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

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5109322" data-attributes="member: 2067">Lots of solid advice in this thread.VillainsThis is a big 'un.Without compelling threats, there is no compelling adventure.Compare: That dude in Keep on the Shadowfell, with Kazyk in WOTBS2. [sblock]<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Your villain has a history, a personality and goals. It works towards it's goals, doing bad things along the way according to its personality. Its history helps inform the PC's, and perhaps helps them take it down. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Your villain has desires, and it is active in pursuing them. If the PC's fail, the villain accomplishes these desires. Death is not the only way to hurt the party, and, as you get closer to the climax, more should be at stake. The villain should not sit in one place and wait for people to come and kill it. It should act. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">: Your villain needs to cast a shadow. More than just name-dropping, it should actually and actively shape the world around it. It should link to themes, and it should employ these themes effectively, though not homogeneously. </li> </ol>[/sblock]Sensible CombatAlso a big one. When using combats, keep logic in mind.Compare: ...almost any Scales of War adventure with, let's say, the fights that happen in a typical action movie. There is no conflict that does not have an origin, and a purpose.[sblock]<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Some fights should be too hard to win. These should be telegraphed, and PC's should avoid them. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Some fights should be too weak to bother with. Again, this should be telegraphed, and PC's should want to avoid them (they're just a distraction from the Real Problem). </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">: The fights that are "just right" shouldn't be repetitive. Each combat should directly accomplish some goal. </li> </ol>[/sblock]Hire Me to Write ThemSeriously. I'm kind of a genius. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />[sblock]<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">The first adventure I ever wrote won me an adventure writing contest </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I went on to participate in the brilliant War of the Burning Sky CS. Most of those adventures are dynamite. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">I will do it on the cheap, because I like you guys.</li> </ol>[/sblock]Er, but generally, More Drama. Things are at stake. PC's can fail. Towns can burn to the ground. Families can get killed. Evil can win (and is always just about to do so). More Variety. Things don't have the same solution every time. Combat is great maybe 60-75% of the time, not ALL THE TIME. More Flow. 3-act structure. It applies to sandboxes as easily as narrative games. Know it, learn it, use it. Know what it means to actually finish an act (and how that changes the ongoing events), and how to effectively increase tension in Act 2. But if you just hire me, I'll do all that for you. <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/angel.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":angel:" title="Angel    :angel:" data-shortname=":angel:" /></blockquote>

Verification