Crafting an Adventure Module Format

[GMMichael]

In a published adventure, the standard mess to be managed seems to be:
NPCs (who are they, where are they, what do they have)
monsters (who are they, where are they, what do they have)
Places (towns, dungeons, rooms)
Items (all the goodies on NPCs, monsters and lying in Rooms)

A simple 1 level dungeon with 12 rooms, 50% occupied with 4 monsters per encounter and 2 items per monster is at:
13 Places (dungeon + 12 rooms)
24 monsters
48 items

Sounds about right. And the problem (that I'm seeing, anyway) is that the monsters are often on a separate page from the map, which is on a separate page from the items.

In theory, the Encounter is the combined info of Monster, NPC, Items at a specific Place.

This concept may be sufficient for a basic dungeon crawl (which is location based, so the GM is navigating the Places tab pretty regularly).

Yeah, the simplest encounter has a person, place, and thing. Which is why I like the dynamic element idea, and if it's not too meta, a plot element.

Not sure how it would help for event driven (hence my TimeLine idea) or your Dynamic Elements concept.

The TimeLine depends on scripts. Dynamic elements of an encounter do too. So they have something in common. Your app would need an alternative script - how the NPC's behavior CHANGES once in the encounter. For a published encounter, NPCs have less of a script, so their dynamic elements describe how the person, place, and thing change over time, or in certain conditions.

Example dynamic element:

7. Sounding the alarm (dynamic). Enemies in this room have an additional combat option: reaching the bell and ringing it. A good ring or two gathers the attention of more opponents, but only from the barracks (p.3, e.12) or the training yard (p.3, e.14).

One concept I've had for making my imaginary app game-agnostic, is that the NPCs, monsters etc would be defined by generic text boxes, that I'd supply HTML templates for. The user would use a WYSIWYG box to fill in the stat block, but the stat block itself is just rich text. The app wouldn't really know or care if it said Bob the Wizard or was a fancy 3e stat block.

Ah, stat blocks. These are, by the way, a big reason why WotC can't use the Delve format. In editions prior to 5, they're just way too bulky. I have seen some very elegant stat blocks for 5th ed, though.

If you really want gamers to use your app, you'd better make those WYSIWYG blocks easily drag'n'drop or cut'n'paste. I doubt anyone will want to spend time actually typing these sorts of things in. Unless, well, you have a simple game system that makes stat blocks short and sweet.

Can we create a game-agnostic adventure module format? Janx's generic text boxes might then become actual blank boxes on a page - with just an NPC name listed at the top.

I'm writing up a series of module elements - the "reference" side of the module. I have NPC elements, locations, items, and some "encounter" elements (around which the other elements tend to gather). The upcoming test: will the encounter pages have enough space for their essential elements, and how much page turning will be involved for the non-essential elements that are listed in the reference section?

 

[Janx]

In my app (that doesn't exist yet), I'd probably have a random generator system for random encounters selection, and a library of monsters. So adding the 3 orcs to room 12 would be relatively easy (no hand-typing monster stat blocks in).

The obstacle to that is getting that library of monsters into the database. Outside of the SRD/OGL, that content's not kosher to distribute (4e,5e any other RPG).

Still, the initial app idea is small enough I may be able to get it developed. And since it wouldn't deliver its own game content, it wouldn't violate any copyright.

I'd at least want to get enough of it working, to see if it is functionally better than flipping pages in a printed adventure or trying to scroll around in a Word document on a laptop.

 

[GMMichael]

I'd at least want to get enough of it working, to see if it is functionally better than flipping pages in a printed adventure or trying to scroll around in a Word document on a laptop.

Well if this thread finds any success, flipping pages and scrolling around will be minimized or eliminated. It can't be that hard to put up a flowchart/map of an encounter and the encounter-relevant information around it.

Sure, your goblins know that the evil wizard is behind the latest kidnapping, but that information belongs on the social encounter page, not the combat encounter page. Further, let's get that goblin knowledge in a bullet-point list, instead of buried in 20 lines of text...

 

[Jhaelen]

It can't be that hard to put up a flowchart/map of an encounter and the encounter-relevant information around it.

Hmm, this reminds me of another thread here:
Using mindmaps to organize encounters

 

[Emirikol]

This topic is near and dear to my heart (as are many of the wonderful topics you fellows bring up). I was an editor for the LIVING GREYHAWK regionals, LFR, and WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY 2E and 3E fan scenario writing contests and was an avid reader of DUNGEON magazine while it was still in print form.

Dungeons don't present much of a problem in my mind. It is simply hard to screw up. You line up some monsters and intend for player characters to kill them in a bunker. This isn't hard to present. As long as you are in a bunker and you know you're there just to kill stuff, you don't have to worry about any actual /real/ plot. Yes, there may need to be a /repercussions/ paragraph, but otherwise this has evolved in the game industry AWAY from too much text, and more towards trusting a GM to embellish on the least possible number of details necessary to present encounters. We are repeatedly told that adventures are the hardest for game designers to write, require the most "thought", require the most editing, and cost the most to produce with the least amount of return on investment for a company so it is no wonder that Paizo has attempted to make the AP's formulaic in this regards and why D&D's owners have decided on NOT publishing adventures like they used to.
This leaves US, the fans, to produce most of what we need.

Anyways, here's the basic dungeon crawl format that evolved out of Dungeon Magazine by Paizo. Some modification occurred when 4e D&D came out, but I consider it to be the standard in the industry for Gm friendliness:

Map
Brief read aloud text
GM's text paragraph
Creatures: either Stat Block or page reference to the monster manual.
Loot/reward/Clues
Repercussions paragraph

Heaven forbid we actually address any other SKILLS that a character might use..but the GMs text, should address a few of those things.


Where I learned about complex scenarios is when I started playing more of the non-dungeon-crawl scenarios for various systems (including D&D). It was interesting to see how a Call of Cthulhu scenario can be written such that it can be played at a convention (for example), or that a game like WFRP can present things in Chapters/Acts/Encounters/Locations/Time-lines all in the same scenario all with the expectation that absolutely no combat may occur.

The question becomes: Is the formatting the same for an investigation scenario mixed with timed-events scenario as it is for a murder-loot dungeon crawl?

Here's a fully-automated, random WFRP3 adventure generator I did. It uses the very basics of several encounters and slaps them together for a complete adventure:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/167876/WFRP%20STUFF/Random%20WFRP3%20Adventure%20Generator/Random%20WFRP3%20Adventure%20Output%201.6.xlsx

Anyway, my personal belief is this:
* Too much text makes it a living hell for a GM
* All scenarios should be written with the intention that they can be played in any order (non-railroad), HOWEVER the brief adventure summary at the beginning of the scenario writing should give a "MOST LIKELY PATH THROUGH" summary (i.e. Railroad) so the GM isn't sitting there scratching his head on where to even get started. I call this "being nice to your GM-reader."
* However you organize it, stick with it.
* Use standard monsters when possible rather than having entirely new stat blocks just to make a common creature annoyingly more complex.
* Don't waste time on backstory that the GM is never expected to present to players unless you are going to put it in "optional reading" in an appendix at the end.
* Numbers and TITLES of encounters are very important for the GM to reference.
* Finally, to reiterate: It ain't a fricking novel. You're not a novelist. All that extra text only annoys a GM and makes his job suck. Trust the GM to be able to adapt to odd player choices.

[edit: I'm currently prepping three scenarios to run at a game convention here in February. I chose them deliberately from game systems that I was completely unfamiliar with. They are:
Colonial Gothic: A Surprise for General Gage (From the Gazetteer) by Graeme Davis
Colonial Gothic: The Landlord's Daughter
Witch Hunter 2e: Revelations Living Campaign: The Crossing

The three couldn't be more different and the difficulties in prepping them lie primarily thus:
General gage: Short scenario. Players are supposed to sneak across the harbor, break into the fort, and blow up the powder (or something like that) so that the British ships aren't well protected and can be harassed. GM PREP THOUGHTS: There aren't stats. Ugh. There aren't ever references to stats in the bestiary. It is also a "wing it" scenario. Graeme is an excellent writer though and is able to keep the necessary details concise and to the point. I'll probably need to embellish some supernatural elements (I'm probably going to castle wolfenstein the fort encounters).

[unrelated rant] Know what I hate about wing it scenarios and "adventure hooks disguised as actual scenarios?" WHY BOTHER TO WRITE THEM? It means the author had a good idea, but was to lazy or limited in space to finish it. Any GM can make crap up and "wing it." What we need is assistance in doing our job. That said, this is simply an intro scenario in the back of the Gazetteer, so I give it some slack...

Landlord's daughter: Similar to Gage. No standardized format. No clear adventure summary path. The "all important" NPCs are presented first, which means rather than being able to run an adventure I have to do a fricking psychological study into the minds of meaningless crap detailed about the NPCs before I even have ANY idea of what is going on in the scenario. The plot is amazing other than that..I just hate the format.

The Crossing: This baby is part of a long-running convention-intended campaign by veteran adventure writers using the standardized adventure formats (typical of D&D and Paizo). The format is awesome. The adventure otherwise has a lot of text that really just seems to fill the pages (filler) so I actually worry about there being enough actual encounters to fill a complete slot at the convention. The PCs are on a ship going to England. There's a murder. They investigate. The plot unfolds and there is combat. Then they discover something really horrible and need to flee or get really lucky. These are my favorite to run.

jh

 

[Matchstick]

Roll 20, last I checked is more about being a web-based battle-mat and is the antithesis of entering in all the info before you begin.

I'm thinking of something that holds all the elements of the adventure/module, and displays the parts I need when I need them in the context that I need them.

In Fantasy Grounds you can pre set up encounters, pre-populate the combat tracker, pre-type the flavor text (and then just drag-drop it into the chat window), and have all the GM information right there of course. You can then have NPC's can be opened from a list, or from links in the descriptive text. Edges, skills, weapons, spells, etc are all links as well (I usually do Savage Worlds, that's why I mention Edges). Encounters can then be collected and available under the Story icon on the FG desktop. You can also pre-populate Personalities, Items, Vehicles, etc under their own FG desktop icon. Depending on legal issues I suppose, you can even then export all of those things as a module file for importing elsewhere.

A module or adventure can wind up being well organized, with clickable links, and drag and drop.

There are a few tutorials about building modules in Fantasy Grounds out there on YouTube and at least one in PDF (though I'm not sure how updated that one is, but it might give an idea of some of the functionality). I'm not sure it's what you're looking for, but I thought it would be worth mentioning when I saw the above. I'm not an employee of FG, just a user.

Hope that leads in some positive directions for you!

 

[GlassEye]

Sure, your goblins know that the evil wizard is behind the latest kidnapping, but that information belongs on the social encounter page, not the combat encounter page. Further, let's get that goblin knowledge in a bullet-point list, instead of buried in 20 lines of text...

Angry DM wrote a really good short article on his blog about Adventure Format using the idea of a bullet-point list and bolded keywords so information is clearly available to the DM at a glance.

 

[smiteworks]

This caught my attention as well.

In Fantasy Grounds, you can also easily adjust the # appearing in an encounter and you can link story entries, encounters or even specific NPCs directly to a place on the map. There are built-in calendars for many settings and you have the ability to customize your own. One example might be to layout your map of your dungeon or town and place story entries which describe everything that is there and static. Then each story entry could have links to the various creatures that may or may not be there depending on the time or date.

If the party is engaged in battle (or dialog) with encounter 8 in the Western Corridor room, there might also be a link for an encounter with a roaming patrol that you add to the combat or encounter. You could have pre-placed the creatures from Encounter 8 on the map where they start out and then leave the roaming encounter monsters unplaced until you actually launch that encounter. Depending on the result of the battle, you could decide whether or not to reward the pre-entered treasure parcel to the party and assign them out to the party while you auto-distribute the coins evenly.

With more advanced scripting, you may even be able to move the pre-placement coordinates around to previously saved locations based on the current game calendar entry. Everything is basically stored in XML and there is an API that you can use to make your own enhancements like that.

 

[Emirikol]

When I ran WFRP games on RPTOOLS, I would frequently set up some pre-gen macros with monologue, "read aloud text", etc.

A solution to pre-genning macros is to simply have them in text form on a nearby STICKIES (the good version that you can "set to always be on top", not the crap that comes with your computer).

For example from Colonial Gothic's "The Lost Colony":

I simply clip and paste some things that I need preformatted:

Socialize skill check succeeds!
Sons of Liberty
Not as quiet as they could be now that the rumbles of war have made
it as far as Maine, the Sons of Liberty starting to make themselves known
more openly up and down the coast—especially in rural areas where
they will garner more sympathy. At this point, it is not unusual for an
out-of-town member of the Sons of Liberty

Investigate skill check succeeds!
There is a thief in town
“Victoria’s missing her earrings and Julie her bracelet. ey found
Elizabeth’s necklace in Temperance’s room but Temperance is
missing the pearl necklace her grandmother gave her. And don’t
get me started on the missing candlesticks. e Tatems, Arringtons,
Dowlings, and Lees are missing candlesticks but not the candles!
ere is a thief in town, and an impish prankster to boot! I’ve
heard that some of the missing things can be found in other people’s
barns. It’s an evil mischief I tell you.”

 

[GMMichael]

Just like another commenter, my eyes hurt after looking at the mind map. But that sort of visual work is what can speed up encounter running. Reading is inevitable, but long lines of text are not.

Angry DM wrote a really good short article on his blog about Adventure Format using the idea of a bullet-point list and bolded keywords so information is clearly available to the DM at a glance.

I checked it out. He has the right idea. I want to go a step further, turning all text that's needed for an encounter (not the background stuff) into text-blocks.

Map
Brief read aloud text
GM's text paragraph
Creatures: either Stat Block or page reference to the monster manual.
Loot/reward/Clues
Repercussions paragraph

Heaven forbid we actually address any other SKILLS that a character might use..but the GMs text, should address a few of those things.

Anyway, my personal belief is this:
* Too much text makes it a living hell for a GM
* All scenarios should be written with the intention that they can be played in any order (non-railroad), HOWEVER the brief adventure summary at the beginning of the scenario writing should give a "MOST LIKELY PATH THROUGH" summary (i.e. Railroad) so the GM isn't sitting there scratching his head on where to even get started. I call this "being nice to your GM-reader."
* However you organize it, stick with it.
* Use standard monsters when possible rather than having entirely new stat blocks just to make a common creature annoyingly more complex.
* Don't waste time on backstory that the GM is never expected to present to players unless you are going to put it in "optional reading" in an appendix at the end.
* Numbers and TITLES of encounters are very important for the GM to reference.
* Finally, to reiterate: It ain't a fricking novel. You're not a novelist. All that extra text only annoys a GM and makes his job suck. Trust the GM to be able to adapt to odd player choices.

Good points. Let's enable the GM.
Let's push optional reading to the side.
Might "standard monsters" translate to system-agnostic monsters as well? Or, if you're using a system that's overly standardized, it might be nice to find the ORC: blue, and lightning resistant.
Trusting the GM is good, but some GMs need extra help, too. So there's a problem: GM skill-level is an important factor in what an encounter should look like.
You know, if you use (free floating) dynamic/plot elements in an encounter, a GM who wants more "sandbox" could simply ignore those elements, and what's left - the map, characters, and objects - would be enough for the sandbox.

Since we (?) don't want to turn pages, I'm thinking each encounter should be a map/flowchart in the middle of the page, with labeled text-blocks around it...