who used the monster to keep the locals inline, if so, what happens now the beast is dead?

Also, don't go overboard with things. Traps, monsters, treasure...etc, and keep the plot/back story simple till you feel more comfortable and get going.

Its late, so I apologise if I rambled. Good luck.

 

[ajanders]

Build a big bad villain.
Decide what that big bad villain wants.
Decide what the big bad villain has.
Decide what the villain will do with what he has to get what he wants.
Put your players next to the events.

For example:
Start with a monster. I'm working on something with a barghest.
What does the barghest want?
To eat people and gain hit dice.
What does the barghest have?
A tribe of loyal goblin minions.
What does the barghest do?
Lead his goblins out to capture humans and return them to his lair for ritual eating.
And suddenly the party was staying at an isolated inn when sudden goblins attack with clubs and nets, carrying off whatever prisoners they can take.
Now you have an adventure...actually, you have the material to make many adventures, based on whatever the PC's do?
Maybe they chase the goblins to save the prisoners.
Maybe they ARE the prisoners and have to escape the goblins.
Maybe they run for the cavalry and have to escape a pursuing goblin war party.
Maybe they just take the extra stuff for their own and get raided the next night.
When you go to build your next villain, think about how to connect him to your first villain.
Were they brothers? Father and son? Master and servant?
Set the villain's goals and resources, then determine their actions.

Side note: if the PC's don't think the villain's goals are worth opposing, get a better villain. Repeat.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

So far this is certainly sound advice. Eventually you will, of course, want to adopt your own style in whatever you do but here is what I would suggest:

First, read some other adventures. Either read stuff on the net (there's plenty of good stuff) or buy some things with good reviews (in fact, ENWorld has some nice reviews).

After using someone else's materials then think about your own stuff. Think about your characters. What are their personalities and motivations.

When you are ready to actually sit down and design your very own adventure, a secret that I started with (and still use to this day) is go through the monster books and just read up on some critters. Surely some of them will inspire you to think about ways in which the creature can be used. I can promise you that you can design some very imaginative and clever things just by reading up on the creatures.

 

[cybertalus]

The RPGA offers this Guide to Adventure Writing.

I'm not much of an adventure writer myself. I tend to have a broad idea of the situation and a few appropriate stat blocks handy in case a fight starts, but otherwise I prefer to wing it as much as I possibly can.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

The RPGA offers this Guide to Adventure Writing.

I'm not much of an adventure writer myself. I tend to have a broad idea of the situation and a few appropriate stat blocks handy in case a fight starts, but otherwise I prefer to wing it as much as I possibly can.

For campaign play there is certainly something to be said for this. After all, if you do it this way then the plot can't be ruined.

 

[kerakus]

I tend to wing things also. I come up with a basic outline of events and then generate stats for NPCs if I need to and note page references in the MM for critters I might be using. Often I wing the stats for NPCs also (I'm pretty good at keeping these things straight in my head, and my players aren't very rules-lawyerish so it all works out).

So, using your island scenario as an example, what you have is about all the prep I would do, except making up some stats for the new race. During the session I tend to follow the PCs lead and react to what they're doing.

Q

 

[cybertalus]

For campaign play there is certainly something to be said for this. After all, if you do it this way then the plot can't be ruined.

Yeah, definitely works best in campaign play when the DM knows the players and their characters pretty well. Tends to fall apart pretty badly in dungeons though.

 

[Rel]

This:

I generally think in scenes.

is how I usually write one-shot adventures.

And this:

Build a big bad villain.
Decide what that big bad villain wants.
Decide what the big bad villain has.
Decide what the villain will do with what he has to get what he wants.
Put your players next to the events.

is how I usually write campaigns.


My reasoning is that for a one-shot, you want it to be action packed, exciting and memorable. A good way to achieve that is to have the adventure and encounters take place in an unusual environment. Places I've used for one-shots of various sorts are:

In a cave underneath an erupting volcanic island.
On a boat trying to escape from an erupting volcanic island.
On a flying boat hovering above the rocky lands of Mars.
In an ancient pyramid buried under the sands of Mars.
In an Elven tree fortress

You get the idea. A cool location drives the adventure and makes for unusual situations that the players must solve in order to complete the adventure successfully.

A campaign is a bit of a different animal. Flashy, cool locations are nice here, but I also want a driving force that puts the actions of the PC's in a larger context. Thwarting the evil mastermind is a tried and true way to do this.

I find that once I've made the decisions that ajanders looks at above, the adventure almost writes itself. If you jot that outline down and fill it in with the villian of your choice and are still having troubles, post it here. I guarantee you'll get some more great ideas and the process will help you write them yourself in the future.

Good luck!

 

[Stone Angel]

When starting a campaign I like to make a few layers.

This usually starts with a few circles in these circles are adventure ideas, such as your undiscovered race, and the outsider encounter, maybe a couple others.

After this you draw a couple of lines from the circles these are "directions" to which the adventurers will or could go. Then lines from these circle and so on and so forth. Now making layers the other circles that they did not go to these encounters have changed a little people have increased in power just as the PC's have,

Now I usually indicater a couple of squares, these are cut scenes or inevitables if you will. This could include meetings with NPC's or finding a certain magic location or artifact.

This is how I get a little diagram of my campaign and where I want it to go.

The Seraph of Earth and Stone