Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nork" data-source="post: 5418380" data-attributes="member: 59879">If you know mechanically what you are shooting for, it makes it easier to build towards that, and then the plot and scenery just falls into place around it.  You know the general story you want to tell, but the mechanics that will be used to tell it will help define the details of the story.   The mechanical format should be the same, even if it is a simple dungeon delve or something grandly sweeping and story driven.Mechanically, the standard template for an adventure is this:Five encounters before you allow them to take an extended rest.  Four of those encounters will be combat encounters, and one of them will be a skill challenge.  The skill challenge will not be the last encounter of the set.  Do not trap the PCs without a means of escape after encounter number four.  Let the PCs achieve some partial measure of success after encounter four, and total success on the completion of encounter five.  DO NOT use level inappropriate monsters.Stick to that format like glue.Some general tips:Preventing the extended rest is really important mechanically.  If the adventure is over several days, explain to them that they can only "truly rest" when the chapter is complete.  Do not bend on this.  Short rests provide plenty of recovery.If you want to avoid a "railroad" situation, you can allow the encounters to happen in an order chosen by the PCs as a result of their investigations (maybe encounters 1-3 could be in any order, and the last two encounters are the conclusion).  You can also prepare alternate encounters (If the PCs do X they will have this encounter, but if they do Y they will have this other encounter instead), which provides them the option to make actual decisions, while allowing you to stack the deck so that you get your five encounters.Do not be afraid to re-skin monsters to suit your storytelling needs.  Nobody has to know that the were-rat brute you described was really a stat-block for a level appropriate troll, where you replaced fire with silver.If your story really needs more than five encounters, but you can't extend it into a set of two five encounter blocks, then use modulo math.  Make a five encounter core to the adventure, and then put the remaining encounters into a second "lite" block that you just accept will be easy.  It is usually best to put this easy block first as a warm-up, and then let them have an extended rest and the five encounter main block that has the potential to challenge the PCs.Start with 4x encounters with an xp budget equal to the PCs level.  This should be easy, but you never know how effective a party is.  If it was easy, then go with 4x (PC level + 1) for your next adventure, and so on until you find the right calibration point.  If the PCs have to retreat, then dial it back on the next adventure.This is why you should stick to the format like glue (at least to start):Five encounters lets the PCs get 3 action points.One skill challenge mixes things up, and five combat encounters can be too much.Not having the last encounter as the skill challenge allows the players to spend their action points in combat.  Which is where the players want to spend them.Not trapping the players after the fourth encounter means that if the players made mistakes and don't feel like they can tackle the fifth encounter, that they have the option to admit defeat and retreat to fight another day.  It is best to make most of the big bad evil guy's plan thwarted by the fourth encounter, and to make the fifth encounter required for a "total victory" where they capture the bad guy, or at least send them packing.It takes between three and four combat encounters before you really start to tax PC healing surges and daily powers without risking a TPK.  Three combat encounters being the exhaustion point if the party is making mistakes, and four combat encounters being the exhaustion point if the party is playing average.If you go with fewer encounters and jack up the encounter difficulty, you STRONGLY risk creating an accidental TPK.  Sooner or later your dice will be hot, and when when the encounter level is jacked up hot dice will kill players instead of just beating them up to the point that they will have to retreat after combat encounter three.  Players do not like it when they get killed because of hot dice, and players do not like it when they know that the dice killed them and the DM waved their hand and made it go away.If you want a swarm of weak foes, use minions, not low level mobs.  Low level mobs are not balanced for that purpose.If you want a tough monster, use elites or solos close to the party's level, and do not use a high level monster.  elites and solos are balanced for that purpose.  High level monsters are frustratingly difficult for players to hit, and hit the players a frustratingly large portion of the time.  High level monsters also tend to apply more status effects, and use more potent status effects, than the party is usually equipped to handle.</blockquote>

Verification