How do you design your adventures

[dangerous jack]

I do a bottom up approach.

I've compiled a long list of both modern and ancient locations/terrain/stuff from watching movies, looking at art, reading, video games, etc. I initially write down just a few keywords, such as cable cars, steam pipes, sandstorm, murky swimming pool, chained monsters. And every now and then I'll elaborate on some of them or write down potential mechanics, monsters that might work well, etc.

When it's time for an adventure, I take a look at the potential terrain relative to where the PCs are, and possibly ask the players if they're in the mood for a swamp/desert/mountain adventure (as long as there's lead time and I don't have a very stubborn idea in my head).

Generally I aim for 2-4 encounters in a given terrain or using a particular theme, so I grab a few keywords that would work. The next step is expanding these into full encounters, swapping out/reskinning monster ideas as necessary to link them together, and adding extra lighter encounters for pacing.

My last step is to link the adventure to the greater "story", which in my current game is less BBEG, more brewing bad situations (arms race, desertification, ice age, and a growing energy leak from the Shadowfell).

 

[nicholasgeorg]

I'm with you Crothian. That's the way I do it too. It's working quite well. I have three super villains all working out their machinations, and the PCs learn about things when they step in it.

 

[karlindel]

I generally start by thinking about interesting people and places in the area, and what events are going on. I then toss out some of the information to the PCs, and see how they react to different ideas. As the campaign progresses, I advance the events based on what the PCs did or didn't do. As the campaign progresses, I add new people, places, and events to the mix, usually trying to tie them into what the party has shown an interest in or trying to show the effects of their inaction (or choice to do one thing rather than another).

 

[Rel]

I usually start with what kinds of things interest or drive the PC's. Then I come up with several ideas having to do with those interests. Then I look for a way to tie two or more of those ideas into one adventure. Then I put the leftover ideas into a file of some sort (paper or computer).

Once I have the basics theme of the adventure down, I think, "Where would be a cool place to have this happen?" Following right after that I whip out the Compendium and do a search on some basic types of bad guys I'd like to include. Once I see what their capabilities are I fine tune the encounter locations to interact with those abilities in interesting ways. Finally I consider what sort of treasure would be appropriate to include and any other potential rewards, complications or followup adventures there are.

I don't worry about that last stuff too much since the plan never survives contact with the party anyway.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I do a little of everything. Top down, bottom up, inside out, or just a single itty-bitty seed of an idea...everything.

Sometimes, everything is as scripted out as a published module. Other times, all I have is a flow chart.

Tonight, I'm attaching some wings and a propeller to my butt: I'm flying by the seat of my pants.

 

[weem]

I start where the last session ended and imagine where it will naturally flow next. Sometimes, if there are a lot of options at the end of the game, I may ask the group "what do you intend to do next time? where are you heading?" etc.

I always tell them they could change their mind, but that if they had a good idea of what they wanted to do, letting me know could only help.

Most of the time I don't need to ask - I already have an idea.

So I let it play out in my head... they will go talk to NPC1. I think a lot about NPC1 - what he is doing, what has he been doing and how those things will effect an encounter with him.

I let this continue for as long as can be predicted (sometimes not far) at which point I start considering what I think they might do (my players are pretty predictable) and how I might get various encounters worked in - combat, skill challenges or story stuff and with those in mind try and think of what might make these things fun (where might they occur, what twists can they have, what will make the PC's smile, laugh, angry etc).

With those worked out, I try to estimate where the game session will end so it's not an abrupt thing, but a more natural conclusion of the sessions events (not always possible, but for the most part it works out).

 

[ExploderWizard]

Assuming a new start with nothing from a previous adventure to connect with, I generally begin with NPC's, both as individuals and groups. Once the general idea of who the major players are is done I think of events that would transpire while thier plans are being carried out. The effects of these events are applied to the general area where the game is set. These effects will generate multiple adventure hooks in the area that the PC's can follow up on as they choose.

I like to keep enough material prepped about each major hook to last at least one game session. As the players choose the hooks that interest them, the adventures are developed more fully. Keeping good notes on who the PC's have met and where they have been is important. As more hooks are explored, thier connections become more apparant to the players.

This is how I like to plan out adventures for campaign play. One shots are a bit different and need a tighter focus to be completed in a single session.

 

[Hjorimir]

This may sound a little artsy-fartsy, but I start by sitting around with no books and just try to picture a scene that I'd like to setup for the players. It may or may not involve fighting, but it will always strive to be dramatic and impactful on the campaign. Once I have that scene in mind I jot down a quick list of everything I will need to have in place to justify the scene. From there it just takes spit and polish (sometimes more spit, sometimes more polish) to make it luster.

In conjunction with this, I select a couple of character sheets from the party for those I think have not been in the limelight much as of late and I try to work in some things that are more relavent to them in particular. Be it anything from insider knowledge they have to an important skill challenge that seems to fit their skills rather well.

As an example, I recently started a 4e campaign for a group who had almost no experience with the new version. I started with the simple idea of taking D&D at it's core: A dungeon. A dragon.

As I've never been happy with the idea of a dragon sitting in a room waiting to be killed, I thought how I wanted to turn things around, so I did that by having the dragon pursuit the player group through the dungeon.

In the end, the PCs found themselves running through water strewn tunnels and down underground rapids and even a couple of waterfalls with a dragon and an army of goblins on their tails. The "scene" evolved into a series of running battles, skill challenges, and sneaking (and swimming) about dark, wet tunnels. Survival D&D, if you will.

It ended with a big fight (another scene) with one of the dragon's brood (an elite black dragon wyrmling), some dretch, an amazingly powerful magic sword, and the release of a terrible demon who stole away with most of the sword's power.

Comments from players/characters:
"Is this a first-level adventure?"
"I've got no time to bleed...I'm too busy running."
"Please, please, please...please say we can rest now."
"Can I heal without healing surges?"
"No time for talking, RUN!"
"I've been playing for twenty years and that has to be the most exciting and entertaining 1st-level adventure I've ever been on!"

So, anyway, I'll stop praddling on about the session and say, I try to build scenes full of exciting elements and make the most of them. If I wouldn't want to read about it in a book or see it in a movie, I keep working on it.

 

[kitsune9]

This may sound a little artsy-fartsy, but I start by sitting around with no books and just try to picture a scene that I'd like to setup for the players. It may or may not involve fighting, but it will always strive to be dramatic and impactful on the campaign. Once I have that scene in mind I jot down a quick list of everything I will need to have in place to justify the scene. From there it just takes spit and polish (sometimes more spit, sometimes more polish) to make it luster.

In conjunction with this, I select a couple of character sheets from the party for those I think have not been in the limelight much as of late and I try to work in some things that are more relavent to them in particular. Be it anything from insider knowledge they have to an important skill challenge that seems to fit their skills rather well.

As an example, I recently started a 4e campaign for a group who had almost no experience with the new version. I started with the simple idea of taking D&D at it's core: A dungeon. A dragon.

As I've never been happy with the idea of a dragon sitting in a room waiting to be killed, I thought how I wanted to turn things around, so I did that by having the dragon pursuit the player group through the dungeon.

In the end, the PCs found themselves running through water strewn tunnels and down underground rapids and even a couple of waterfalls with a dragon and an army of goblins on their tails. The "scene" evolved into a series of running battles, skill challenges, and sneaking (and swimming) about dark, wet tunnels. Survival D&D, if you will.

It ended with a big fight (another scene) with one of the dragon's brood (an elite black dragon wyrmling), some dretch, an amazingly powerful magic sword, and the release of a terrible demon who stole away with most of the sword's power.

Comments from players/characters:
"Is this a first-level adventure?"
"I've got no time to bleed...I'm too busy running."
"Please, please, please...please say we can rest now."
"Can I heal without healing surges?"
"No time for talking, RUN!"
"I've been playing for twenty years and that has to be the most exciting and entertaining 1st-level adventure I've ever been on!"

So, anyway, I'll stop praddling on about the session and say, I try to build scenes full of exciting elements and make the most of them. If I wouldn't want to read about it in a book or see it in a movie, I keep working on it.

Some scenes I imagine an outcome too. I usually don't do it for the module that I'm writing, but I do have some scenes when there are major turning points further down the road in the campaign. Sometimes I've taken the time to write them out as handouts for later on.

 

[Dykstrav]

This post might be kinda long, but here goes... In italics, you'll find specific examples for my current campaign.

1) I figure out what the campaign or adventure is "about." I start with a general idea about the major themes and progression of the campaign. Sometimes its a narrative epic, sometimes its a beer-and-pretzels hackfest. But no matter what the game is about, I always start out with a clear idea about what sort of game I want and how to achieve it. My current campaign is designed to bring my 4E group into my homebrew. None of them are familiar with it. I'm also using this as an opportunity to work 4E's changes into my homebrew. I'm using the opportunity to have the group's characters have a major impact on the changes in the setting.

2) Come up with a "venue sheet." The venue sheet is a short document that explains character options for this campaign, its goals, and my table rules. I limit the venue sheet to two pages or less since I want it to be accessible and easy to use.

3) Give the venue sheet to the players and ask them to generate characters. When I have players bring a new character into the campaign, I require them to submit a minimum of two background elements that can be used as adventure hooks for that character. I use one of them to get them into the first adventure and another to use later. Most of the party consists of primal characters, so they are interested in defending nature. The bard is a classic wandering vagabond, dreaming of having a heroic epic sung about her one day. My party's wizard is searching for the assassin that killed his master. The party begins the campaign by travelling the countryside looking for the former students and clues about the master wizard and his doings.

4) I write a "plot map." This is a technique used by screenwriters to explore different options for a script's possible course of events. It's particularly useful for gaming, because you're trying to extrapolate as many reasonable courses the plot could take. Each possible plot point can basically work out as an encounter, or in these 4E days, as a skill challenge. With the wizard and his primal buddies, I get the idea that he was up to something unsavory and one of his students killed him to prevent him from invoking dark forces. The druids and shamans never liked this wizard because he bound and controlled immortals and elementals to do his bidding. Or maybe he faked his own death. That's an interesting concept, so I file it away as a possible plot thread. The primal characters are associated with an elf tribe, so I put in an opposing elf tribe that split on policy over a century ago. The characters have the option to escalate the conflict into an outright war or to seek peace.

5) I start plotting out some encounters and a basic adventure. I start with something simple, designed to get the characters involved in the action and interacting with the plot points. For the first adventure, I decide to link together the idea of the unsavory wizard dealing with forces beyond his control and the idea of protecting nature. The campaign begins with the characters running into the hostile elf tribe, scouring the countryside looking for relics from a wizard's tower. Turns out the relics are strange urns carved with arcane sigils, the urns are warm to the touch and thump every so often. The characters discover that elemental creatures are bound into the urns, and the hostile elves want to unelash them on the humans of the land, who they view as interlopers and despoilers of nature. So now I can draw up a list of "big bads" (the assassin that killed the wizard, the leader and warlord of the elf tribe, a powerful elemental in one of the urns). I can also draw up a list of monsters I'd like the characters to fight (I decide on elves, elemental creatures, and the animals and other allies of the hostile elf tribe).

6) I start designing encounters and skill challenges, draw up the treasure parcels, and other nuts-and-bolts elements and start running the thing.