So you wanna write an adventure, eh?

[BLACKDIRGE]

/wave

Speaking of which - when are we getting treated with a kick-ass adventure from you again?

Hey, man, how are you? I still miss your ultrashort reviews. =]

As for adventures, the Dark Sun game day adventure, Lost Cistern of Aravek, is mine. In addition, I wrote the Vault of Darom Madar in Dungeon 181, and I have another Chaos Scar adventure forthcoming (probably September).

BD

 

[Jack99]

Hey, man, how are you? I still miss your ultrashort reviews. =]

As for adventures, the Dark Sun game day adventure, Lost Cistern of Aravek, is mine. In addition, I wrote the Vault of Darom Madar in Dungeon 181, and I have another Chaos Scar adventure forthcoming (probably September).

BD

Fine thanks, too busy to get really involved sadly - but I will be looking forward to your adventures.

 

[smerwin29]

The tricky part of trying to pin down a template or format is that you are often trying to hit a moving target. Chances are that the current adventure format from Dungeon or from one of the published adventures is already "obsolete" by the time it is published. Lead time between writing and publication can be as long as a year, so in the interim formats are often changed slightly in some way or another: monster/trap stat blocks, skill challenge presentation, adventure flow, etc. Back in 2008 I was working on three 4e projects simultaneously with three different leads/editors: a Dungeon Adventure, the Dungeon Delve hardcover, and Assault on Nightwyrm Fortress. Granted that this was while 4e was still being hashed out in its final form, but I was essentially working from 3 different design specs for the three different projects.

But the advice that has been given so far holds true: work with the most current published version of what you are writing. If there are difference in format, your lead/editor will fill you in on what needs to change.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Please tell me what you think of this as a good outline for adventure format.

Where's the actual adventure? Surely it's not just a series of encounters. I see: synopsis...encounters...conclusion. Where are the adventure main events and storyline? Also, you certainly shouldn't get tied up in formatting or typesetting. Leave that to someone else. You're going to spend all your time formatting your document and typesetting it, which will all be a waste of time and your actual work will suffer greatly.

 

[Gloomshroud]

Where's the actual adventure? Surely it's not just a series of encounters. I see: synopsis...encounters...conclusion. Where are the adventure main events and storyline? Also, you certainly shouldn't get tied up in formatting or typesetting. Leave that to someone else. You're going to spend all your time formatting your document and typesetting it, which will all be a waste of time and your actual work will suffer greatly.

Well, like I said, it's not an adventure. It's just a formatting template. I use it as a basis, nothing more. It's actually FASTER (as I've discovered in 7+ years of DMing) for me to use such formats. Everyone's brain works differently. Mine is organizational, prone to hierarchical systems, and totally digging a format to live by. I didn't say it was for everyone. I said it was for ME, what works for ME. If others can benefit from it as well (i.e. there are others who think the same way) then please enjoy.

To wit, I don't really get into the hardcore publishing. Just the general outline. That's all. Now, I *have* produced professional looking stuff, but that was for FUN. Kinda like..you don't HAVE to paint minis, but it's fun. (ACtually, I detest painting minis).

 

[Infiniti2000]

Well, like I said, it's not an adventure. It's just a formatting template. I use it as a basis, nothing more.

Yes, I realize that, but maybe I wasn't clear. The template has no place for the actual adventure. And, I think this lack is a glaring error, probably the biggest one. The reason why is because I think the template therefore forces you, the game designer, to design your adventure as simply a series of encounters. This is a terrible design. Where's the event flow? If your adventure is simply one encounter after another, it's not very useful to me.