So, I've been thinking recently about how I design adventures. I'm currently in the midst of running a homebrew campaign, and I'm doing a lot more prep for this one than I usually have in the past. In the process, I've been developing some general rules for how I do stuff, and I was wondering what other DMs have come up with along the same lines.
Here are the principles I've developed so far:
1. One or two fights, followed by a non-combat encounter (social encounter or exploration scenario). I find it's important to maintain variety. If we have an uninterrupted series of fights, people start to feel like all they do is knock off monster hit points. If we have a series of social encounters, people get tired of talking and want to pick a fight. If we have a series of exploration scenarios, it seems like all the characters do is wander around lost. Keeping things mixed prevents everyone, including me, from getting bored.
2. Everything tells a story. I don't manage to work this into every encounter, but I try as much as I can. Every encounter should contain something that ties it into a storyline - whether it be the main plot arc, a future plot arc, a secondary plotline, or just some bit of background lore that the PCs could investigate further if they wanted.
Bottom line, everything should have a reason for being where it is; there should never be an encounter where the party just walks in the door and has to fight some monsters. The PCs should always be able to say, after the fight if not before it: "Aha! This is why the monsters were here!" Or possibly: "Hmm, that was strange... why were these monsters here?"
3. Any fight may turn out to be a social encounter, and any social encounter may turn out to be a fight. Plan for both. PCs being what they are, one can never predict when they'll decide to sit down and chat with the rampaging demon, and when they'll decide that the wise old hermit with valuable plot information needs to be brutally slain.
Sometimes, of course, I can just say, "Look, this is a rampaging beast from the pits of the Abyss. It doesn't want to talk. It wants to eat you." Or I can point out that a bunch of 3rd-level characters attacking an ancient dragon is not going to end well. But in general, it's best to consider both possibilities.
4. Avoid fights where the PCs have NPCs on their side. I've been breaking this one in the last couple of sessions, since the PCs have been travelling with a bunch of mercenaries and it's hard to justify the mercenaries not helping out when combat starts. And now and then you do want a really big battle scene.
But in general, NPC allies are more of a nuisance than anything else. They cause double combat slowdown - not only does someone have to run the NPCs, but I also have to run the extra monsters that I put in to balance the NPCs. And they make the PCs seem less important.
5. Treasure is not evenly distributed. I tend to hand out treasure in little dribs and drabs, and then every so often throw in a big hoard o' loot. (I think I've been taking this too far, actually; I need to spread things out a little more.) This whets the PCs' appetite and makes it exciting when they find one of the big hoards. It also helps with verisimilitude, because I don't have to make excuses for why a giant beetle is wandering around with a heap of gold.
What are your adventure design principles?
Here are the principles I've developed so far:
1. One or two fights, followed by a non-combat encounter (social encounter or exploration scenario). I find it's important to maintain variety. If we have an uninterrupted series of fights, people start to feel like all they do is knock off monster hit points. If we have a series of social encounters, people get tired of talking and want to pick a fight. If we have a series of exploration scenarios, it seems like all the characters do is wander around lost. Keeping things mixed prevents everyone, including me, from getting bored.
2. Everything tells a story. I don't manage to work this into every encounter, but I try as much as I can. Every encounter should contain something that ties it into a storyline - whether it be the main plot arc, a future plot arc, a secondary plotline, or just some bit of background lore that the PCs could investigate further if they wanted.
Bottom line, everything should have a reason for being where it is; there should never be an encounter where the party just walks in the door and has to fight some monsters. The PCs should always be able to say, after the fight if not before it: "Aha! This is why the monsters were here!" Or possibly: "Hmm, that was strange... why were these monsters here?"
3. Any fight may turn out to be a social encounter, and any social encounter may turn out to be a fight. Plan for both. PCs being what they are, one can never predict when they'll decide to sit down and chat with the rampaging demon, and when they'll decide that the wise old hermit with valuable plot information needs to be brutally slain.
Sometimes, of course, I can just say, "Look, this is a rampaging beast from the pits of the Abyss. It doesn't want to talk. It wants to eat you." Or I can point out that a bunch of 3rd-level characters attacking an ancient dragon is not going to end well. But in general, it's best to consider both possibilities.
4. Avoid fights where the PCs have NPCs on their side. I've been breaking this one in the last couple of sessions, since the PCs have been travelling with a bunch of mercenaries and it's hard to justify the mercenaries not helping out when combat starts. And now and then you do want a really big battle scene.
But in general, NPC allies are more of a nuisance than anything else. They cause double combat slowdown - not only does someone have to run the NPCs, but I also have to run the extra monsters that I put in to balance the NPCs. And they make the PCs seem less important.
5. Treasure is not evenly distributed. I tend to hand out treasure in little dribs and drabs, and then every so often throw in a big hoard o' loot. (I think I've been taking this too far, actually; I need to spread things out a little more.) This whets the PCs' appetite and makes it exciting when they find one of the big hoards. It also helps with verisimilitude, because I don't have to make excuses for why a giant beetle is wandering around with a heap of gold.
What are your adventure design principles?
