How do you go about creating an adventure?

[nikolai]

Well, how? I'm interested in everything from designing plots, place and themes, to the mechanics of putting stats to monsters. It's one of the main jobs for DMs, there normally isn't much input from anyone but you, and it's not something there's much in the way of books or published advice on. I'd like to know how everyone else goes about it.

yours,

nikolai.

 

[der_kluge]

Interesting thread!

I'm not even sure I have an answer. I'm working on a campaign now, and I started with some basic premise - the PCs land on a forgotten continent and explore it. My basic idea was that I wanted the PCs away from civilization, and in a lost wilderness, with lots of dungeons, and it was going to be relatively high level. The first module I found that fit this category was MonkeyGod's Black Ice Well, which I could use relatively easy and adapt for my own needs. Then, they came out with Hellstone Deep, which is for even higher levels (18-20), and so I intend to culminate my campaign with that module. So, the rest is just a matter of filling in all the details and tying it all together. I have to build out a huge history to explain everything, and I also picked up Sword And Sorcery's Requiem for the Gods, and have tied in the death of two gods in the past that have affected the land a bit. That's given me some great ideas, and added even more interested scenarios, and more depth to the history and plot than I had before.

So, in this case, I started with a module, and then another, and then built up a huge story around it, modified some things to suit me, and then expanded it out.


Last big campaign I ran was 2nd edition, and the basic premise was formed from some items in the Book of Artifacts - someone had Johydee's mask, and was using it to infiltrate the political system of a large kingdom. The PCs had to find the Monocle of Bagthalos to root him out, but no one knew where it was, so they had to find the Herald of Mei Lung to read about where it was, and then travel there, and then travel back to the city with it to find the BBEG. So, that entire campaign was formed around a couple of items in the Book of Artifacts.

 

[cildarith]

Do people generally write out complete adventures with backgrounds, adventure plots, detailed site and room descriptions, stat blocks, etc., or do they just wing it?

I usually start out with the intention of doing all these things, but usually wind up using my rough outline and winging it because I ran out of time or got too lazy to finish writing it. The adventure is usually over long before I'm halfway done with writing it.

 

[der_kluge]

No, that's true for me, too. I have a rough outline, and I've simplified my work on this particular campaign, because it's very light on NPCs. But, I do need to work up a bunch more encounters, and some more dungeons and stuff. But, I find that if I let myself, I can really bog down into details, and then I've got this hugely complex dungeon, and the PCs finish it in 3 hours, and then I end up adlibing the rest.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

How do I go about creating an adventure? I walk to the front of the store and pay for it.

 

[Bleys]

It really varies based on how much "extra" time I have.

Since this is asking about creating an adventure, I'll just stick to what I've done when I've had the time

I'll usually start with the vast, over-reaching plotline that I want to convey. To this end I'll generally create the game world from scratch, getting at least a little bit for all the major sections down somewhere (paper, electronic, whatever is at hand) as well as at least a sketched map.

From there I'll decide where and how I want to get the PCs into things. Based on that and from some general background info from what the players want to play, I'll decide where they'll be starting. Sometimes it'll be a "you all know each other" start and other times it'll be a whole session just getting them all together and at least loosely becoming a party. So once I decide on that I'll more fully flesh out the locale for the first session.

Once I have a really good idea of where they'll be, I'll start going through what they'll be doing. I really can't say anything more specific on how I make that decision other than I just plant the seed in the back of my mind and let whatever extra cycles of my brain want to work with it go...

Once I have the plot for getting them "hooked" so to speak, I'll flesh that out, going to the lengths of drawing location maps, creating and completely fleshing out NPCs, populating monsters (if there are any at the beginning) and even planting the early seeds of things to come. This is the most important part, for me. I have my grand, over-reaching plot in mind, as I said, and the first adventure will have some subtle clues of what that might be.

As time goes on the story with the PCs will have some general sense of direction, but they're pretty much free to go as they want. Yeah, there are some plot points I'll want them to hit, so that they can start to see more and more of the big picture, but for the most part I'll wing most things between the start and the first milestone (I've even been known to pull entire castle maps out of thin air, as the characters are exploring it )

After that it's just me letting them weave and wander, but bringing them in line with the grand scheme every once in a while only to let them wander off again. Sometimes I'll flesh out something that I want to throw their way, but it's usually more of a nebulous idea with some fleshed-out personality as part of it.

Don't know if that really answers your question, or even gives you an idea of things, but that's how I've done most of the stuff when I've had the time

Recently it's just been me working them from one published module to another, making little tweaks here and there to make them seem more ... personal for each person involved (or at least trying to... )

 

[ES2]

It depends on the kind of adventure you want to run (I guess this doesn't really help all that much to say that).

You can come up with an awesome plotline before the game starts and work the characters into the plot, and it works for some groups but not others.

You can buy a premade adventure at a store and alter it to fit the group, or your own ideas, and it works for some groups but not others.

You can start with a small town and a brief description of the nearby areas of interest (maybe a couple dungeons, a bandit group or two, or a few town elements that may, or may not, like the characters) and then just begin with the characters witnessing various actions by others and see how they react. Again, for some groups with players that take their own initiative and react, this is good, but if your playing with players that don't really know what to do, then this is not the best way to go about it.

Are you the DM? I am assuming you are. Do you have a group of players? If so, what kind of players are they? Once you can figure out the kind of players you have, it will be easier to design adventures for the enjoyment of all.

I can say this: I used to be a GM that always developed a good plotline for the campaign, and it always backfired because players will eventually do what they want for their characters, and that doesn't always coincide with the plot I had designed. For some, it works, and for others, it won't. For me, it doesn't work anymore.

 

[d4]

i usually just wing it. i've run 6 or 7 session-long story arcs from a single page of scribbled notes and a handful of NPC stat blocks on index cards. i didn't even know what the plot was the first session -- i just set up an initial situation and built on what the players decided to investigate or what they thought was going on.

i don't recommend doing that very often or if you're new to GMing, but it can be pretty exhilirating to know that you're only just barely one step ahead of the PCs at any moment!

for example, one arc started when a friend of the PCs was the target of an assassination attempt. at the first session, i had only a vague idea of who was responsible (actually, i had three or four likely candidates and hadn't settled on one yet) but i really didn't know why.

over the course of the next several sessions, the players began investigating their friend's background, business dealings, political situation, rivals, etc. i ad-libbed encounters allowing them to discover this stuff, making up most of the details on the spot. i listened to them as they discussed what they had learned, trying to make sense of the information, drawing conclusions, and making suppositions. some of the things they came up with i hadn't thought of myself, and decided to incorporate into the situation.

eventually, after a few sessions of this, i had a pretty good idea of what had actually happened and why. at that point, i was able to drop enough clues to get the PCs to come to the same conclusion and resolve the adventure.

 

[DaveStebbins]

I'll start with anything that grabs my imagination. Then I build on it from there and see if I can make it work out. Sometimes it doesn't, and I just file it away and maybe come back to it later. Or it turns out to be a side trek or a piece that I can use in a larger adventure.

But it all starts with whatever hooks me. In the past this has included many different sources. I've started with maps from other adventures or sources (tossed away the adventure and built a new one based upon the cool map). I've used basic plot or situation ideas from other sources (adventures, books, TV movies, news stories, often completely unrelated to the fantasy genre). I've had an idea for a cool villian or an idea for a cool plot twist or an interesting NPC. Inspiration has also come from stories and rememberances from previous campaigns. More than once I have started with only a vivid picture of a scene in my head and built outward from there.

Like many here, I have been playing D&D for over two decades. I have a big library of store-bought adventures which I often mine for ideas. I love taking the best various bits from different adventures and gluing them together.

But, as I said before, the key for me is that something has to grab me enough to keep my interest. Without that, I'll never be able to slog through the various parts of putting an adventure together. Rumours, hooks, plots, events, maps, encounters, NPCs and villians, treasure; often some of these items are fun and practically set themselves up, but very rarely do all of them do so. And it is when they all come together that my players will talk about it for weeks afterward.

-Dave
Unfortunately, since nothing I ever do is wholly original (or even mostly so) I don't have much to offer the community in the way of adventures or ideas which can be posted somewhere. Practically everything I design and DM uses copyrighted material from others. Bummer.

(edit - spelling, three times)

 

[barsoomcore]

Usually, I start out by jotting down my basic ideas for what I want to happen. These are usually "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" notes.

"Wouldn't it be cool if they were attacked by a horde of flesh-eating zombies?"

"Wouldn't it be cool if Isaac's mother was under arrest for murder?"

"Wouldn't it be cool if they got sucked under a sand dune and found this crazy buried city full of crystal golems?"

Whatever. Then I brainstorm for a while, jotting down whatever comes into my head. References, monsters that fit the concept, NPC ideas -- I'll sketch out quick maps at this stage if I need them or go browsing through my massive image collections for inspiration. Leaf through sourcebooks for more ideas.

Once I have a bunch of ideas, I usually go over my campaign notes and see if anything jumps out at my -- likely connections, UNLIKELY connections, contradictions, all that. Make more notes.

I do a LOT of note-jotting. Don't try to force a structure too early, but just record everything. I even write down stuff like, "I don't really have any idea how this'll fit into the current plan, but it's just so cool I can't resist." Just write it down and you can move on, not get hung up on making one element perfect.

At some point I start getting more organized. I may stat out an NPC who looks to be significant. I might make a detailed map of some area and start thinking up encounters.

At this point, I'll do as much as the adventure requires (and I have time). Some nights I show up with half-a-page of scribbled notes and a Map of Mystery from an old Dungeon magazine -- sometimes I have ten pages neatly formatted, with colour maps, handouts and lollypops.

Does that help?