Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gilladian" data-source="post: 5299287" data-attributes="member: 2093">I like site-based adventures because they're easy to design. Then again, the PCs may also easily avoid them, fail to notice them, or actively decide they don't like that hook.That's when you need to feed them another hook.In my current campaign, the PCs are 5th level. They live in a large city with many layers of dungeon below it. They own a house and have a lair under the house. But last week, I ended the game with a hook: the PCs had previously had a brush with a necromancer, and also had previously been told by local orphans that street kids were going missing. Then a servant whom the PCs had rescued from the necromancer's first lair came to them and told them she'd seen the necromancer escorting a shabby-looking child into a house in a nearby street. I KNEW that the PC who has recently spent 300 gp of his own money rebuilding the orphanage would LEAP at this hook. Sure enough, he did; so next week we'll spend the game exploring the necromancer's house.To design this site, I first decided what level the Necro was. I gave him a backstory (deceased wife, dead baby, livng son; he wants his wife back, of course). I began outlining the contents of the house: found a map I liked, named the rooms, began adding content notes. Drew up a timeline of a 'typical day' for the bad guy and son. Named the servants. Added dangers. Added entry to undercellar lair. Posted online for ideas and redid my necro's backstory. Decided his wife is a brain in a jar in the basement.Added the baby in as an "automaton" he's built to keep his wife from realizing that she's mostly dead and the baby died, too. Decided that the older boy is thoroughly evil. I'm hoping they "adopt" him and send him to the orphanage to live (evil dm laugh). I have gone over the writeup for my house and lair about six times. Each time, I focus on a different aspect. First, I lay out basic elements (this is the kitchen, this is the laboratory). Then I add combat elements and rules stuff (traps, etc).  Then I add mundane color. Then I add noncombat NPCs. Each time I may expand, shift, redo any of the previous info. I tighten the plot.This can go on for days, weeks or years. If my pcs had avoided this adventure for any reason, I'd have kept this site in my notes, and next time they visited a wizard-sage, it might easily be this house, with the evil necromancer swapped out as an evil sage, and the whole basement lair reflavored.Here's my wikipage for this adventure: <a href="http://vishteercampaign.pbworks.com/Necromancer%27s-House" target="_blank">Vishteer Campaign / Necromancer's House</a>You can see I ran out of steam for the final rooms of the dungeon lair. I'm going to have to go back and spend some more time on them. Oh well! Yes, I write almost a module for stuff. I'm overboard, and I know it, but I love it...Dig around on the site. You'll find other stuff for this campaign and others. Do what I do: steal it!</blockquote>

Verification