Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Charles Rampant" data-source="post: 7157958" data-attributes="member: 32659"><p>I'd push back against [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]; taking the font size too small is a recipe for disaster. That said, I'm not actually sure how big the font size in the WotC APs is; I'd guess that's a solid size to mimic, if you can work it out. Doubtless it'll turn out to be font size 9, now that I've said that <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>I think that [MENTION=37579]Jester David[/MENTION] makes a pertinent point when he says that the adventure needs to do something that the DM couldn't do on the fly. Like, anyone can manage to on the fly develop and run five rooms in a row with 12 Orcs total, a pit trap, and a cursed sword that attacks people if they don't speak nice to it. If you're going to do an Orc Hold as an adventure, then the added value of the prewritten adventure could come from...</p><p></p><p>- A nice map (hard to do at home to professional level)</p><p>- Interesting NPCs with relationships that matter to the adventure. [1] You're up on Planescape, so I refer you to In The Cage: Faces of Sigil as a great example, albeit not an adventure. </p><p>- Complex combats presented simply. This could be a 3e tactical approach; it could be a room with waves of reinforcements and terrain that takes more than five minutes to develop, thus benefits from pre-writing.</p><p>- New stuff, be it a custom magic item or whatever.</p><p>- A subsystem. Say... this Orc Hold is built atop the ruins of a Netheril Flying City, and there are certain doors that need to be opened with cunning applications of magic. Having a bit of crunch devoted to that - tables, if-then-but clauses for using spells to open it, that sort of thing - is going to be added value since it would be real effort to develop. I'm going to pick up the adventures for AiME since they come with, among other things, pre-developed and custom Journey tables for the benefit of that subsystem. I could make those, but it'd take time.</p><p>- Sometimes - just to be a good example of something. Another reason why I'm buying AiME adventures - I love the Lord of the Rings, and I don't want to mess it up! So a book of 'here is what an adventure in this setting looks like' is really helpful. It'd be the same for Dark Sun, if that was an option. High Level modules are often mentioned on here. Orc Holds probably don't fall into this category, but you know what I mean.</p><p>- Developing a town or region for the DM's further use. Curse of Strahd or Out of the Abyss are obvious examples of this, as is Phandalin from Lost Mines. </p><p></p><p>I'm aware that's all perfectly obvious, but stating the obvious is sometimes helpful.</p><p></p><p>[1] On here someone once related the story of a module where an assassin appeared! The module gave a page long description of her history and motivations, her difficult childhood, etc; and then ended with, "She attacks instantly and fights to the death." A glorious waste of time <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charles Rampant, post: 7157958, member: 32659"] I'd push back against [MENTION=29398]Lanefan[/MENTION]; taking the font size too small is a recipe for disaster. That said, I'm not actually sure how big the font size in the WotC APs is; I'd guess that's a solid size to mimic, if you can work it out. Doubtless it'll turn out to be font size 9, now that I've said that :D I think that [MENTION=37579]Jester David[/MENTION] makes a pertinent point when he says that the adventure needs to do something that the DM couldn't do on the fly. Like, anyone can manage to on the fly develop and run five rooms in a row with 12 Orcs total, a pit trap, and a cursed sword that attacks people if they don't speak nice to it. If you're going to do an Orc Hold as an adventure, then the added value of the prewritten adventure could come from... - A nice map (hard to do at home to professional level) - Interesting NPCs with relationships that matter to the adventure. [1] You're up on Planescape, so I refer you to In The Cage: Faces of Sigil as a great example, albeit not an adventure. - Complex combats presented simply. This could be a 3e tactical approach; it could be a room with waves of reinforcements and terrain that takes more than five minutes to develop, thus benefits from pre-writing. - New stuff, be it a custom magic item or whatever. - A subsystem. Say... this Orc Hold is built atop the ruins of a Netheril Flying City, and there are certain doors that need to be opened with cunning applications of magic. Having a bit of crunch devoted to that - tables, if-then-but clauses for using spells to open it, that sort of thing - is going to be added value since it would be real effort to develop. I'm going to pick up the adventures for AiME since they come with, among other things, pre-developed and custom Journey tables for the benefit of that subsystem. I could make those, but it'd take time. - Sometimes - just to be a good example of something. Another reason why I'm buying AiME adventures - I love the Lord of the Rings, and I don't want to mess it up! So a book of 'here is what an adventure in this setting looks like' is really helpful. It'd be the same for Dark Sun, if that was an option. High Level modules are often mentioned on here. Orc Holds probably don't fall into this category, but you know what I mean. - Developing a town or region for the DM's further use. Curse of Strahd or Out of the Abyss are obvious examples of this, as is Phandalin from Lost Mines. I'm aware that's all perfectly obvious, but stating the obvious is sometimes helpful. [1] On here someone once related the story of a module where an assassin appeared! The module gave a page long description of her history and motivations, her difficult childhood, etc; and then ended with, "She attacks instantly and fights to the death." A glorious waste of time :) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
Top