My Adventure Design Philosophy

[Manic Enthusiasm]

These are the rules I try to live by when designing adventures for D&D and other games.

Start with a flow chart. Use a flowchart to determine how all of the options connect with each other before drawing a map and fleshing out the text. Tweak the chart until you are completely happy with it. This is the most important step.

The chart can change as you play. If a play comes up with something you hadn't thought of, add it to the chart!

Provide multiple ways to achieve any goal. There should be multiple obvious paths through the dungeon. If there are guards, there should be multiple ways to get past them. The chosen methods for overcoming obstacles should have genuine consequence.

Reward accomplishments, rather than means. Don’t give experience points for successfully picking a lock, but rather for finding the treasure behind the locked door.

Pace the adventure deliberately. Try not to clump too many instances of a specific type of challenge together on the map.

Make sure nasty surprises are avoidable. It’s okay to have a deadly poison dart trap, but be sure the characters have some reliable way of anticipating it. Don’t be afraid to punish characters, but always be fair about it.

Provide roleplaying hooks. Be sure to note down the personalities of the characters the players encounter. How does the evil sorcerer treat her minions? How does the innkeeper address his staff? Does the demon have any scars or broken horns? A couple of quick notes can make an NPC much more memorable.

Make sure the environment has personality, too. Is the dungeon kept clean, or is it strewn with trash and rubble? How is it lit? Where do the minions sleep? How high are the ceilings? How does the necromancer organize his books?

Any thoughts? I plan on turning this into a longer blog post with crude illustrations, but first, I'm hoping to collect some feedback.

 

[the Jester]

Start with a flow chart. Use a flowchart to determine how all of the options connect with each other before drawing a map and fleshing out the text. Tweak the chart until you are completely happy with it. This is the most important step.

This is only useful for certain playstyles. For a more true sandbox style game, a flowchart can even be counterproductive, as it constrains the direction things can go from any given setup.

 

[herrozerro]

This is only useful for certain playstyles. For a more true sandbox style game, a flowchart can even be counterproductive, as it constrains the direction things can go from any given setup.

I think you just need the right kind of flow chart. they can prove useful for event chains as well. having an outline of how events will progress if PCs do not interfere I think would be great for a sandbox.

 

[the Jester]

I think you just need the right kind of flow chart. they can prove useful for event chains as well. having an outline of how events will progress if PCs do not interfere I think would be great for a sandbox.

Ahh, that is true. Good call!

 

[Jan van Leyden]

This is only useful for certain playstyles. For a more true sandbox style game, a flowchart can even be counterproductive, as it constrains the direction things can go from any given setup.

In a sense a dungeon map is nothing but a flowchart.

 

[Jhaelen]

In a sense a dungeon map is nothing but a flowchart.

Not necessarily. It's just a network with nodes and edges. There doesn't have to be any implied directionality (which is typical for a flowchart).

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Not necessarily. It's just a network with nodes and edges. There doesn't have to be any implied directionality (which is typical for a flowchart).

Okay, let's try this: "In a sense, a dungeon map is nothing but a flowchart, were most connections a bi-directional"

 

[Ahnehnois]

This is only useful for certain playstyles. For a more true sandbox style game, a flowchart can even be counterproductive, as it constrains the direction things can go from any given setup.

I have to agree. I never have anywhere near that level of structure, and I think there's a lot of value in leaving things open-ended.

 

[Janx]

welcome to the forums.

Personally, my methodology is a bit like this:

Determine the PCs current location/activity/goals
This might be for the 1st adventure where I decide the location, or a subsequent adventure where I pick up where they left off either way. Where's the game going to start, what goals did the PCs have? I need to know that to decide what happens next.

Determine an opportunity or prior action consequence to setup
If the PCs wanted to investigate the mayor, then that's the opportunity I want to setup. If the last adventure, the PCs did something bad, then sending in cops to chase them is what happens next. This step is basically choosing the hook I'm going to develop. For my group, we all agree to bite the plot hook, but the GM has to provide a decent/plausible hook the party would believably bite at. For other groups, they might prefer more choices, but the process of consideration for this step is going to help you build better plot hooks because you built from what you know about the PCs, and didn't just decide to throw in a quest for some random princess.

Build up places/NPCs for the adventure, based on the chosen hook
The PCs are generally driving this. They need information, so they are going to go to places/people to get that info. Then they are going to make their attempt to achieve their goal, so I'll need people and places to act as barriers to that. I'd rather work from decent diagrams of places, and definitions of NPCs than have detailed flowcharts and time lines. I can move the people to the places they are needed as appropriate based on what the PCs actually do, and how the NPCs would respond.

At this point, I'm usually good to go to run a 4-6 hour adventure. To me, TV can tell a whole story in an hour. D&D takes a bit longer, but brevity is still king. I plan for about 6 major encounters or so to get the job done, with the PCs toasting their success (or not) at the end of that game session.

 

[ExploderWizard]

These are the rules I try to live by when designing adventures for D&D and other games.

Start with a flow chart. Use a flowchart to determine how all of the options connect with each other before drawing a map and fleshing out the text. Tweak the chart until you are completely happy with it. This is the most important step.

The chart can change as you play. If a play comes up with something you hadn't thought of, add it to the chart!

I usually begin with a timeline rather than a flowchart. The most important feature of the timeline is that it is completely ignorant of the existence of the PCs. This is kind of a " what will go down and when and who will be involved" quick sketch for a general overview. Since there will be multiple activities happening in a given area I don't know which ones the PCs are going to stick thier noses in first. The timeline provides a handy reference mainly for those things the PCs are NOT involved in.

Provide multiple ways to achieve any goal. There should be multiple obvious paths through the dungeon. If there are guards, there should be multiple ways to get past them. The chosen methods for overcoming obstacles should have genuine consequence.

Solid advice, but I take it one step farther. I don't assign goals, the players choose them.

Reward accomplishments, rather than means. Don’t give experience points for successfully picking a lock, but rather for finding the treasure behind the locked door.

Can I get a hell yeah! If the players obtain the treasure it doesn't matter how they got it.

Pace the adventure deliberately. Try not to clump too many instances of a specific type of challenge together on the map.

This is largely for the players to decide. The players choose what challenges they want to face and when. The clock on the timeline however, is always running. The players may be aware of the ticking clock on some things and ignorant of others. It all depends on how much information they wish to acquire.

Make sure nasty surprises are avoidable. It’s okay to have a deadly poison dart trap, but be sure the characters have some reliable way of anticipating it. Don’t be afraid to punish characters, but always be fair about it.

Yes. Don't be a dick. GMing 101. Also make sure that your players are aware that actions have consequences. Just because the players did something colossally stupid and nothing came of it right away doesn't mean a nasty surprise won't crop up later as a result.

Provide roleplaying hooks. Be sure to note down the personalities of the characters the players encounter. How does the evil sorcerer treat her minions? How does the innkeeper address his staff? Does the demon have any scars or broken horns? A couple of quick notes can make an NPC much more memorable.

Make sure the environment has personality, too. Is the dungeon kept clean, or is it strewn with trash and rubble? How is it lit? Where do the minions sleep? How high are the ceilings? How does the necromancer organize his books?

Absolutely. A small amount of memorable color goes a long way.