D&D 5E (2014) Any guides on making adventures?

[Psyga315]

With the floodgates opened for just about anyone to make their own adventures, are there any sort of tutorials on how D&D Adventures should be made? I have the template, but not exactly sure how to utilize it.

 

[Ranthalan]

The DMG gives some tips, but nothing beats experience. Don't let inexperience hinder you. Just make something that seems like a good idea. If it works, great. If not, figure out why it didn't work and you'll have learned something about making adventures. Read adventures you've played that you liked and figure out what you liked about them. Unfortunately, there is no secret formula and there is no quick path to becoming a good adventure writer.

 

[Zardnaar]

Keep it small, don't worry about building a whole adventure path or world. Start by designing a village with a dungeon nearby or some wilderness lairs to find.

 

[Reynard]

And if by "floodgates opening" you mean selling them on DMGuild, the most important thing is to playtest them. What seems like a good idea in design can end up terrible in play and unlike an adventure you run yourself, you can't expect a customer to solve your design failures on the fly. Run the adventure with your group for a first pass and if possible have another group run it without your input before putting it out for general consumption. Adventures are hard to write to make them generally accessible -- it is far easier to design for your weekly game group. And on top of it all, you have to make it fun and easy to read.

 

[robus]

With the floodgates opened for just about anyone to make their own adventures, are there any sort of tutorials on how D&D Adventures should be made? I have the template, but not exactly sure how to utilize it.

Check out the angry GM's site theangrygm.com for many articles talking about adventure and encounter design. You may not like his style, but he breaks a lot of stuff down in really useful ways.

 

[Zalbar The Mad]

If you dig around, you can find all the old writing your first adventure columns on the archived WOTC D&D site by Chris Perkins.

 

[Valetudo]

This is kinda a tough question. I consider myself very good at making campaign, but those I make for my specific group. As you can see on these and other forums, making an adventure for a large audience is much harder. I would suggest getting help from friends. Most adventures are made by more than one person.

 

[Reynard]

The Kobold's Guide to Game Design is likely the best source of advice you will get outside of buying a professional designer a few beers next time you are at a con.

 

[the_redbeard]

Dungeon Checklist

 

[GM Lent]

This is stated above but cannot be overstated: playtest.

If you can make up a story, you can write an adventure. It's really that simple.

But you need to playtest it thoroughly. Repeatedly. With different combinations of characters and character types.

And at the end of the day it's a judgement call - a well-coordinated group decimating your adventure with no trouble doesn't necessarily mean its a bad adventure. Luck happens, and you can't account for everything. Bit the only way you'll ever really see potential holes in your stuff is to playtest it repeatedly.