How do you design your adventures

[kitsune9]

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.

Cool, Dykstrav. The venue sheet is something I do at the beginning of my campaign too though I call it a campaign primer. I'll have to post it on here in a day or so to give everyone an example of what I do for my campaigns.

 

[Jack7]

I have a formula I use which I then try to break in ways unpredictable to the player. Give a structure that seems familiar and even comfortable, then ambush assumptions.

 

[Derulbaskul]

The Marriage of Plot & Art

I start with a general theme and two to three major BBEGs that tie into that theme and then think about what they are doing and what they want to achieve.

For me, this is the most important part. Understanding what forces are working in the background makes it so much easier to add or subtract adventures or encounters particularly when the party want to follow another course.

I then plot out a rough sequence of adventures that I describe with a couple of sentences and maybe mention the principal villain(s) in each case. After that it's just a matter of fleshing out individual adventures which could be inspired by a cool monster, NPC or, perhaps more likely, a great piece of art.

Great art (thanks to deviantart.com, in particular) acts as the greatest trigger for me and my adventure design.

 

[Woas]

Let's give credt where do: I use the Adventure Funnel.

The Adventure Funnel

 

[Dykstrav]

The adventure funnel is kinda neat. It's basically a plot map with lists instead of points.

 

[Gilladian]

Focusing on a single adventure I put together just this week, I started by taking something a PC said (he asked to research some "fairly safe" areas to go dungeon delving for the 2nd level PCs), and began there. I decided on a name for the place they were going to go; the Copper Pool. As I worked, I ended up placing the Pool in the Copper Halls.

I decided the copper pool held a unique statue made of gears (one of the PCs loves tech and steam-punky stuff). A gear is missing, but another PC's grandfather is a (semi-retired) adventurer. I decided that he has the gear. Since Gramps is in hiding from enemies, I decided that there's something down there, under the Copper Pool, in a hidden facility, that he needs. So he's going to slip his grand daughter the gear. Hopefully when she sees the "statue" she'll realize the gear goes to it. Skill challenge to open the gear-door ensues.

I then went through my map collection and found a map I liked - not too big, as this is a hidden installation - and began "dungeon design". I decided that the installation dates back several hundred years, so nothing living would be in it. In keeping with the techno method of entry, I sprinkled constructs and traps around. Traps seemed a tiny bit hard to justify, so I decided that Gramps and his crew had actually been IN the dungeon at one time. Several of them were trapped down there, and ended up building a crude trap or two to defend a room from the constructs. Unfortunately, they never made it out.

This meant I could include an undead creature or two, as well as the constructs.

I had to decide what Gramps wanted; eventually I decided that he's trying to get into another hidden place in the larger dungeon/delve under the city, and there's a clue here to the location he needs. I decided on a large tapestry, showing a scene from history.

I then decided that the only reason the tapestry is here is that it was MADE here. So I configured the main 3 chambers of the installation to be an automated weaving machine, tended by small spider-like constructs. These constructs are the ones being made in other chambers. All of them have a secondary combat-capability, but not a very good one (after all, the PCs are only 2nd level).

I did have to create the creatures, but I used the Animated Objects of the SRD as my basis. Then I added appropriate treasure (besides the tapestry) and used some random tables for dungeon dressing. I decided my facility had too many rooms, so I collapsed a couple of them, and added the only living creature - a thoqqua.

Finally, I have decided that as the PCs leave this dungeon, they are going to be "met" by some elemental creatures in the pool - summoned by them opening the "statue". These will be fairly tough, and as they fight them, the PCs are going to be "joined" by another adventuring party; this is a group the PCs love to hate, and they're going to really resent getting "rescued" from the elementals by them...

 

[Mallus]

Offhand I'd say I write adventures...

... haphazardly.
... inefficiently.
... mainly in response to what players have done/want to do.
... with a modicum of wit (which sometimes falls flatly into vulgarity).

 

[Hussar]

I gotta go with Mallus on this one. My adventure design tends to be pretty haphazard. What is going on in the campaign? Ok, what's the next point? Create that.

I'm trying to break the habit, which is why I started this thread about what is your game about?

I'm currently designing a Savage World's adventure. I'm about halfway done with it, and then the interview with John Wick hit me. So, I'm now sitting back a fair bit, thinking about the themese I want to deal with in this adventure and the building everything related to that theme - encounters, NPC's, maps, images, sound files, hopefully everything can be related back to my basic theme for the adventure.

 

[kitsune9]

I gotta go with Mallus on this one. My adventure design tends to be pretty haphazard. What is going on in the campaign? Ok, what's the next point? Create that.

I'm trying to break the habit, which is why I started this thread about what is your game about?

I'm currently designing a Savage World's adventure. I'm about halfway done with it, and then the interview with John Wick hit me. So, I'm now sitting back a fair bit, thinking about the themese I want to deal with in this adventure and the building everything related to that theme - encounters, NPC's, maps, images, sound files, hopefully everything can be related back to my basic theme for the adventure.

Sometimes are best ideas come when we're a bit chaotic; however, it's always good to look for ways to improve and change. I've learned a lot of new things on this thread. Let us know how your Savage Worlds adventure goes so we can see what pitfalls, challenges, and successes you've had in your new approach.