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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BSF" data-source="post: 1099177" data-attributes="member: 13098">OK, I am finally feeling cognizant enough to post here.  (So if my post is completely unintelligible, I will have failed, but think how bad it _could_ have been!)How do I go about creating an adventure?  The short answer is:  Anyway that comes to mind.  But, that isn't very helpful!  <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=";)" />  Honestly, there has already been a lot of good advice here.  I am probably being a bit redundant, but what the heck?  (A lot of my advice is very similar to what has already been posted.)First of all, I decide the scope of the "Adventure".  There are the big "Adventures" that are long storylines and the "SubAdventures" which are generally the episodes of the larger "Adventure".For my campaign, I actually try to run several plotlines.  At the beginning of my current campaign, I had 3 major story arcs, and a few minor ones.  This sounds complicated, but it really isn't.  I don't begin developing the story arcs in detail until the characters begin to pursue one of them.  As the campaign progresses, I may advance the story arcs that the PC's are not pursuing.  Then, I will drop hints about what is going on with them in the game.  This gives the game the feeling that other things are happening in the world around the PC's.  They have "free choice" and my players really seem to be enjoying it.  They have shutdown some story arcs early and they have assisted with others.  Sometimes, a brand new story arc will pop up from their actions (or inactions).  So, for my initial story arcs, I have rough outlines of events.  I do not fill in the details until the PC's begin to pursue one of those paths.Once we start to get down to details, I try to stay a few sessions ahead of the PC's.  I fill in more details for the "Subadventure" as we go.  Generally speaking, I do not stat everything out at the same level as a published adventure.  As I have filled in the details, I have a pretty good idea on how everything will probably proceed, if the PC's choose any particular path.  Nowadays, I stat out the notable opponents if there is going to be a combat.  Throwaway grunts are by the book.  Otherwise, I tend to do a lot of "winging it" from scribbled notes and half formed ideas.I also have smaller "Adventures" that are not part of a larger storyline.  Those are generally a lot more like standard treasure hunting.  They are fun in their own right, but for different reasons.  I had one adventure where the group was trying to infiltrate a fort.  They found a back entrance that lead into the catacombs below the basement of the fort.  All of a sudden, the PC's were in a classic dungeoncrawl trying to get up to the basement so they could get into the fort.  It was a fun diversion for a session and they ended up retreating and dealing with the fort in a completely different manner.  So, it was an adventure that the only tie to a larger storyline was location.  The PC's weren't seeking the catacombs and were surprised when they found them.  I used to do a lot of statting out things beforehand.  If you have the time, I would suggest that you at least try it once.  In my case, I found that if I put forth a lot of effort to detail out the "adventure", I end up with a vested interest in how I think the story should proceed. If I had that work prepped and the PC's decided to change a course of action, I would suddenly feel like my work was "wasted" and I would tend to try to railroad them "back on plan".  I ruined a few games trying to do that. But, that certainly isn't something that will happen with everyone.  So, give it a try once (to stat everything out in detail) and see if you are successful with it.  If you find yourself too married to your vision of the storyline, cut back until you find yourself able to accomodate more PC actions without feeling like you have wasted your efforts.  So, that is how I do the work of the adventure.  That isn't the fun part though!  The fun part is getting the inspiration for any particular adventure.  The inspiration can come from anywhere!One of my personal favorites is cinematic scenes.  I love to have a vision in my head that is cinematically stellar and then find a way to work that into the game.  I have gone to great effort to do that.  My players seem to really like it when it happens too!Books, movies, comics, artwork, idle ponderings, wacky ideas, idea theft from others, player comments, all are valid elements to work an adventure around.  If you have published adventures, use them.  But be sure you modify them to make them relevant to your game.  Don't be afraid to change NPC's around.  Maybe that Evil High Priest is really a lackey of your recurring BBEG.  Perhaps there is an alliance between the BBEG and the leader of the thieves guild run by wererats.  Put ties into your campaign in the premade adventure.  If you use multiple story arcs that are evolving through the efforts of other NPC's, you can even drop in secret plans that the NPC's need.  The PC's can then help out the NPC's, or even take over that story arc!  Remember, the world doesn't revolve around the PC's, but the game should!  Now, why are the PC's interested in the adventure?  Well, TREASURE!!  But, treasure doesn't always need to be standard gold and magic.  Information is sometimes an even better reward.  Or political favor, or contacts that can be used later.  Again, it should be relevant to your campaign.  Heck, even in the non-story related adventures, I try to put something of interest in there.  In the above example, where the PC's ended up in the catacombs below the basement of the fort, the big treasure there was a broken sword.  Yes, broken!  But, the Bard recognized it as a distinctive, historic weapon.  They learned a bit more about the history of the area and eventually sold the broken sword to a collector that was a history buff.  Change up your rewards every so often so that it isn't always a bag of gold and gems.    No matter what methodology you use to create an adventure, make sure it is fun for your players and for you!  If everyone is enjoying the adventures, you will find that it is easy to come up with the next one.  Also, don't be afraid to listen to what your players are speculating about.  If they just cleared out a small cult in the sewers of the city, they might discover that one of the cultists kept all of his treasure as small emeralds.  Sure, maybe you just thought it was an interesting personality quirk of the guy.  Your players may decide it has a "Special significance" and begin looking for it.  If they come up with a plausible story, don't be afraid to take that idea and run with it.  Of course, if you don't like the idea, don't be afraid to ignore their theories either.  I hope all of this helps!</blockquote>

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