A different model of adventure writing?

[Plane Sailing]

Game Designers Workshop once produced a book of adventures for Traveller (the original ) and each adventure was produced in a "nugget" format. I can't find the original to give more details, but it basically described a series of "location/scenes" at which the storyline moved on.

I think that Speaker in Dreams was a brave attempt, but ultimately the flowchart they produced was useless because it still involved railroading through certain particular points.

To try to be constructive, I would love to see a module which outlined at the start several clear cohesive threads - some related, some unrelated, and gave the adventurers options about how to proceed at most points (some options being better than others).

Actually, one of the best adventures that I've purchased in a long time is "Of Sound Mind", and the only reason I could think of for not purchasing it is if you could persuade a DM to run it for you I mention not just as another pat for Piratecat, but because I think it does a good job of mixing scenes and events with options for the player characters. Some options are more dangerous and less fulfilling than others, but they are all left open.

Cheers

 

[mhensley]

Check out the "Evil Unearthed" adventure in Dungeon #82 for a good example of this type of adventure. Although, to me, it looks a little tough to run properly.

 

[Ruined]

Good to see that the majority of the DMs posting here feel the way that I do, mostly against the overdone " as they arrive, this happens " plot format. Haven't read SiD, but I do have one book that I'll advocate (even though it's not d20). I'm currently reading the Earthdawn module 'Barsaive at War'. I played in most of the other modules, and some of those seemed to railroad characters, or wait until the PCs arrive before important events happen. Not so with this module.

It has a timeline of major occurences because two of the major countries are at war and all sorts of small things are going on in the midst. It is comprised of many small adventure snippets of a wide variety. Each has a Setup for what's going on and why the characters could be involved. Then it has Events that go on in sequence, and what typically would happen if the characters get involved. It includes fleshed out NPCs and Loose Ends sections giving ideas for if the characters fail.

It's very free-form and open to modification. This type of product is something that's really beneficial to me.

 

[Orcus]

I love the Moria example. But that illustrates how hard it would be to do the type of timeline thing that is suggested. Timelines and motiviations such as the ones proposed must almost always be imposed by the individual DM on the particular published product.

For example, I would do a module called "Mines of Moria." You'd get maps (with straight and winding corridors due to mining) and a key showing where everything is. Where the balrog is, where the orcs live, the number of dead dwarves. You'd also get some background.

The DM would then provide the PC motiviations for going there. The module may have a few suggestions, but most of those suggestions are story and campaign specific.

You could do a timeline for some NPC or monster plan to, say, thwart the return of an advanced orc scout, or waylay a nazgul going to parley with hte balrog, or recover the book of mazarbul, or find the axe of balin, or whatever. You could even have an evil sorceror divert the PCs into Moria by turning the elements against them as they try to travel through the pass. There are so many permutations. That should be left to the DM.

That is why the best and most flexible modules are site based. The DM then places his or her story on top of the site.

Clark

 

[Walter_J]

I have been playing, game mastering and preparing material for a multitude of RPG's, including every edition of D&D, for over twenty years. For close to two years I've been conducting research into the topics being discussed in this thread and numerous other RPG related topics. Those participating in this thread have hit upon a large and difficult issue.

The issue is difficult to resolve because what we want out of our adventures and published products IS what often causes the problem. We want the sense of story; climactic action, villains, a living setting that allows the players to feel they are part of something and one that they can have a definite impact on, although goes on without them, etc...

As many of you have pointed out a "strong plot" or linear adventure/product more often then not forces the players to either play the way the module says or go home. There is rarely information provided for the GM when the players "don't do this or that." Add in events and you may gain some sense of participation, but not much more then a "pick a path" to adventure book offers and, as some of you have pointed out, the game can begin to feel too contrived. On the other side of the coin, an open "dungeon" style game can often get a little dull if the adventure boils down to the only sense of accomplishment being kill the monster and grab the treasure. That style of play can be fun, lots of fun, but that takes this way off topic.

I am currently working on a series of products with a publishing company that I (and many others) believe will provide an awesome resolution to this issue and numerous others. I can't say much more until the public announcements are made, which will be real soon, although I am finding it very difficult to contain myself here. The announcements will be coming soon, so keep a look out. I'll also be opening up a web-site that provides more information and a place to discuss what will be going on. More on that later too.

The other part of this post refers to a few comments regarding 1E adventures as being "mindless hack and slash" or something to that effect. I can say with all objectiveness that this really isn't true. I own and have played/GM'd almost every 1E adventure published, including basic, expert, etc... and, really, they provide lots of plot and an excellent opportunity for creating stories. In fact, the only way I think that the "hack and slash" idea is true is if people played them that way, and there's nothing wrong with that. This might be a good topic to discuss further.

 

[Walter_J]

That is why the best and most flexible modules are site based. The DM then places his or her story on top of the site.

Clark

I agree, Clark. There used to be a blurb in the old 1E modules about "breathing life into the bare bones" or something to that effect. I dont' rememebr the exact quote, and I'm too lazy at the moment to go look, but its in there somewhere.

 

[mearls]

First, I hope I have a clear view of what you're proposing. I'm currently playing through Speaker in Dreams, and skipped the spoiler.

Anyway, I think the structure you propose is sound. So long as you keep an NPC's personality, motivations, and resources clear, a good DM should be able to think on his feet. I like location-based modules the best, but event-based ones usually leave me cold. Too often, they say things like "In this scene, don't let the party capture Mr. Wizard."

That really gets on my nerves. What if the players come up with a real cool plan to take down Mr. Wizard in that scene? Players shouldn't be penalized by DM fiat because they out-thought the designer.

Your idea, if I read it right, is to place less emphasis on a hard-coded set of events, and present a time line built with the assumption that the PCs do nothing, and then provide details on what happens in response to what the PCs do.

Going back to the Mr. Wizard example, the adventure would say: "This is how Mr. Wizard escapes." If the PCs manage to foil that, the adventure still rolls on.

I do some design work for d20 companies, and one of my mantras is "You, the DM reading this, are a far better designer than I am." You know your players, you know what their characters can do, you know what kind of adventures they like and you like, and you know how your campaign world works. My goal is to give you the structure, tools, and features in an adventure that allow you to cannibalize and adapt it. I'm sure there are some people who use adventures as printed, but I'm also sure far more people loot them for ideas and plots. The key lies in striking a good balance between the two.

Anyway, the structure you propose looks like it would do a good job at that. I think I may have seen adventures built like that in the past, but off the top of my head I can't think of any d20 ones that work like it.

- Mearls

 

[LostSoul]

That is why the best and most flexible modules are site based. The DM then places his or her story on top of the site.

Clark

Are there many modules out there that are site-based city adventures? I'm not talking about the sprawling sewer complex beneath the city. (Although a little of that is cool.) I mean an adventure that sees the PCs going from home to home, building to building, to talk or fight with NPC X, Y, and Z.

I think that any module needs to offer some suggestions on what might happen - adventure hooks, if you will. Any DM can change what already exists (if the hooks are not forced into the module) but adding something new isn't what all DMs are looking for.

 

[Lord Vangarel]

Orcus, I agree, location is very important and often can be used to add elements to the basic story. A recent adventure I ran was based on a sequence of murders and involved the pcs trying to figure out what was going on and who the murderer was in time to stop him before the next murder. To complicate matters the whole adventure was based on Pandemonium and was based around two competing mining operations. A complex timeline was involved where the murderer continued with their actions unless the party managed to figure out what was going on. The first element of the design was the location, the two mines and an isolated community. This added many elements to the story and even created some side plots. Overall I would say that after the adventure I still had the feeling that at times I'd railroaded the pcs in order to fit the timeline. Whether this is unavoidable in this type of adventure or not I don't yet know. I'm going to keep trying with this type of adventure until I get it right as ultimately with a good location, good motivations, and a series of exciting events you get an exciting adventure that the players are only to willing to get involved in.

 

[LostSoul]

Players are also important. If the players want to be "railroaded", they will be. If they don't have the drive or motives to pursue thier own goals, they will want the DM to lead them around with the same old golden carrot.

I guess a good DM tailors his adventures to the wishes of his players as well.