Possible different types of adventures.

[ggroy]

On the previous thread about what 4E gamers would want from 3PP companies,

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/265781-third-party-if-so-then-what.html

there appears to be a consensus that campaign settings and adventures are desirable. Various posts in that thread alluded to people not being as interested in "generic dungeon crawl" type of modules, epitomized by the WotC 4E modules already released (ie. H/P/E series) and maybe some of the 4E Dungeon Crawl Classics modules released by Goodman Games.

By the term "generic dungeon crawls", I'm guessing these would be modules which are a series of encounters whether inside a "dungeon" or outside of a dungeon (ie. wilderness, inside a town, etc ...), which are strung together with a storyline of some sort. (A wilderness "dungeon crawl" could be a series of predetermined and/or random encounters, going from one location to another location). Such generic "dungeon crawls" could be a linear railroad, or they could have alternate side adventures. Role playing may or may not be the main emphasis, where skill challenges can be sometimes done.

The question here is, what types of alternative "non dungeon crawl-ish" adventures are there which could be done within the constraints of the DDI character builder? (That is, adventures which do not resemble WotC 4E style generic "dungeon crawls" and which do not require the addition of new 3pp player specific crunch).

 

[ExploderWizard]

The type of adventures people may be looking for are perhaps more organic and less rigidly structured. A selection of locations and items of interest, statistics for those items (creatures, traps, treasure,etc,), some reasons that the PC's might be there, and motivations and plans that the PC's may come into conflict with are good enough for prepared module contents.

What isn't needed is a force feeding of activity catigorization based on artificial constructs.What do I mean by that?

There will be a fight here on soundstage one followed by a brief interlude. Move on to fights two and three followed by skill challenge one. A failure here means a tougher fight four, success means an easier fight four. Move then to fights five through seven, leading up to skill challenge two.......

Provide motivations, statistics and possible interactions and just let play happen.

 

[Garthanos]

The type of adventures people may be looking for are perhaps more organic and less rigidly structured. A selection of locations and items of interest, statistics for those items (creatures, traps, treasure,etc,), some reasons that the PC's might be there, and motivations and plans that the PC's may come into conflict with are good enough for prepared module contents.

What isn't needed is a force feeding of activity catigorization based on artificial constructs.What do I mean by that?

There will be a fight here on soundstage one followed by a brief interlude. Move on to fights two and three followed by skill challenge one. A failure here means a tougher fight four, success means an easier fight four. Move then to fights five through seven, leading up to skill challenge two.......

Provide motivations, statistics and possible interactions and just let play happen.

Good Post Exploder ... less choreography more big picture.

 

[pawsplay]

The type of adventures people may be looking for are perhaps more organic and less rigidly structured. A selection of locations and items of interest, statistics for those items (creatures, traps, treasure,etc,), some reasons that the PC's might be there, and motivations and plans that the PC's may come into conflict with are good enough for prepared module contents.

Provide motivations, statistics and possible interactions and just let play happen.

Classic dungeon design basically follows this format. The more programmed style was not as popular back in the day. In a lot of ways, the programmed adventure is a strange crossbreed of the dungeon with an events-based, storytelling-based style.

 

[ggroy]

The type of adventures people may be looking for are perhaps more organic and less rigidly structured. A selection of locations and items of interest, statistics for those items (creatures, traps, treasure,etc,), some reasons that the PC's might be there, and motivations and plans that the PC's may come into conflict with are good enough for prepared module contents.

...

Provide motivations, statistics and possible interactions and just let play happen.

This sounds a bit like how some older 1E AD&D modules were written.

 

[pawsplay]

B4: The Lost City is this all over.

 

[ExploderWizard]

B4: The Lost City is this all over.

Exactly. I just started running my first 4E campaign recently, the 2nd session is tonight. I used the 2E module Return to the Keep on the Borderlands as a basic starting point and added some things in. I have stats ready for everything in the area but I don't know which ones will get used for combat. The players may make allies of some of the potential enemies, they may meet but not fight or ally with others, who knows?

A big part of the fun is not knowing where things are going until they get there.

 

[ggroy]

The type of adventures people may be looking for are perhaps more organic and less rigidly structured. A selection of locations and items of interest, statistics for those items (creatures, traps, treasure,etc,), some reasons that the PC's might be there, and motivations and plans that the PC's may come into conflict with are good enough for prepared module contents.

What isn't needed is a force feeding of activity catigorization based on artificial constructs.What do I mean by that?

There will be a fight here on soundstage one followed by a brief interlude. Move on to fights two and three followed by skill challenge one. A failure here means a tougher fight four, success means an easier fight four. Move then to fights five through seven, leading up to skill challenge two.......

Provide motivations, statistics and possible interactions and just let play happen.

In principle, one can do this in a half-assed manner by taking a 4E generic "dungeon crawl-ish" module and eliminating the specific order of the encounters, skill challenges, etc ... and making it less railroady.

Though if one does this for the 4E WotC "Keep on the Shadowfell" H1 or "Thunderspire Labyrinth" H2 modules to have more of a "sandbox" style with respect to the order of the encounters and skill challenges (by eliminating some stuff and less restrictions on the order of the encounters), I don't think the play would be that much different. (There are obvious exceptions such as going straight to Kalarel's lair in H1 or going straight to Paldemar's lair in H2, at the very beginning of the game).

What other viable adventure types are there, besides a sandbox-like module or a railroady generic "dungeon crawl"?

 

[ExploderWizard]

What other viable adventure types are there besides a sandbox-like module/setting or a railroady generic "dungeon crawl"?

How about a mystery to solve like the murder in 1E module L2 Assassins Knot?

There were locations to visit, NPC's to interact with and events in motion going on during the investigation that put pressure on the party to not waste time. The players controlled the flow of the investigation and the methods used to conduct it. NPC's were linked to locations but not stuck in time until the party showed up. People moved around, depending on the time of day making the town and events more lifelike.

 

[ggroy]

How about a mystery to solve like the murder in 1E module L2 Assassins Knot?

There were locations to visit, NPC's to interact with and events in motion going on during the investigation that put pressure on the party to not waste time. The players controlled the flow of the investigation and the methods used to conduct it. NPC's were linked to locations but not stuck in time until the party showed up. People moved around, depending on the time of day making the town and events more lifelike.

Interesting. A murder mystery in D&D form.

I never picked up module L2, back in the day.