Adventure Preparation Time Saving Tips?

[FreeTheSlaves]

Okee dokee, I'm looking at my adventure folder and my clock and I'm wondering how to manage each properly.

1) I've got a rough plot idea
2) I know the power level and party make-up
3) I've drawn a draft map, downloaded an empty dungeon and a complete short site adventure
4) I've got the stat blocks of the main npc's

From here I typically hmm and har for hours tinkering away until it all fits but jeez, I'd rather do it all a bit easier.

Any tips? Thanks

 

[Dykstrav]

Check out the adventure builder series on the WotC website. For me, the toughest thing is fitting together enough different ecnounters of enough different types to satisfy play styles besides hack-n-slash. The guidelines in this series really helps alot in serving as a checklist of encounters by type.

You might also want to check out DMG II, which has a detailed breakdown on adventure design by prep time.

Myself, I find the single biggest time-eater to be figuring out what the adventure is about. If I have a strong concept and a good idea, it all just sort of flows and the whole thing is done within a few hours. If I'm not particularly inspired, things drag out (especially designing the plots and filling out stat blocks). So I'd recommend that you figure out how to deal with writer's block. If design is taking alot of time, you might want to sit back and recharge your batteries with a good book or movie before sitting down to work.

 

[Drawmack]

I have lists made up or monsters to populate a dungeon with that make sense to be in there together. Then instead of making all this food chain stuff up from scratch I simply select one of these premade lists and start dropping in the baddies.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Yeah, the biggest issue for me last night was figuring out the plot. Once I sorted out a plot worthy enough to challenge my players things chugged along nicely.

I think I can sort the right mix of encounters out reasonably well, it's just getting a decent enough plot to string them together. I have combats (weak, standard, strong and overwhelming), exploration, dialogue, moral dilemma and plot discovery encounters so far - so this is pretty good.

Thanks for the adventure builder tip, I'll check that out. Likewise I'll read the DMGII in a bit more detail.

Hey Drawmack how do you put together these lists? It sounds a goer but how do you organise them? Do you have a cross index of terrains and CR?

I.e. a CR 5 subterranean subtable covering a range of CR 1 to 9 with a heavy middle weighting?

 

[Drawmack]

Hey Drawmack how do you put together these lists? It sounds a goer but how do you organise them? Do you have a cross index of terrains and CR?

Mostly it's by terrain - I don't worry too much about CR when I'm making the lists as I can just play with the number of baddies there. I also have no problem putting killer CRs and weak a** CRs into a dungeon if it makes sense for them to be there. I think it adds a great deal of versimilitude to the dungeon if there are encounters clearly below and above the parties level in them.

For example here is a snippet of one:

LEVEL 1:
There are rats and mice all over the dungeon, there are dire rats which feed on the rats and mice, feeding on the dire rats are some kobolds and goblins - which are currently at war with one another (allowing the party to stumble into some battles).

LEVEL 2:
The goblins pay homage to the hobgoblins on this level by providing them with food. In return the hobgoblins to not attack the goblins and give them free passage on this level while the kobolds are attacked and killed on sight.

LEVEL 3:
This is where the BBEG and his party are. They have either cleared out or tamed all of the wild baddies that were here when they took over. For higher level play you can put an ogre mage in charge of the hobgoblins.

RANDOM:
There can be any kind of carrion eater roaming the halls or setting up shop in this dungeon as killing is rampant between the goblins and kobolds. Some Carrion Crawler, Ghouls, Black Pudding, Gelatinous Cube, Giant Beetles, etc.

NOTE: The levels are arbitrary and not necessarily stories of the dungeons, they are just segragated areas.

So you can see I have this whole ecology for a dungeon put together a head of time, then I can just download a map or maps that seem apropriate for the current adventure and I can just drop the stuff from this in. It's almost like having a dungeon template just waiting for a map. This is actually are rather large one so I could really show how it works. You can easily do these with just two or three different monsters for small or single session crawls.

 

[Mark CMG]

You might also want to check out DMG II, which has a detailed breakdown on adventure design by prep time.

I agree that the DMG II might be helpful to your cause and is worth thumbing through at the FLGS to see if it suits your style. The SRD 3.5 Revised also has all of the SRD Creatures in stat block format, if you use them as such, plus can save loads of time during prep (all rules are a couple of clicks away and it's currently on sale, with everything else, for the CMG Anniversary Sale).