Writing My First Adventure Path

[Tequila Sunrise]

I've decided to write a 1-11 AP for my own personal use, so I'm prepared for the next time I can game. And who knows? If I'm satisfied with the final result, I'll give it away to anyone interested.

Anyway I'm going to use a published AP as a very rough template, because I've never played or DMed through an AP. So here's what I'd like to know:

1. Do you have any AP suggestions? Whether it's a specific AP, or "anything written by Paizo" I want to hear it.

And...

2. What are your favorite/least favorite things about APs? What habits or things should I be sure to include or avoid?

PS: I don't think it matters to this discussion because I'm looking for logistical and stylistic advice rather than rules advice, but my AP will use a 4e rules set.

 

[ahayford]

I think the hardest part is really linking the adventures in a way that provides good continuity and enough foreshadowing to really link the plot lines together. I read an article once on different ways of creating plot threads and linking them together to provide interesting long term stories...but the post escapes me at the moment...sorry. Some APs can suffer form this problem when each adventure is written by a different person.

In addition, APs by their very nature, have a little bit of railroading that can turn off some people. I find, personally, that a lot of that can be avoided as long as you have buy in from you players on what kind of game you are playing. Trying to bring in "open world" free form players into something thats a little more scripted can cause problems. My point, I guess, is to keep in mind your audience and design the adventure accordingly. There is nothing wrong with an adventure designed for a group of religious warriors as long as the players know in advance and create their characters with that knowledge. Most AP's have really good player's guides that cover this.

Spend some time creating some interesting recuring characters. Think about your AP like a long running TV series for inspiration. I find some APs really suffer from not having identifable "big bads" that really help to keep the characters interested. I'm sure some disagree.

 

[fireinthedust]

Railroading can be avoided if you do two things (in theory)

1) Make the adventures site based so that, whatever their reasons for going, the PCs end up there. Events need railroading, sites just exist and have their own features, which the heroes bump into when they get there.


2) Give the heroes something they can control, like a city filled with NPCs they can interact with and form relationships. Like, do they want to take over the thieves guild? Start a temple? Explode the tavern? Sure. Done. It has nothing to do with the site-based AP sites, so goody.


I don't know if the above is true in practice, but it's a design goal I enjoy. Maybe I'll give a mission or two, but I prefer site-based so I can just make it and leave it alone. If the heroes get to it, there it is. If not, it waits for them.

 

[ahayford]

The real benefit of something like an adventure path is that it provides a style of play that an open ended game doesn't always capture. Its definitely for players/DMs that enjoy a more narrative approach, and with a nimble and open eared DM, can be very rewarding for both player and dm. The players also have to buy into it though. If the DM said...I'm going to run a pirate themed adventure, and I'd like your characters to be from city XYZ with a pirate theme as well....and your players make wood elves that never come out of the forest...or whatever...it doesn't make sense. I see that more as setting the scene and guidelines for the game than railroading. Basicly, ensuring the desires/goals of the characters are compatible with the story line before embarking.

 

[Quickleaf]

I'm in the process (several years ongoing ) of writing a campaign-in-a-box, and I have several insights from my own process.

About your question for an AP to use as a template, that really depends on what your AP is about. For example, if you said it was about protecting and ruling a dngerous frontier town and that you wanted some elements of sandbox play, I would highly recommend Paizo's Kingmaker AP.

Since it sounds like this is more for our personal use, you could really experiment with different structures besides the AP. For example you could make it more of an adventure setting, or you could have the main quest on a timeline with several side quests (1 or 2 page dungeons) the PCs could pursue at their leisure.

One of the benefits of a well-crafted AP/campaign is a tightly woven plot. The best author's aide I've found so far is called Freemind - it's a mind-mapping shareware program that just rocks when you're organizing your original ideas.

I really like a dynamic game, where the PCs' actions can have unexpected impacts on the course of their adventures. To that end I am incorporating timelines and "trigger" sidebars for some out-of-the-box things that PCs might try (based on playtesting and conversations with friends). I haven't seen APs do very much of this.

If your AP has a specific genre, you might check out Neverwinter or Gloomwrought for excellent examples of how to design character themes which tie into the story/setting. ENWorld's Zeitgeist does something similar with themes.

I think you have the right idea not to lean too much on any specific AP as a template; adventure modules IMO are best served by a format unique to their content.

So maybe you can share a little more about your AP?

 

[SnowleopardVK]

...I've never played or DMed through an AP.

My biggest suggestion: Change that fact as soon as you can. I'm also writing my own adventure, styled after paizo APs, for use by my own groups. I started with no AP experience, so I immediately grabbed what was at the time paizo's newest AP, the first volume of Jade Regent, and I started both running it and playing it with different groups. Of course not all groups have that much time, so I run it for myself in addition to that, going over parts that seem off, or that seem amazing over and over in different ways to get as good an idea as I can over why I'm not enjoying it, or why I am.

The act of experiencing it not just once, but repeatedly, and changing things to my own personal touches, seeing if I can make the parts that didn't work for my players in one run go a bit better the next time... Stuff like that is a big, important part of learning what works in APs and what doesn't.

And when you've done one, don't necessarily stop yourself there. I've got all parts of Jade Regent now, and so I'm planning on picking up Carrion Crown, because it looks to me like it will hit on a very different genre than Jade Regent and will help me learn new things, and I plan to pick up Second Darkness specifically because I hear a lot of bad things about it, and I think that running and playing it myself will be a perfect way to help me learn more about what works and what doesn't.

In short, get some playing and DMing experience with AP to help with the creation of your own, and try to get a feel for both the good and the bad. Get at least one adventure path that people don't speak so highly of, and be sure to experience it. Along with experiencing the good stuff of course.

 

[ahayford]

I'm curious...when you say...."I run it for myself"....what do you mean by that?

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

So maybe you can share a little more about your AP?

Thanks, Quickleaf! Normally I'm all about a quasi-sand-box approach to gaming, but I'll be an engineering student for at least two more years. And well, I just don't have much time or energy for weekly game prep. And I pretty much suck at improving and winging things.

Let's see...what have I decided thus far? Well, my AP will take place in a fairly typical PoLand, though it includes a few quirks of my own. For example, it bugs me when really weird monsters like beholders and mind flayers are just...there, wandering around an inexplicably huge network of subterranean passages. So instead of an underdark inhabited by randomly weird monsters, my setting has a sort of space-scape inhabited by very purposeful and organized aberrants. And they have a plan.

(If you've played Diablo 2, think of the Arcane Sanctuary, except with creepy them type monsters rather than ravening demons. And a similar origin story.)

My AP will involve all the usual foes -- demons, devils, selfish mortals, etc. -- but the aberrants are the masterminds. Their goal is total 'conversion' of the fading mortal world, and their strategy is to play the more numerous evil-types off of each other and mortals. So a lot of the AP will be about the PCs slaying devil cults, desperate humanoids, small demon hordes, dragons, and such, before they figure out who the real puppet master is.

Also, there will be a portal to Sigil somewhere nearby just because I'm still a PS fan. Plus, it makes a convenient explanation if someone wants to play a weird race!

In addition, APs by their very nature, have a little bit of railroading that can turn off some people. I find, personally, that a lot of that can be avoided as long as you have buy in from you players on what kind of game you are playing. Trying to bring in "open world" free form players into something thats a little more scripted can cause problems. My point, I guess, is to keep in mind your audience and design the adventure accordingly. There is nothing wrong with an adventure designed for a group of religious warriors as long as the players know in advance and create their characters with that knowledge. Most AP's have really good player's guides that cover this.

Story and character continuity, got it. Good stuff!

As for railroading, well, I'll be an engineering student at a new school next September. So if I end up DMing this AP, I will have certainly gone through the "I'd love to DM, but I don't have the time or energy for anything other than an AP. So if not my AP, it's someone else running the game, or we go watch football..." conversation.* Not that I'll be forbidding minor side-tracks with an iron fist, but I'll be leaning on my players generally going along with the AP.

*No, that's a lie. I don't watch football.

 

[ahayford]

Well, the best way to get someone to do what you want is to make them think it was their idea in the first place Get to know your PCs and what would interest them. In the end you can only do so much. But that is more a DM skill then an AP writing skill. Sadly, I do much better at this in a play by post environment then tabletop. My tabletop improvisation skills are not the greatest. I'm sure that is something that comes with practice.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=40398]Tequila Sunrise[/MENTION]
Interesting that you perceive writing your own AP to save time as compared to running a sandbox style game! Often I hear the reverse claim made.

I like your alien villains, not many adventure paths go there that I know of. I assume you'll be drawing on Cthulu mythos? Any chance of Spelljamming or will the "outer realms" be mostly inaccessible to the PCs?