DM Dilemma - I Need Help, ENWorld! - *UPDATED* - Putting YOUR ideas to work!

[I'm A Banana]

So, I'm hoping to tap into YOUR methods of adventure CREATION. I want to know WHAT you physically write down, HOW you physically right it down, HOW MUCH you physically write down (or type, whatever).

I keep trying different things. The single thing that has been the most useful to me is the concept that everything is a dungeon.

Right now, I think Metroidvanias are pretty sexy. Designing one is essentially about choosing a few rooms in a dungeon (or areas in the wilderness, or options in a flowchart) to carry a particular theme. Mash together a few themes (2-5 should be plenty), and have a few links between each. Each link can be opened only with a particular tool/magic item/key/plot device. So for FFZ, I'm designing a (highly narrative) Metroidvania campaign, with three "sectors," about 3 rooms per sector, and connections between the sectors defined based on what the party discovers. Sprinkle plot points in as needed.

 

[Hussar]

KM - could you expand a bit on the idea that "everything is a dungeon"?

I have an idea what you mean, but, I'd like to see your take on it.

 

[Baphomet]

Such a great thread for ideas here.

Honestly my usual framework is probably super lame but its always worked for me... I pick a monster I love and make an adventure around it. For instance lets pick Fire Giants. (This is an adventure I made for 3rd edition set in the forgotten realms but the premise still works here and this is how I came up with it)

Ok Firegiants awesome, fun monsters to use. We can have warriors and shamans and pet trolls, enslaved ogres, gnolls and imps and a few fireish traps.... maybe they are in league with some devils?

So where to put them... hmm ruins, a volcano setting, some mountains... hmmm lets be different and have it be in a temple setting. The characters have to attack a well fortified temple fortress head on!

But why? ...... hmmm well lets make it a temple of kossuth (FR) built into a cliffside and the high priest (whos human) and recent staff were further excavating into the mountain to make the temple larger down below when they unearthed an arncient crown of a long dead dwarven empire, the crown holds the soul of a powefull devil that was imprisoned in it thousands of years ago.

The human highpriest gets corrupted, driven insane and then possessed by this artifact. It makes him completly immune to any fire attacks and augments his fire powers. As an artificat it can have several other abilitys or whatnot but this is fine wnough for now.

So the priest is now insane/evil/ mostly possessed (and extremley powerfull) he sacrifices most of the other clergy members and turns them into undead.

The local fire giant tribe (smallish tribe) was then subjugated by him as might makes right and he takes leadership and moves them all into the temple where they form a very elite raiding group.

Hooks are other kossuth temples finding out the truth of this and not being strong enough to stop the new faction without hired assistance. Or perhaps the raiders enslave a local village, or the characters are hired by a powerfull demon in guise of a mortal who has been searching for this artifact (and his imprisoned nemesis soon to be slave) for many years and the recent emergence of the item has become known to him.

Blah anyways thats kinda my brainstorming sessions I start with a cool monster/villian/location and go from there. Usually its just a monster thats sparks the ideas.

 

[nedjer]

After getting a rough idea from players of which particular set of the 7Cs they might enjoy:

Collaborate
Colonise
Confine
Conquer
Construct
Command
Corrupt

. . . and many variants that don't all begin with C.

Then plant challenge/ mission based seeds, which I already know will appeal to the players and which I get time to think on.

From there, it's a skeleton campaign maps and skeleton locations with components ready to drop in. Plot elements, local conditions and events, recurring enemies, comrades in arms, monsters, treasure . . . as a largely moveable feast. Rails are still there when players want to grab onto them, but they're rails of the players' choosing.

The Troll Test is pretty handy prep for pulling things together on the fly, i.e. take a dungeon or complex setting that's mainly populated by a bunch of trolls, gnolls or the like and make it fun. There's no relying on the monsters' tiresomely grindy powers for entertainment, and they don't have enough brains to offer elaborate sub-plots and fancy strategies. Just a whole load of empty rooms and a whole load of thick as mince, Stone Age duplicate opponents. Make that rock (Troll gag) and you can make anything rock.

 

[Gloomshroud]

[sblock]

I keep trying different things. The single thing that has been the most useful to me is the concept that everything is a dungeon.

Right now, I think Metroidvanias are pretty sexy. Designing one is essentially about choosing a few rooms in a dungeon (or areas in the wilderness, or options in a flowchart) to carry a particular theme. Mash together a few themes (2-5 should be plenty), and have a few links between each. Each link can be opened only with a particular tool/magic item/key/plot device. So for FFZ, I'm designing a (highly narrative) Metroidvania campaign, with three "sectors," about 3 rooms per sector, and connections between the sectors defined based on what the party discovers. Sprinkle plot points in as needed.

Such a great thread for ideas here.

Honestly my usual framework is probably super lame but its always worked for me... I pick a monster I love and make an adventure around it. For instance lets pick Fire Giants. (This is an adventure I made for 3rd edition set in the forgotten realms but the premise still works here and this is how I came up with it)

Ok Firegiants awesome, fun monsters to use. We can have warriors and shamans and pet trolls, enslaved ogres, gnolls and imps and a few fireish traps.... maybe they are in league with some devils?

So where to put them... hmm ruins, a volcano setting, some mountains... hmmm lets be different and have it be in a temple setting. The characters have to attack a well fortified temple fortress head on!

But why? ...... hmmm well lets make it a temple of kossuth (FR) built into a cliffside and the high priest (whos human) and recent staff were further excavating into the mountain to make the temple larger down below when they unearthed an arncient crown of a long dead dwarven empire, the crown holds the soul of a powefull devil that was imprisoned in it thousands of years ago.

The human highpriest gets corrupted, driven insane and then possessed by this artifact. It makes him completly immune to any fire attacks and augments his fire powers. As an artificat it can have several other abilitys or whatnot but this is fine wnough for now.

So the priest is now insane/evil/ mostly possessed (and extremley powerfull) he sacrifices most of the other clergy members and turns them into undead.

The local fire giant tribe (smallish tribe) was then subjugated by him as might makes right and he takes leadership and moves them all into the temple where they form a very elite raiding group.

Hooks are other kossuth temples finding out the truth of this and not being strong enough to stop the new faction without hired assistance. Or perhaps the raiders enslave a local village, or the characters are hired by a powerfull demon in guise of a mortal who has been searching for this artifact (and his imprisoned nemesis soon to be slave) for many years and the recent emergence of the item has become known to him.

Blah anyways thats kinda my brainstorming sessions I start with a cool monster/villian/location and go from there. Usually its just a monster thats sparks the ideas.

After getting a rough idea from players of which particular set of the 7Cs they might enjoy:

Collaborate
Colonise
Confine
Conquer
Construct
Command
Corrupt

. . . and many variants that don't all begin with C.

Then plant challenge/ mission based seeds, which I already know will appeal to the players and which I get time to think on.

From there, it's a skeleton campaign maps and skeleton locations with components ready to drop in. Plot elements, local conditions and events, recurring enemies, comrades in arms, monsters, treasure . . . as a largely moveable feast. Rails are still there when players want to grab onto them, but they're rails of the players' choosing.

The Troll Test is pretty handy prep for pulling things together on the fly, i.e. take a dungeon or complex setting that's mainly populated by a bunch of trolls, gnolls or the like and make it fun. There's no relying on the monsters' tiresomely grindy powers for entertainment, and they don't have enough brains to offer elaborate sub-plots and fancy strategies. Just a whole load of empty rooms and a whole load of thick as mince, Stone Age duplicate opponents. Make that rock (Troll gag) and you can make anything rock.

[/sblock]

Yep. I am definitely stealing ideas from these shamelessy as we speak.

 

[I'm A Banana]

KM - could you expand a bit on the idea that "everything is a dungeon"?

I have an idea what you mean, but, I'd like to see your take on it.

In a stereotypical D&D game, you have a dungeon, which is an in-world location consisting of a series of rooms, connected by corridors. In each room is some challenge or feature (or not - some rooms are just decoration), and then allows you several choices about which way to leave the room. Sometimes, you get to change paths in the middle of a corridor, too.

This kind of layout, when you zoom out, is the same as "here are two options that lead you to two different places with two different options each."

So, when I enter the dungeon, I can pick between a North path and an East path. Each of those paths lead me to different rooms, and those different rooms have different options I can take (if I go North, maybe I come to a room with a few orcs and three other locked doors; if I go East perhaps I come to a place with elementals, and only two doors, one of which is locked by the other isn't).

Or, when I'm trying to find the murderer in a murder mystery plot, I can pick between the two most likely suspects. Say, the victim's bitter ex husband, or the victim's current boyfriend. Each choice leads to different options (if I talk to the bitter ex husband, maybe I then I can talk to his new wife, or the old couple's mutual friends, or the old mother in-law; if I talk to the current boyfriend, maybe I find the owner of the bar that they frequented, and the drug dealer who sold them something a little strong).

This is the same kind of organization, there's just different things in the "rooms" and the paths represent not literal trails, but directions of evidence to follow.

This organization applies to anything you want to make a game about. It gives the players options, without being too artificial about it (there's still only one exit to the dungeon, there's still only one place the treasure is buried, there's still only one solution to the mystery).

The concept is really powerful. You can go to any random dungeon generator (1e DMG!) and pull a very interesting plot out, just by turning a choice of paths into a choice between options.

In FFZ, I'm melding this with a narrative structure so that the dungeon changes over time. Once you choose to go left, you might not be able to go right. Once you decide to talk to the ex-husband, the boyfriend might disappear. Doors close over time, so if your early choices aren't right, you might need to do a lot of things to get back to finding the right answer before you loose it forever.

 

[Gloomshroud]

In a stereotypical D&D game, you have a dungeon, which is an in-world location consisting of a series of rooms, connected by corridors. In each room is some challenge or feature (or not - some rooms are just decoration), and then allows you several choices about which way to leave the room. Sometimes, you get to change paths in the middle of a corridor, too.

This kind of layout, when you zoom out, is the same as "here are two options that lead you to two different places with two different options each."

So, when I enter the dungeon, I can pick between a North path and an East path. Each of those paths lead me to different rooms, and those different rooms have different options I can take (if I go North, maybe I come to a room with a few orcs and three other locked doors; if I go East perhaps I come to a place with elementals, and only two doors, one of which is locked by the other isn't).

Or, when I'm trying to find the murderer in a murder mystery plot, I can pick between the two most likely suspects. Say, the victim's bitter ex husband, or the victim's current boyfriend. Each choice leads to different options (if I talk to the bitter ex husband, maybe I then I can talk to his new wife, or the old couple's mutual friends, or the old mother in-law; if I talk to the current boyfriend, maybe I find the owner of the bar that they frequented, and the drug dealer who sold them something a little strong).

This is the same kind of organization, there's just different things in the "rooms" and the paths represent not literal trails, but directions of evidence to follow.

This organization applies to anything you want to make a game about. It gives the players options, without being too artificial about it (there's still only one exit to the dungeon, there's still only one place the treasure is buried, there's still only one solution to the mystery).

The concept is really powerful. You can go to any random dungeon generator (1e DMG!) and pull a very interesting plot out, just by turning a choice of paths into a choice between options.

In FFZ, I'm melding this with a narrative structure so that the dungeon changes over time. Once you choose to go left, you might not be able to go right. Once you decide to talk to the ex-husband, the boyfriend might disappear. Doors close over time, so if your early choices aren't right, you might need to do a lot of things to get back to finding the right answer before you loose it forever.

I've always wanted to implement this technique, but I can't pull it off. Think you could do a "true to life" example with my previously posted adventure premise??? That would help TREMENDOUSLY with my visualization of the approach.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Sure thing! It's looooooooooooong, though!

[sblock]

Dark Sun Adventure Campaign Arc

Heroic: Recover Dark Lens
- Kalak is alive, not bad, and pulls the heroes from another plane through the Gray

Paragon: Defeat a (de-leveled) Dragon of Tyr
-Gain access to the Hollow where Rajaat is...I want to involve Rajaat somehow

Epic: Restore Athas and/or gods
- Defeat Sorcerer King(s)

That's my basic concept. It's rough, but workable.

Now, that was FINE, no problem. But when I sit down to actually MAKE my first adventure, here's what I know:
I want them to be teleported in to the harshness of Dark Sun from somewhere else (i.e. they are the only hope, prophecies tell of the coming of heroes, etc)
I want Kalak to be their contact (he's not the evil deposed tyrant in actuality, just defamed as such after being usurped - in MY dark sun, anyways).
I want them to suffer the desert a bit, then meet up with someone in the city of Tyr (a member of the True, probably). I am AWFUL at city adventures. Nothing I've ever read or done has helped me run one successfully.

So, thanks to the ever-handy concept of Tiers, it looks like you've got three major plot points. This implies a game that leans toward the narrative: you've got goals you want the party to accomplish.

My first step would be to create logical links between these three plot points. How does your start lead to the second situation, and how does your second situation lead to the end? Answer these questions for yourself. It doesn't matter how you answer them now, just give them some seed of an idea. Here's my ideas using your plot points.

1. The Deserts of Athas: When the party is pulled in, how do they adapt and survive?
2. The Secrets of Athas: As Kalak guides the PC's to Rajaat, they must manuever under the careful, fearful eye of the rest of the sorcerer-kings.
3. The Kings of Athas: Using whatever the PC's gained from Rajaat, they overthrow the sorcerer-kings one by one.

This arc is basically: Party gets in trouble (thanks to Kalak), Kalak saves them from the trouble (eventually), and then Kalak impels them to save the world.

Those three plot points put you into a nice little three-act structure, too, so this is going to be nice. The plot's already sounding apt for FFZ.

Part One
Anyway, let's narrow focus. We're starting with Heroic, so let's zero in on those ten levels. You're going to basically repeat this process at the upper tiers.

The first thing we need is something you probably want to get out of the way in your very first session: [B[The Hook[/B] and The Introductions. You already know what this is going to be: The hook is that Kalak yoinks the party into Dark Sun from their home world. The hook should include a motive, which is where the above links come in handy. You know the next major destination is going to be Kalak. So include that with your initial idea. When Kalak pulls the PC's into Athas, he also imparts to them a psychic message, like something out of a prophecy: to go to Tyr and find him.

A hook should usually start in media res, so normally I'd say "start with the pull," start with a combat right as the party winds up in the desert, in the middle of some predator's hunt or a caravan battle. Let them be confused and disoriented. Maybe they don't even know each other, but are thrown together by Kalak, appearing in the same place. Their first glimpse of each other is just before initiative is rolled.

You may also want to play with the contrast between a normal fantasy and Dark Sun, though. This is sort of a player surprise that could be fun. Ideally, don't even tell your group you'll be playing Dark Sun. Just say you want to start up a new campaign. Have them make normal characters. Start in a tavern where a wizard contacts them to go into a dungeon and retrieve some item. Everything very par-for-the-cliche. However, after about 2-3 encounters on this very typical adventure (goblins and kobolds! maybe a dragon!), the party is suddenly, violently, maybe in the middle of combat, warped into Athas. The rest of the session is that fight in Athas when the party arrives, still in the middle of something else.

Whichever option you choose, the end of the first session should have them all together on Athas seeking Kalak. You are now out of the noob zone, and officially in your first plotline.

It looks like your Heroic Tier is mostly about surviving the harsh environment, while looking for Kalak, and getting to Tyr. This could be structured as a Point A to Point B linear kind of adventure pretty easily. Say, in that first encounter, the party manages to save a caravan heading (eventually) to Tyr, and the caravan is eager to hire them as guards. Now all you need to do is fill 10 levels with encounters before the party gets to Tyr. You don't need to do this all at once, but what I would do is think of Interesting Conflicts that happen to travelers in Athas, and then hurl them at the party, and see how the party handles it. Environmental hazards, yes, but also passing through towns and thieves and gladitorial games and elves and wild beasts. Since there's a clear forward momentum here (the party needs to get to Tyr and the caravan is headed toward Tyr) all you need to do is throw obstacles in their path and see how they overcome it. Think of this as a grand tour of Athas. All of the iconic Athasian things you were thinking of when you wanted to play a Dark Sun campaign can be chucked at the party between Point A and Point B. Got a few places you want them to encounter? Send 'em through!

This structure is a little railroady, but it gives the party a lot of freedom within those rails. They're heading to Tyr, but how they do that is up to them. Maybe they fail to defend their caravan and everyone except them dies and they need to join up with a new crew. Maybe they spend some extra time watching the gladiator games in a town they pass through. It also makes it easy for you. All you need to think of is what cool things you want to hit them with, and hit them with it. They can do whatever they want, as long as they keep moving to Tyr.

I tend to think of adventures in terms of levels, which D&D figures in terms of encounters (roughly 10 encounters/level). So I'd personally think of 10 things I want to do them (10 "adventures"), and 10 encounters that dealing with those things entails (10 encounters/adventure). So, if they're caught in a vicious sandstorm, there'd be, say, a Skill Challenge to survive it themselves, Skill Challenge to protect the caravan, a few (5?) combats with predators and raiders that use the sand as cover, a Skill Challenge to move through the storm, a Skill Challenge to repair damage to the caravan so that it can continue, etc. Same thing for the We've Run Out Of Water problem, or the We're Buying Slaves problem, or whatever other problems you want to use. That way, when they're done with that problem, they gain a level.

Since you're bringing characters over from another world, you might want to pay attention to some Fish Out Of Water problems -- clerics who are suddenly in a godless world, or warlocks whose patrons are unreachable, suddenly finding their coins and weapons are valuable enough to steal them, struggling without proper supplies or in hot metal armor for a while. You might also want to pay attention to the character resources that DS characters have, and highlight those with specific problems. For instance, after being forced into a Gladiator Arena by a cruel templar, the party might then be able to re-train with the Gladiator theme. The caravan might give them a Dune Trader theme. Rescuing a noble might enable them to get the Noble Adept theme. Link these things: whenever the party faces a problem because of Athas, link them with the Athasian solution to that problem. Is the Wizard of the party suddenly finding that she can kill to gain power? A great time to introduce Wild Talents or the Veiled Alliance or the Templars!

Since your structure is pretty narrative, you could also perhaps aim for a few narrative goals when you're hitting your problems. I would!

• Set the Mood: Present Athas as hopeless, blasted, wasted, and difficult. Do this in basically every adventure.
• Make It A Big Deal: For this step, reflect on how the campaign is going to end (battle vs. sorcerer-kings), and give the party a reason to want that early on. Make the sorcerer-kings big adversaries, at least for a few adventures.
• Kill the Cutie: Ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that could happen to these characters?", and then make it happen to them.
• The Turning Point: At the end of the Heroic tier, the party should make a big choice (that choice perhaps being whether or not to agree to Kalak's plan). That choice sets up what's going to happen in Epic.

As the party gets close to Tyr, you probably want to talk more about that city specifically, and the entity that rules it. I'd say your last problem, the last level the party gains, which pushes them into Paragon Tier, should be about Tyr and Kalak, setting the stage for the next adventure. In fact, I'd end your 10th adventure with the choice: "Does your party help Kalak and try to save Athas, or does your party flee from responsibility?" I'd say if they flee, that then your party is stuck in Athas for the rest of their natural lives, and you only have to play out their own individual goals. Not that you can't align those goals with where your campaign is going, of course, just that it'll look a bit different to the party than it would if Kalak was their patron.

So, the overall structure for me might be (I trust you are able to come up with 10 encounters per level!):

1. Level 1: Introduce the party to Athas (perhaps by surprise). Have them hit a major sandstorm.
2. Level 2: Big Deal: party faces off against a S-K's minions (templars) in order to do continue to Tyr and help some innocents.
3. Level 3: Party faces thieves who try to steal their precious metal!
4. Level 4: Party runs out of water while crossing the desert. Gotta find an oasis (SC's) and fight against those who have it already.
5. Level 5: Kill the Cutie, combined with Big Deal: Templars get vengeance!
6. Level 6: Party must fight as gladiators in an arena. 10 fights and they can buy freedom!
7. Level 7: Party fights slavers to rescue an ally.
8. Level 8: Party stumbles on some ruins, and takes shelter in them from the sun.
9. Level 9: Party approaches Tyr, and must find a way to Kalak (nobody belives their story!)
10. Level 10: Turning Point. Party manages to find Kalak, who tells them they can overthrow the S-K's together, if they agree.

Part Two
For this part, the "point A to point B" structure is less usable. I'd go with a dungeon-style design. I'd whip up a random dungeon, of about 10 rooms. These 10 rooms represent 10 different locations that the party explores to discover how to access Rajaat's hollow. If the party didn't agree to help Kalak, other things lead them here (treasure, power, personal reasons, whatever -- exploit what you know about the character's motives, put whatever they desire in these 10 locations), and they just happen to discover information about Rajaat as they go.

So the first step is thinking of 10 Athasian places I want the party to go, and reasons (Kalak and/or personal reasons) for them to go there, things they will discover, and how these places lead back to Rajaat's hollow.

Actually, make that 9. I know what my final adventure will be: the de-leveled Dragon of Tyr. Because I'm a fan of the narrative, I want this to be an unintended result. The buzz is that the party only has to fight the Dragon of Tyr if something goes wrong. The party proceeds as best they can, but, at the last moment, something goes wrong, and the party needs to fight him.

So I fill these 9 places with 10 encounters each (and maybe a mini-dungeon for each one), and I link them together as they are in the dungeon map. The linking is key, since that's what the party would follow between the locations. Say, Room 3 in my map is connected to Room 4 and Room 5 both. If Room 3 is Urik, maybe Room 4 and Room 5 are places near Urik, or places to which Hamanu has some connections. If Room 6 is only accessible from Room 5, I make sure that Room 6 has a tight connection to whatever room 5 happens to be. I choose levels for these rooms between 10 and 20, largely based on how powerful I think they should be. This tier is going to be very sandboxy.

However, it's also narrative. I would keep the following plot points in mind, but rather than link them to specific rooms, I'd link them to character levels.

• Complication (Level 15): When the party is exploring this location, one of the S-K's templars from before finds them and manages to get some info on them, reporting back to the S-K about their activities.
• Dead End (Level 13): This location doesn't actually hold what they're looking for. Seperately, Kalak will find it, via his own minions, just after Level 18.
• Reversal (Level 19): The characters seem to be getting what they're here for, before their enemies step in and take it from them. This screws with their plans and releases the Dragon of Tyr, who now must be dealt with.
• Turning Point (Level 20): The destruction of the Dragon of Tyr gives the PC's access to Rajaat, and now they must decide if helping Rajaat overthrow the S-K's is something they want to do, now that they have the possibility of it.

Then I set the PC's loose. I start them with a branch (maybe 2-3 rooms they can visit initially), and let them choose. I know they will need to hit every location sooner or later. Depending level of the locations they choose, they may face more difficult or easier challenges, and perhaps I'll give them subtle hints as to what level the region is (say, the initial 2-3 rooms are levels 10-13, and the rooms that they're connected to go up to 18, or something), so they don't get too in over their heads. Still, the direction is theirs at this point. They'll eventually discover all 9 rooms, and connect to them, and get them cleared out, and get whatever information or MacGuffin that I decided they needed to get. Once they're done with those 9 rooms, they can trigger the fight with the Dragon of Tyr, and open the way to Rajaat's hollow...and get deeper into the plot.

Part Three
Now that the PC's have the capability of killing the S-K's, and the world is probably aware of it (thanks to the Dragon of Tyr episode, or the S-K's minions making it public), the enemies will not be sitting on their laurels. Even if the PC's don't want to help Rajaat and Kalak, the S-K's want to eliminate the party, permanently. They may have stumbled into this trouble, but there's no getting out of it. One or the other of them must die.

During part three, for largely narrative reasons, I'd put the party partially on the defensive. The party must eliminate the S-K's, but they also must resist the S-K's sending armies and troops after them. There's still 10 levels, so I'd pick 5 things the party needs to do to overthrow all S-K's (maybe 5 specific S-K's they can kill before momentum takes over). There's 7 S-K's in the Creature Catalog, so 5 of them will be direct PC targets, and the other two will be harassers. Whichever S-K's templars have been hassling them since level 2 would be my #1 choice for a harasser, with one of their allies being #2. The remaining 5 will be present in an alliance against the PC's, working together against the threat of true worldwide revolution that the PC's are leading.

These 5 adventures that the PC's choose will be weakening and undermining the alliance, and killing S-K's. They essentially get to choose one of 5 S-K's, and then face that S-K's "dungeon" (their city-state, possibly already in a state of open rebellion) of 10 encounters (including the S-K themselves).

So, the party fights 5 S-K's, and gets harassed by two others (perhaps twice each, for 9 adventures).

The final adventure is the last step needed to restore Athas. Whatever that might be.

The major narrative points I'd cover in the third part is just the Final Obstacle, which is only the 5 S-K's. Each S-K's death should contribute -- somehow -- to whatever the party needs to do to restore Athas.

And that's the end!
[/sblock]

*whew*. Hope that helped!

 

[King Nate]

To prevent getting myself in situations that I have to improvise or play off the fly, I created a free online forum with proboards.com. There I encourage group storytelling among the players and DM between sessions. This allows me to get a strong feeling for what the players want to do and also allows us to roleplay out stuff that would be considered a waste of time during actual game play.

When it come to the adventure I create the final encounter first on what I would like the encounter to look like.

Next, I create an odd number of challenges. These can be skill challenges, combat encounters, non-combat encounters, etc. I stick with five of these but have been known to do as few as three and as many as nine.

Each challenge has a way to succeed and a way to fail and the outcome is similar to how a skill challenge works. For example; I might set up a combat challenge that the characters must finish in 4 rounds to succeed. If they take longer, they fail, but still complete the combat. (I of course don’t let the players know this).

For each challenge they succeed counts as a success for the final encounter. For each encounter they fail counts as a failure for that final encounter. The more successes you have the better the final encounter will be for the players and the worse you do the tougher the final encounter will be.

Now with five challenges that allows me to create seven different final encounter outcomes. 5 successes/0 failures, 4/1, 3/2, 2/3, 1/4, 0/5, and 0/6+. 0/6+ is only for some of the challenges that make the players redo the challenge and they fail more than once.

Now I take that final encounter and place it in the 3/2 spot. Then I think of ways to fill the remaining spots. The better ones might have less minions to fight, a weakened boss, a surprise round, a combination of all for the 5/0 spot. The worse ones I might have more minions, the item they are looking for might already be gone, or the boss they were looking for isn’t here, but someone else they weren’t expecting is.

On timed pressured adventures I may have an extended rest count as a single failure or if that doesn’t make sense then it would be a failure for the entire adventure and automatically get the 0/6+ spot.

 

[Gloomshroud]

Oh...my...God...

That is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Ever. In 16 years of gaming...

I am absolutely stunned with the deptch, complexity, and narrative in that. You sir, are made of win and filled with the quintessence of awesome. I am humbled. I will never be able to pull that off...it's too big for my little mind...

[sblock]

Sure thing! It's looooooooooooong, though!

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So, thanks to the ever-handy concept of Tiers, it looks like you've got three major plot points. This implies a game that leans toward the narrative: you've got goals you want the party to accomplish.


My first step would be to create logical links between these three plot points. How does your start lead to the second situation, and how does your second situation lead to the end? Answer these questions for yourself. It doesn't matter how you answer them now, just give them some seed of an idea. Here's my ideas using your plot points.

1. The Deserts of Athas: When the party is pulled in, how do they adapt and survive?
2. The Secrets of Athas: As Kalak guides the PC's to Rajaat, they must manuever under the careful, fearful eye of the rest of the sorcerer-kings.
3. The Kings of Athas: Using whatever the PC's gained from Rajaat, they overthrow the sorcerer-kings one by one.

This arc is basically: Party gets in trouble (thanks to Kalak), Kalak saves them from the trouble (eventually), and then Kalak impels them to save the world.

Those three plot points put you into a nice little three-act structure, too, so this is going to be nice. The plot's already sounding apt for FFZ.

Part One
Anyway, let's narrow focus. We're starting with Heroic, so let's zero in on those ten levels. You're going to basically repeat this process at the upper tiers.

The first thing we need is something you probably want to get out of the way in your very first session: [B[The Hook[/B] and The Introductions. You already know what this is going to be: The hook is that Kalak yoinks the party into Dark Sun from their home world. The hook should include a motive, which is where the above links come in handy. You know the next major destination is going to be Kalak. So include that with your initial idea. When Kalak pulls the PC's into Athas, he also imparts to them a psychic message, like something out of a prophecy: to go to Tyr and find him.

A hook should usually start in media res, so normally I'd say "start with the pull," start with a combat right as the party winds up in the desert, in the middle of some predator's hunt or a caravan battle. Let them be confused and disoriented. Maybe they don't even know each other, but are thrown together by Kalak, appearing in the same place. Their first glimpse of each other is just before initiative is rolled.

You may also want to play with the contrast between a normal fantasy and Dark Sun, though. This is sort of a player surprise that could be fun. Ideally, don't even tell your group you'll be playing Dark Sun. Just say you want to start up a new campaign. Have them make normal characters. Start in a tavern where a wizard contacts them to go into a dungeon and retrieve some item. Everything very par-for-the-cliche. However, after about 2-3 encounters on this very typical adventure (goblins and kobolds! maybe a dragon!), the party is suddenly, violently, maybe in the middle of combat, warped into Athas. The rest of the session is that fight in Athas when the party arrives, still in the middle of something else.

Whichever option you choose, the end of the first session should have them all together on Athas seeking Kalak. You are now out of the noob zone, and officially in your first plotline.

It looks like your Heroic Tier is mostly about surviving the harsh environment, while looking for Kalak, and getting to Tyr. This could be structured as a Point A to Point B linear kind of adventure pretty easily. Say, in that first encounter, the party manages to save a caravan heading (eventually) to Tyr, and the caravan is eager to hire them as guards. Now all you need to do is fill 10 levels with encounters before the party gets to Tyr. You don't need to do this all at once, but what I would do is think of Interesting Conflicts that happen to travelers in Athas, and then hurl them at the party, and see how the party handles it. Environmental hazards, yes, but also passing through towns and thieves and gladitorial games and elves and wild beasts. Since there's a clear forward momentum here (the party needs to get to Tyr and the caravan is headed toward Tyr) all you need to do is throw obstacles in their path and see how they overcome it. Think of this as a grand tour of Athas. All of the iconic Athasian things you were thinking of when you wanted to play a Dark Sun campaign can be chucked at the party between Point A and Point B. Got a few places you want them to encounter? Send 'em through!

This structure is a little railroady, but it gives the party a lot of freedom within those rails. They're heading to Tyr, but how they do that is up to them. Maybe they fail to defend their caravan and everyone except them dies and they need to join up with a new crew. Maybe they spend some extra time watching the gladiator games in a town they pass through. It also makes it easy for you. All you need to think of is what cool things you want to hit them with, and hit them with it. They can do whatever they want, as long as they keep moving to Tyr.

I tend to think of adventures in terms of levels, which D&D figures in terms of encounters (roughly 10 encounters/level). So I'd personally think of 10 things I want to do them (10 "adventures"), and 10 encounters that dealing with those things entails (10 encounters/adventure). So, if they're caught in a vicious sandstorm, there'd be, say, a Skill Challenge to survive it themselves, Skill Challenge to protect the caravan, a few (5?) combats with predators and raiders that use the sand as cover, a Skill Challenge to move through the storm, a Skill Challenge to repair damage to the caravan so that it can continue, etc. Same thing for the We've Run Out Of Water problem, or the We're Buying Slaves problem, or whatever other problems you want to use. That way, when they're done with that problem, they gain a level.

Since you're bringing characters over from another world, you might want to pay attention to some Fish Out Of Water problems -- clerics who are suddenly in a godless world, or warlocks whose patrons are unreachable, suddenly finding their coins and weapons are valuable enough to steal them, struggling without proper supplies or in hot metal armor for a while. You might also want to pay attention to the character resources that DS characters have, and highlight those with specific problems. For instance, after being forced into a Gladiator Arena by a cruel templar, the party might then be able to re-train with the Gladiator theme. The caravan might give them a Dune Trader theme. Rescuing a noble might enable them to get the Noble Adept theme. Link these things: whenever the party faces a problem because of Athas, link them with the Athasian solution to that problem. Is the Wizard of the party suddenly finding that she can kill to gain power? A great time to introduce Wild Talents or the Veiled Alliance or the Templars!

Since your structure is pretty narrative, you could also perhaps aim for a few narrative goals when you're hitting your problems. I would!

• Set the Mood: Present Athas as hopeless, blasted, wasted, and difficult. Do this in basically every adventure.
• Make It A Big Deal: For this step, reflect on how the campaign is going to end (battle vs. sorcerer-kings), and give the party a reason to want that early on. Make the sorcerer-kings big adversaries, at least for a few adventures.
• Kill the Cutie: Ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that could happen to these characters?", and then make it happen to them.
• The Turning Point: At the end of the Heroic tier, the party should make a big choice (that choice perhaps being whether or not to agree to Kalak's plan). That choice sets up what's going to happen in Epic.

As the party gets close to Tyr, you probably want to talk more about that city specifically, and the entity that rules it. I'd say your last problem, the last level the party gains, which pushes them into Paragon Tier, should be about Tyr and Kalak, setting the stage for the next adventure. In fact, I'd end your 10th adventure with the choice: "Does your party help Kalak and try to save Athas, or does your party flee from responsibility?" I'd say if they flee, that then your party is stuck in Athas for the rest of their natural lives, and you only have to play out their own individual goals. Not that you can't align those goals with where your campaign is going, of course, just that it'll look a bit different to the party than it would if Kalak was their patron.


So, the overall structure for me might be (I trust you are able to come up with 10 encounters per level!):

1. Level 1: Introduce the party to Athas (perhaps by surprise). Have them hit a major sandstorm.
2. Level 2: Big Deal: party faces off against a S-K's minions (templars) in order to do continue to Tyr and help some innocents.
3. Level 3: Party faces thieves who try to steal their precious metal!
4. Level 4: Party runs out of water while crossing the desert. Gotta find an oasis (SC's) and fight against those who have it already.
5. Level 5: Kill the Cutie, combined with Big Deal: Templars get vengeance!
6. Level 6: Party must fight as gladiators in an arena. 10 fights and they can buy freedom!
7. Level 7: Party fights slavers to rescue an ally.
8. Level 8: Party stumbles on some ruins, and takes shelter in them from the sun.
9. Level 9: Party approaches Tyr, and must find a way to Kalak (nobody belives their story!)
10. Level 10: Turning Point. Party manages to find Kalak, who tells them they can overthrow the S-K's together, if they agree.

Part Two
For this part, the "point A to point B" structure is less usable. I'd go with a dungeon-style design. I'd whip up a random dungeon, of about 10 rooms. These 10 rooms represent 10 different locations that the party explores to discover how to access Rajaat's hollow. If the party didn't agree to help Kalak, other things lead them here (treasure, power, personal reasons, whatever -- exploit what you know about the character's motives, put whatever they desire in these 10 locations), and they just happen to discover information about Rajaat as they go.

So the first step is thinking of 10 Athasian places I want the party to go, and reasons (Kalak and/or personal reasons) for them to go there, things they will discover, and how these places lead back to Rajaat's hollow.

Actually, make that 9. I know what my final adventure will be: the de-leveled Dragon of Tyr. Because I'm a fan of the narrative, I want this to be an unintended result. The buzz is that the party only has to fight the Dragon of Tyr if something goes wrong. The party proceeds as best they can, but, at the last moment, something goes wrong, and the party needs to fight him.

So I fill these 9 places with 10 encounters each (and maybe a mini-dungeon for each one), and I link them together as they are in the dungeon map. The linking is key, since that's what the party would follow between the locations. Say, Room 3 in my map is connected to Room 4 and Room 5 both. If Room 3 is Urik, maybe Room 4 and Room 5 are places near Urik, or places to which Hamanu has some connections. If Room 6 is only accessible from Room 5, I make sure that Room 6 has a tight connection to whatever room 5 happens to be. I choose levels for these rooms between 10 and 20, largely based on how powerful I think they should be. This tier is going to be very sandboxy.

However, it's also narrative. I would keep the following plot points in mind, but rather than link them to specific rooms, I'd link them to character levels.

• Complication (Level 15): When the party is exploring this location, one of the S-K's templars from before finds them and manages to get some info on them, reporting back to the S-K about their activities.
• Dead End (Level 13): This location doesn't actually hold what they're looking for. Seperately, Kalak will find it, via his own minions, just after Level 18.
• Reversal (Level 19): The characters seem to be getting what they're here for, before their enemies step in and take it from them. This screws with their plans and releases the Dragon of Tyr, who now must be dealt with.
• Turning Point (Level 20): The destruction of the Dragon of Tyr gives the PC's access to Rajaat, and now they must decide if helping Rajaat overthrow the S-K's is something they want to do, now that they have the possibility of it.

Then I set the PC's loose. I start them with a branch (maybe 2-3 rooms they can visit initially), and let them choose. I know they will need to hit every location sooner or later. Depending level of the locations they choose, they may face more difficult or easier challenges, and perhaps I'll give them subtle hints as to what level the region is (say, the initial 2-3 rooms are levels 10-13, and the rooms that they're connected to go up to 18, or something), so they don't get too in over their heads. Still, the direction is theirs at this point. They'll eventually discover all 9 rooms, and connect to them, and get them cleared out, and get whatever information or MacGuffin that I decided they needed to get. Once they're done with those 9 rooms, they can trigger the fight with the Dragon of Tyr, and open the way to Rajaat's hollow...and get deeper into the plot.

Part Three
Now that the PC's have the capability of killing the S-K's, and the world is probably aware of it (thanks to the Dragon of Tyr episode, or the S-K's minions making it public), the enemies will not be sitting on their laurels. Even if the PC's don't want to help Rajaat and Kalak, the S-K's want to eliminate the party, permanently. They may have stumbled into this trouble, but there's no getting out of it. One or the other of them must die.

During part three, for largely narrative reasons, I'd put the party partially on the defensive. The party must eliminate the S-K's, but they also must resist the S-K's sending armies and troops after them. There's still 10 levels, so I'd pick 5 things the party needs to do to overthrow all S-K's (maybe 5 specific S-K's they can kill before momentum takes over). There's 7 S-K's in the Creature Catalog, so 5 of them will be direct PC targets, and the other two will be harassers. Whichever S-K's templars have been hassling them since level 2 would be my #1 choice for a harasser, with one of their allies being #2. The remaining 5 will be present in an alliance against the PC's, working together against the threat of true worldwide revolution that the PC's are leading.

These 5 adventures that the PC's choose will be weakening and undermining the alliance, and killing S-K's. They essentially get to choose one of 5 S-K's, and then face that S-K's "dungeon" (their city-state, possibly already in a state of open rebellion) of 10 encounters (including the S-K themselves).

So, the party fights 5 S-K's, and gets harassed by two others (perhaps twice each, for 9 adventures).

The final adventure is the last step needed to restore Athas. Whatever that might be.

The major narrative points I'd cover in the third part is just the Final Obstacle, which is only the 5 S-K's. Each S-K's death should contribute -- somehow -- to whatever the party needs to do to restore Athas.

And that's the end!
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*whew*. Hope that helped!

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