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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GuardianLurker" data-source="post: 413677" data-attributes="member: 786">1)A general rule of thumb I read on the boards a while back was that a 6 person party merited about a +1 EL. It seemed to work well for those who used it.2) When I design an adventure, I work in terms of "encounter units", where a single EL +0 encounter is 1 encounter unit. Theoretically :EL -4 = 1/4 euEL -3 = 1/3 euEL -2 = 1/2 euEL -1 = 2/3 euEL +0 = 1 euEL +1 = 1.5 euEL +2 = 2EL +3 = 3EL +4 = 4(EL +5 = 6)Yeah, I know it's basic, but it never hurts to restate the obvious. And mix-n-matching eu until I get to 14 works well.Something to keep in mind; 14 eu isn't a very long adventure. If it was a straight combat fest, I'd expect most groups to be able to complete it in one session. A reasonable mix of EU-worthy scenes, "empties", RP scenes, and false leads will probably bring things up to two sessions (or maybe even three on slow days).One thing to keep in mind (that *I* have to keep in mind) is that combat isn't the only thing. I really like "The Crystal Tower" scenario in "Nature's Fury".3) Take Mistwell's advice. And definitely get a lawyer to vet it. And though IANAL, if you're serious enough about things to be throwing around NDAs, you probably need to incorporate as well. And you DEFINITELY need a lawyer's advice for that.4) Take a break. Run a boardgame session (one of the Cattan games), play MtG, do an animefest, whatever. Usually, if its just "GM block" one or two sessions away will be enough. For mild cases of "GM burnout", I try to convince my players to do a one-shot in another system. For bad cases of "GM burnout" I hand off to another GM for a while. For near-fatal cases, nothing helps but cold turkey.The only really tricky part is the "pinch GM" scenario. You've got to have one waiting in the wings. Which is why I always try to "grow" one when I don't have one. BTW, early use of the "pinch GM" can extend the MTBF for GMs.Personally, every time I've run out of ideas, I've later realized it was just "GM burnout" striking. Ideas are fairly eacy to come by; if nothing else, almost every adventure, especially published ones, leave loose ends. As an example, drawing from the Sunless Citadel - what if the twig creatures escape (as is likely)? Suppose the Gulthias tree isn't the original?  How big *was* the culture that built the Citadel? Is it still around? Heck, with out much effort, just about every single published module can be used to launch at least an arc, if not an entire cohesive campaign.Ideas are easy; it's the implementation that's hard.</blockquote>

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