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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Uller" data-source="post: 1440230" data-attributes="member: 413">I haven't read all the replies here yet...so I may be repeating something.  I'm in the middle of designing an adventure right now and am following the same old formula that I've always used:Step 1:  Come up with an idea - this can be anything and inspiration can come from anywhere.  A particular scene, NPC, monster, whatever.  Sometimes (often for me) this idea ends up not being central to the adventure...For example, in the last campaign, I came up with the idea of an encounter where a huge spider has nested at the top of a shaft in a cave or mine or something.  There is a spiral stair around the outside wall of the shaft leading down.  The party would have to get down the stair for some reason and the spider would be hunting them, attempting to knock them off the stair so they would fall into the nest of her babies (medium sized spiders) far below...This had nothing to do with the PCs' reason for going into the cave...but it was the initial idea I had and I built the rest of the adventure around it.Step 2: Come up with a setting - Where is the adventure going to happen?  Is it a dungeon crawl?  An event based adventure in a town?  Step 3: Important encounters - Come up with 1-5 important encounters depending on the length of the adventure (generally 1-2 per game session you want the adventure to last).  I find the lower-middle end of that spectrum works best because we only play once every 4-6 weeks so I like to have my adventures be completely contained in one gaming session, two at most.Step 4: Minor encounters - These come in one of two flavors:  relevant ones and irrelevant ones.  This can be minor encounters that are just there to keep things exciting (the relevant ones).  An example would be a patrol or a couple of guards or whatever...the Party isn't going to get anything important out of it...it is just an obstacle to be overcome that fills out the adventure.  The irrelevant ones are things not related to the main adventure.  These give flavor to your adventure and really help to make your world come alive.  They also help your players feel like they are not being railroaded.  There is no reason that these "minor" encounters have to be easy.   I often make them too tough for the PCs (but give them plenty of room to avoid them).  Example:  The PCs were exploring a mine complex.  Just outside of the complex was a large "shack" that housed a Hill Giant and his dog (a dire wolf).  The PCs were 3rd level.  They spotted the giant and avoided him as best they could but at the end of the adventure, the dire wolf spotted the party chasing their enemies out of the mine.  The wolf killed the enemy (who was wounded) then started howling for its master.  The PCs were forced into a nearby cave where they had to wait for the wolf and giant to leave (it was too small for them to get in)...unfortuately for the PCs the cave was the lair of a pack of ghouls!  They were pretty wounded and out of spells so they had a tough fight.  Luckily no one died.  But this all helped the players to understand that their characters are really a small part of a larger world and there are things happening around them unrelated to their story.  Sometimes these encounters lead to interesting side adventures that the PCs can choose to take (the ghouls' cave was the entrance to a hidden shrine to a god of death that had long been abandoned...but the PCs never chose to go explore it).Where was I...oh yeah... Step 5:  Tie it all together.  Make a map (or an event flow chart).  Place your encounters (removing them, changing them, adding to them and detailing them as necessary).  Add your flavor text.  Figure out why your monsters and NPCs are there.  What are they doing?  Why should the PCs get involved in this adventure? etc.  Pay attention to your encounter levels and how many encounters the PCs will have to face between opportunities to rest.  Provide opportunities to avoid encounters or at least avoid fighting through every one if there are a lot of tough ones.Step 6: come up with your hooks.Step 7: Detail it...clean it up. Done.So now lets look at the adventure I am currently designing:My players are planning to go raid a goblin hideout in order to capture an important goblin so they can interrogate him in hopes of discovering the secret grove where a barghest is making its lair (the goblins were involved in summoning the barghest and recognize it as their god/leader).  So I don't really have to provide hooks...Step 1:  Idea- I thought a Goblin Cleric/Rogue would be cool.  I'll make him the BBEG in the hideout.  I have 5 PCs and 1 NPC in the party, all 4th level.  So this BBEG will be 6th level: Rog3/Clr3 to a god of trickery.  That'll be cool.  He can go invisble, sneak attack with a touch spell and generally mess with the party until his minions can drive them off (or he is forced to flee or surrender...my objective is to keep this guy alive for future adventures)Step 2:  The hideout is in a small hidden ravine with lots of caves around it.Step 3: Major encounters - The PCs want to capture an important goblin..it can be the BBEG or one of his lieutenants.  Since he is 6th level I figure he'll have 3 LTs, all 3rd level with 15-20 normal goblins below each of them (for a total of ~50 goblins in the hideout).  So I just divide up the BBEG and his LTs into two encounters:  1) The BBEG, one LT (his body guards) and 4 mooks.  2) 2 LTs and 12 mooks.  Both are ~EL 7 or something (I forget what it worked out to exactly and don't feel like calculating it).  The PCs must successfully defeat _one_ of these two groups and capture one of the important goblins alive.Step 4:  Minor encounters - I take the remaining goblins and divide them up into groups of 10-16 goblins for EL3 and EL4 encounters.   The party will get bored fighting goblins all day so I mix in a couple of Ogres and 3 worgs (with riders) as well just to mix it up.  Also, how about something that doesn't make sense with goblins:  An Ettin and a Choker.  The Ettin is a tie to the Barghest, which used its charm monster ability to capture it and it left it with the goblins "for safe keeping unitl I need it for my diabolical plans...hahahahaha!!!!"  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" />  The Ettin doesn't like the goblins so they have it chained up.  There are two goblins guarding it at all times and they can set it free if ordered to do so (or the PCs can set it free to create a distraction...that would be cool  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> )  The choker (advanced to HD 5) lurks in a pool in the center of the ravine.  The goblins haven't figured out how to kill it yet and it has eaten few of them by grabbing them and pulling them into the depths of the pool.  So they avoid the pool.  A cleaver goblin in trouble might hint to the PCs that the clan's treasure is hidden in the pool... <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":]" title="Devious    :]" data-shortname=":]" /> Step 5:  Draw a map - map out the ravine and complex of caves.  Include the pool for the choker and large cave for the Ettin's prison.  Place the encounters around the map in a sensible manner.  Make sure the PCs can get in and out without disturbing the entire hideout if they approach with caution and stealth...but don't make it too easy!Step 6:  Hooks - already done since this is a side adventure from their main goal of finding and killing the Barghest.  Their NPC friend is a Ranger that has been scouting the hideout...so provide some clues through him on how best to approach this (but don't make it too obvious...make the party do some homework on their own).  Give lots of hints to the presence of the Ettin as it could result in TPK if things go badly...There you go!  One adventure worth 4-6 hours of gaming easily.   Just need to detail it.</blockquote>

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