The 15 Minute Dungeon Master?

[Spinachcat]

I have begun thinking / scribbling about a 4e project that I want to write for release by the end of 2008. It is tentatively titled "The 15 Minute Dungeon Master" with the subtitle "Adventure Generator for 1st-5th level Heroes." The design goal is clear: using this book, the DM should be able to create 4 hours of fun with 15 minutes of preparation.

This book will be more than a random dungeon generator, although that will be a solid section, and I really want to discover if it is possible to create a method to make solid 4e adventures with such little prep. I have some shortcuts I have used for other editions and if the 4e PHB Lite is really a hint of things to come, I think such a project is doable.

Obviously, ENworlders are the prime demographic for the person who would buy such a product so I am most interested in your thoughts. Here are my three main questions for you:

1) What do you want in an adventure generator that you have not gotten in the past?

2) What do you most struggle with when making adventures?

3) What are your favorite "GM Guide" books or websites? What made them so useful?

Thank you in advance!

 

[djdaidouji]

You should think about NPC personalities and such. Looking at Dungeonscape may help. It would difficult to get fully fleshed out NPCs with their own personalities and unique roles in fifteen minutes, though if possible, it would be fantastic.

My struggles in my campaigns have usually been interesting non-combat situations. I can spend weeks thinking up a non-cliched storyline, only for it to end up taking ten minutes to complete. An example is a murder mystery that I came up with, and I thought it was pretty awesome. But it was my first time, and I made mistakes, and the entire session was pretty much done in a terribly boring hour.

So basically, make sure you have a great variety of things... I'm not being much help, I know, but....you know, put things with the stuff.

If it turns out as good as it sounds, I would totally purchase it. I'd try and get a small interview with a well known module creator to get their opinion. (Unless you yourself are a well known module creator, in which case... I'm humbled.)

 

[Saeviomagy]

My struggles in my campaigns have usually been interesting non-combat situations. I can spend weeks thinking up a non-cliched storyline, only for it to end up taking ten minutes to complete. An example is a murder mystery that I came up with, and I thought it was pretty awesome. But it was my first time, and I made mistakes, and the entire session was pretty much done in a terribly boring hour.

Maybe the problem is avoiding cliches? If you wanted to do this style of book, you'd probably be best off picking out effective cliches for plotlines and then adding a menu of twists and changes to them, and also some 'gotchas' that have the potential of spoiling the whole thing.

So:

Scenario
The bad guy has something that the players need

Questions to be filled in:
What is the thing that the players need?
The "thing" could be:
An actual item
Some information
A person (either the villain has kidnapped someone and the players mount a rescue, or vice versa - the players intend to kidnap someone from the villain)
An important location

Why do they need it?
Motivations for the players include:
The characters are motivated by greed. The item either has a great monetary worth, or can give some amount of power to it's possessor. This also includes being sent to get the item by a rich or powerful NPC

The characters are motivated by desperation. If they do not get the item, the PCs will suffer. Example - the PCs have been infected with a disease and must get the cure, or the PCs are sent on the mission by a powerful and malevolent NPC.

The characters are motivated by obligation. They owe someone something and this will free them of the debt.

The characters are motivated by compassion. Freeing the kidnap victim, restoring things to their rightful place etc.

Why can't they just take it?
The object is protected by force. It is protected by guards or traps (section XX), or is on the person of the villain, who is dangerous. This will obviously involve the players defeating combat and trap encounters in order to reach their goal.

The object is protected by mystery. The players do not know where the object is. Finding the object could involve:
Solving riddles (Section YY)
Questioning NPCs (Section ZZ)

The object is protected by status. The object is something that would cause trouble for the PCs later if they were to simply take it. Usually this is because the current owner has powerful friends, or is in a position of power.
Some examples would be:
Stealing the king's horse
Stealing trade secrets from a large guild

Naturally combinations are possible - you can have a secret, guild-run, heavily guarded vault for example.

Twists and turns:
The target is not what the PCs thought it was: The jewelled orb is actually a dragon egg, the kidnapee is a willing accomplice. The well-fortified tower is actually a focus for holding a dimensional rip closed.

The defenses are not what the PCs though they were: The unguarded mansion is actually a heavily guarded secret headquarters to an underground organization, the hidden location is actually on display as a well known and loved relic. The mayor who holds the vital proof is actually an impostor.

Gotchas:
Do the PCs really need the item? If the PCs can think up an alternative, or can simply decide the task is too hard and quit, then all this adventure planning is for naught. Try to make the adventure you've planned the most attractive alternative. Make sure you take the motivations of your characters into account - it's no good sending greedy mercenaries on a mission to save the penniless orphans from evil unless there's something in it for them. Conversely if the only reward is money, then heroes might find their motivation lacking.

Can the PCs get the item in some simple matter? Is it possible they can just cast a spell and *poof* the item is in their hand? Does the PCs doing so actually bypass your adventure (for instance - if an item is protected by status, then this isn't actually bypassing the defenses at all)?


Something like that...

Then you have some sections on how to create a riddle (not just a list of riddles - but what makes a good riddle, why someone would use a riddle to protect a secret etc), how to create traps, some NPC sketches (start with very broad strokes and then add a handful of specific quirks to make them unique).

Finally some guidelines for how to do all this stuff on the fly (ie - sketch it out, flesh out NPCs as the PCs meet them and such)

That'd be my take on it anyway.

 

[Harr]

I would be extremely interested in something like this, even though I already consider myself a '15 minute DM' and am moderately succesful at it.

As for my favorite GM-guide, I would heavily advise that you give chapter 9 of the SotC document a read before anything else. Hands down the best 'quick prep' advice you will ever come across.

Coming in a close second for quick-prep that is almost magical would be the "TRAP: Threat-Reward-Asset-Problem" threads in these forums somewhere.. can't find the link right now but they were gold for me.

 

[77IM]

1) What do you want in an adventure generator that you have not gotten in the past?

Interesting, usable maps. Most random map generators are too dungeon-oriented, and even then produce somewhat clunky results.

2) What do you most struggle with when making adventures?

a) Balanced, interesting combat encounters. I am hoping that 4e's new monster design helps with this aspect.
b) Puzzle/Investigation/Role-Playing encounters with sufficient multiple solutions that my players won't get stuck, yet are simple enough that my player's won't get confused.

-- 77IM

 

[Satori]

I find that many DMs (myself in particular) fall into a dangerously predictable series of hooks. While these story paths may work and provide a lot of initial entertainment...after a while, the PCs get used to it. In the end, we fall victim to our own creativity.

Hence, this is where I think a "Random Adventure Calculator" would be incredible.

In nearly all decent WotC books, there are plenty of "Plot Hooks" and "Potential Stories".

What I would do is create a three part "Random Plot Generator" with as many options as I could manage to add. You would then roll three dice and combine the results into a Beginning, Middle, and End plot.

Then, you take five minutes to creatively intertwine the different sections together.

i.e. I rolled: Beginning - Noble Child is Kidnapped, Middle - Seek Relic of Dead God in Buried Catacombes, End - Stop Dragon from Destroying Village

Holy Emordung! How can I make that work together?!?

Simple...DM creativity! (also known as Minotaur Pooping).

End Result: While on a brief vacation, the local mayor's infant son is kidnapped by a minor thieves guild. After further investigation (and some serious thief butt kicking), the PCs find out that the baby was sold to an underground cult intent on raising a dead god. After some more investigating and crypt crawling, they save the baby and realize that it isn't a cult devoted to raising a dead god...but to waking a dangerous red dragon from sleep! Now they must stop the dragon before it wreaks havoc on the countryside in an awesome display of Trogdor burnination.

With three dice rolls of five minutes of DM fudging, you have a wonderfully random and unpredictable adventure to surprise your PCs with.

Following this train of thought, I'd like to see something similar for NPC/Mook generation.

i.e. A Mook Table, a Good Guy Table, and a BBEG Table

Let's say I roll: Dire Insects for Mooks, a Lawful Good Monastic Order for Good Guys, and a Orc Warlord for BBEG.

Now...with more DM fudging, I need to work this into the above plot to keep things interesting.

-We already have a Thieves Guild, an Evil Cult, and an Evil Dragon...let's add the random rolls to this.

1. Dire Insects
The Evil Cult, upon further investigation, want to wake a Red Dragon of near godly power. However, that particular dragon has been dead for centuries...but such was this dragon's size and power that an enormous hive of dire insects have spent decades incubating, feeding, and mutating within its body. The Evil Cult controls these creatures through spells and uses them to terrorize the local villagers, and merely believes these insects are the minions of the dead dragon.

2. The Godly Red Dragon was quite fecund in life, however, and was able to sire a number of children. In response to the havoc wreaked by these offspring, a Lawful Good Monastic group attempts to contain and destroy the threat. Inspired by visions granted by their deity (an Elder Gold Dragon responsible for killing the godly Red Dragon, in reality), this group travels long and far to destroy these younger dragons. In the midst of finding another draconic threat, they stumble across the PCs and act as a support group for various needs.

3. The Red Dragon, woken by the actions of the Evil Cultists, has begun to build an army of local Orcs in an attempt to ravage the nearby villages. To control these tribes, the dragon has dominated an old, wise, and powerful Orcish warlord. While this warlord is simply a puppet...it's a remarkably useful puppet which, combined with his new "Dragon Mount", inspires awe and fear among all the chaotic orcish tribes.

---

Woah! With six dice rolls, I have come up with a ridiculously unique, very unpredictable adventure.

Combine this with 4th Editions "Easy NPC Creation" system, and you can have an overarching campaign ready in under 20 minutes!

 

[rob626]

favorite tool

My absolute favorite tool for coming up with adventures:

The Adventure Deck from 2nd ed. For those unfamiliar, it was a card deck with some places, items, and scenes. The way I used it was to shuffle then deal out like 5 or so cards and try to string them together like a madlib and then figure out the logic of how they worked together, trying to keep them in the order they were dealt. This made the story a little more bizarre/unique.

For example: tavern, orc, longsword, lost prince, and army might be the major themes of the cards dealt (there was always more text on the cards, but if you boiled it down to the major theme of each card the possibilities grew exponentially)

With those cards I might come up with: An orc walks into a tavern with a magical longsword and kneels before a human tavern patron, declaring him the long lost prince of the tribe. The orc then tries to convince the prince to come back to his homeland and lead an army to reclaim their rightful place blah blah blah.

OR: A fire starts in a tavern and an orc is spotted running away carrying a longsword. The party is approached by a mysterious stranger to track down the orc. The sword is the key to a magic ritual to restore a petrified prince to life. The orc is fleeing through an area being contested by two (or more) warring factions.

Complications, twists, and plot grow out from there. Ask a couple of questions and the adventure is done: What motivated the orc? What is special about the tavern? Who is the prince? Who are the armies loyal to currently?

The adventures basically write themselves.

<Edit: Satori, you knave! You beat me to it! All hail the MadLib Adventure/Campaign Design!>

 

[Satori]

<---Is a Knave.

 

[Spinachcat]

1) Thank you everyone for your suggestions

2) Send me more!

It would difficult to get fully fleshed out NPCs with their own personalities and unique roles in fifteen minutes, though if possible, it would be fantastic.

"Fully fleshed out" is beyond my scope, but instead I am going for the writer's shorthand of "archetype + quirk" that produces somebody memorable we meet on screen for a scene or two. I wll also approach NPC generation with "actor notes" for the GM to help them "improv" the NPC so the character is fun to interact with and gets remembered after the session.

but....you know, put things with the stuff.

I absolutely promise to put things with the stuff.

Maybe the problem is avoiding cliches?

Cliches rock. Don't avoid them. Instead, sit with them and ask questions. Cliches are your noodles, pasta and rice. Do you just serve some boiled rice? Or do you boil the rice with saffron and then stir fry the rice with fresh chopped veggies in coconut oil? My goal will be to take cliches which are bedrock components of storytelling and offer something more. My hope is that I will be able to offer the GM a gourmet microwave meal. No, it won't beat what the best chefs of Paris could do, but it will be far more exciting than another McDonald's run.

I would be extremely interested in something like this, even though I already consider myself a '15 minute DM' and am moderately succesful at it.

What kind of tool would take you from "moderately successful" to "highly successful"? What has been missing when you run adventures with 15 prep?

Interesting, usable maps. Most random map generators are too dungeon-oriented, and even then produce somewhat clunky results.

I am avoiding actual maps, because (a) I am not a visual artist and (b) WotC is producing excellent Dungeon Tiles and I expect an artistic 3rd parties to jump into the map business.

I highly agree with the clunky result issue with random mappers. That is a problem that I am going to be examining deeply, but here's my viewpoint. I do not design dungeons from an architectural perspective, but a cinematic one. The problem I see with lots of random generators is room / hallway placement and I am more focused on "transition fluff" and flowcharts that lead to interesting Encounter Sites vs. Room to Room style exploration.

What I would do is create a three part "Random Plot Generator" with as many options as I could manage to add. You would then roll three dice and combine the results into a Beginning, Middle, and End plot.

This is an excellent idea. There is a pirate RPG called Crimson Cutlass that has a similiar idea. With Cutlass, the GM picks the Inciting Event and the Climax scene and then randomly rolls for everything that occurs in between.

I have not yet decided how exactly I am going to do my Random Plot Generator, but certainly I will be heavily focused on Three Act Structure and the transitions in between.

Now they must stop the dragon before it wreaks havoc on the countryside in an awesome display of Trogdor burnination.

Amen. Everybody needs more Trogdor Burnination!

My absolute favorite tool for coming up with adventures: The Adventure Deck from 2nd ed.

Thank you, I will be looking for a set on eBay. There is something really wonderful about using a deck of cards as a randomizer. Crimson Cutlass uses a combo of tarot cards and dice charts and there is something very fun about the various intrepretations that can be made from the vague meanings of card symbols and key words.

 

[Saeviomagy]

"Fully fleshed out" is beyond my scope, but instead I am going for the writer's shorthand of "archetype + quirk" that produces somebody memorable we meet on screen for a scene or two. I wll also approach NPC generation with "actor notes" for the GM to help them "improv" the NPC so the character is fun to interact with and gets remembered after the session.

Maybe it would be possible to implement a method of 'levelling up' an NPC's personality so if he ends up being more important, he grows more, fleshing out into a full personality.

Cliches rock. Don't avoid them. Instead, sit with them and ask questions. Cliches are your noodles, pasta and rice. Do you just serve some boiled rice? Or do you boil the rice with saffron and then stir fry the rice with fresh chopped veggies in coconut oil? My goal will be to take cliches which are bedrock components of storytelling and offer something more. My hope is that I will be able to offer the GM a gourmet microwave meal. No, it won't beat what the best chefs of Paris could do, but it will be far more exciting than another McDonald's run.

That was exactly my point - the problem that you had was trying to produce a cliche-free adventure, when cliches are powerful tools to make a story and have it understood.

What kind of tool would take you from "moderately successful" to "highly successful"? What has been missing when you run adventures with 15 prep?

The biggest problem I have with quick-prep adventures in current D&D is anticipating what the players can do to avoid that 15 minutes of prep I am ahead of them. If you expect the players to fight, and instead they rapidly assemble a cunning plan, you can be sunk pretty quickly. To that end - more things to throw at players who want to avoid combat is a really good resource to have. I see the skill challenge framework as being useful to this, but some sort of scene list or generator would work really well.

I am avoiding actual maps, because (a) I am not a visual artist and (b) WotC is producing excellent Dungeon Tiles and I expect an artistic 3rd parties to jump into the map business.

I highly agree with the clunky result issue with random mappers. That is a problem that I am going to be examining deeply, but here's my viewpoint. I do not design dungeons from an architectural perspective, but a cinematic one. The problem I see with lots of random generators is room / hallway placement and I am more focused on "transition fluff" and flowcharts that lead to interesting Encounter Sites vs. Room to Room style exploration.

Yeah, count me out for random dungeon generation. Floorplans are far from exciting.

Now - guidelines for how to set up an encounter site are much more interesting. There's a big difference between a fight in a room and a fight in a fully-stocked torture chamber, but sadly a lot of current dungeons have no real fleshing out of the latter.