DM's: how long does it take you to whip up an adventure?
- Thread starter Emirikol
- Start date
DragonLancer
Hero
Generally takes me between 3-4 hours, whether thats writing my own or reading/moding a module or Dungeon scenario.
jdrakeh
Front Range Warlock
I assumed that you were referring to D&D 3.5, so I answered "a week", though it's not because of extensive detail, it's because of several other factors:
1. Limited free time. I get every other Saturday off from work, and every Sunday off. I have about two hours of free time on weekdays (after sleeping, eating, and taking care of necessary stuff 'round the house). This has an impact on me regardless of what system I'm using, though it tends to be more noticeable when using labor-intensive systems such as D&D or HERO. Which is why I haven't been using said systems much lately.
2. Protracted NPC creation in D&D 3.5. There is no 'easy' or 'fast' method of cobbling together a specific NPC for a specific role. The best way to design an important NPC is to use the standard character creation rules which are, regrettably, slow. If you have multiple important NPCs this can be a severe (and frustrating) drain on free time.
3. Lack of detailed monster creation rules. If the adventure requires a custom-built monster, the complete lack of a true system for creating balanced monsters can be baddening. Those handwavey rules in the MM might as well just say "Make it up and hope for the best!" as that's about what they amount to. When I create a custom monster, I tend to run a few dice roll batteries against it to ensure that it isn't too easy to defeat (or, conversely, impossible to defeat).
All of that usually adds up to a week (or more) for adventure design in D&D 3.5 -- HERO is slightly more manageable, because #3 above doesn't apply. The more of Eclipse that I read, the more I think it may eliminate both #2 and #3 above, making D&D 3.5 much more manageable for folks who have to budget their free time (as I do). I'll let you know how that turns out. . . when I get the free time
1. Limited free time. I get every other Saturday off from work, and every Sunday off. I have about two hours of free time on weekdays (after sleeping, eating, and taking care of necessary stuff 'round the house). This has an impact on me regardless of what system I'm using, though it tends to be more noticeable when using labor-intensive systems such as D&D or HERO. Which is why I haven't been using said systems much lately.
2. Protracted NPC creation in D&D 3.5. There is no 'easy' or 'fast' method of cobbling together a specific NPC for a specific role. The best way to design an important NPC is to use the standard character creation rules which are, regrettably, slow. If you have multiple important NPCs this can be a severe (and frustrating) drain on free time.
3. Lack of detailed monster creation rules. If the adventure requires a custom-built monster, the complete lack of a true system for creating balanced monsters can be baddening. Those handwavey rules in the MM might as well just say "Make it up and hope for the best!" as that's about what they amount to. When I create a custom monster, I tend to run a few dice roll batteries against it to ensure that it isn't too easy to defeat (or, conversely, impossible to defeat).
All of that usually adds up to a week (or more) for adventure design in D&D 3.5 -- HERO is slightly more manageable, because #3 above doesn't apply. The more of Eclipse that I read, the more I think it may eliminate both #2 and #3 above, making D&D 3.5 much more manageable for folks who have to budget their free time (as I do). I'll let you know how that turns out. . . when I get the free time
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Keeper of Secrets
First Post
It depends. I voted for 1-6 hours but that is usually for some mega encounter. If running D&D I create a series of small encounters with some winging it and then that leads up to a big encounter from time to time, complete with stat blocks, boxed text, etc. They are fun but I simply don't have the time to do the whole ordeal very often.
Jolly Giant
First Post
Currently I'd say roughly a week. However, there have been times where I spent like a month's worth of preparations for each gaming session. Luckily, that was for a campaign where we didn't get to play very often, and I had a job with a lot of down time back then.
Rhun
First Post
I voted "Other." Sometimes I get an idea for an adventure, and I run it on the fly. Other times, i've been known to put days and days into writing up a cool adventure. Generally, though, I'm inclined not to spend too many hours on that type of thing; chances are my players will screw up all of my careful planning anyway.
Olaf the Stout
Legend
It depends how long it takes me to read the next pre-written adventure and integrate it so that it fits in with the campaign.
Olaf the Stout
Olaf the Stout
Varianor Abroad
Explorer
The answer is:
none
1 hour
6 hours
a week
a month
other
It's all highly variable. I can do stuff off the top of my head. I take tons of time to write my convention adventures. When I run a weekly game, a couple hours of prep is usually all my players get.
none
1 hour
6 hours
a week
a month
other
It's all highly variable. I can do stuff off the top of my head. I take tons of time to write my convention adventures. When I run a weekly game, a couple hours of prep is usually all my players get.
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