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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4882929" data-attributes="member: 22779">I was listening to the Open Design&nbsp; podcast a week or so ago, Episode 3.&nbsp; Great podcast.&nbsp; In it, they interview John Wick about various tidbits and whatnot.&nbsp; Now, a bit of a disclaimer.&nbsp; I listened to this a while ago, so, I've probably got the details wrong, but, the gist of one part of the interview stuck in my head.&nbsp; Even if I have the exact details wrong, just work with me.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />In the interview, Mr. Wick was talking about how people approached him at cons and other places and asked him how he approached game design.&nbsp; His answer was, &quot;What is your game about?&quot;&quot;Well,&quot; goes the answer. &quot;It's a post-apocalyptic game.&quot;&quot;No,&quot; answered Wick. &quot;That's the setting for your game.&nbsp; What's your game about?&quot;&quot;Driving across the wastelands in high powered cars while doing this and that.&quot; &quot;Again, no.&nbsp; That's what you do in your game.&nbsp; What is it about?&quot;&quot;It's about hope,&quot; finally comes the answer.&quot;Ahhh.&nbsp; Do you have a Hope stat?&quot;What stuck in my mind is how he was drilling down to the essence of the game.&nbsp; Boiling away everything until all you have left is a couple of descriptive words that should be so central to the game that they have mechanical import and effect.&nbsp; It's a great idea, IMO.My immediate thought&nbsp; was this is something I should apply to both campaign design and to adventure design.&nbsp; Start with the basic concept, before you pick system, before everything else.&nbsp; Boil down what you want the game to be about.&nbsp; From that decision, everything else should flow.And, it shouldn't really matter if you are at the campaign design level or an individual adventure, although, thinking about it, the approaches would likely be a bit different.&nbsp; I'm not likely going to make unique mechanics for each adventure, but, I probably would for a given campaign, for example.But, even at the adventure level, the choices you make should all flow from those core concepts.&nbsp; For example, if I decide that I want to make an adventure about exploration and discovery, I have to make sure of some pretty key elements.&nbsp; First, there better be something to discover and somewhere to explore.&nbsp; But, also, I should make sure that the discovered thing will be discovered, or my adventure would suddenly be about exploration and frustration.&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />As I approach the design of this adventure, I would write down that core concept or concepts and start graphing out a web of ideas, just brainstorming at first - finding concepts that go with or concepts I don't want to explore.&nbsp; I don't know.&nbsp; Maybe this is how everyone else does it already.&nbsp; I've never thought of designing adventures or campaigns this way.&nbsp; Ejecting all mechanical ideas first and starting with a more abstract concept just isn't how I've approached adventure building, when I've approached building things with any real method at all.&nbsp; <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/erm.png"&nbsp; class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":erm:" title="Erm&nbsp; &nbsp; :erm:" data-shortname=":erm:" />Just chucking this out for your edification.&nbsp; Have you listened to the podcast?&nbsp; Whatcha think?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4882929, member: 22779"] I was listening to the Open Design podcast a week or so ago, Episode 3. Great podcast. In it, they interview John Wick about various tidbits and whatnot. Now, a bit of a disclaimer. I listened to this a while ago, so, I've probably got the details wrong, but, the gist of one part of the interview stuck in my head. Even if I have the exact details wrong, just work with me. :D In the interview, Mr. Wick was talking about how people approached him at cons and other places and asked him how he approached game design. His answer was, "What is your game about?" "Well," goes the answer. "It's a post-apocalyptic game." "No," answered Wick. "That's the setting for your game. What's your game about?" "Driving across the wastelands in high powered cars while doing this and that." "Again, no. That's what you do in your game. What is it about?" "It's about hope," finally comes the answer. "Ahhh. Do you have a Hope stat?" What stuck in my mind is how he was drilling down to the essence of the game. Boiling away everything until all you have left is a couple of descriptive words that should be so central to the game that they have mechanical import and effect. It's a great idea, IMO. My immediate thought was this is something I should apply to both campaign design and to adventure design. Start with the basic concept, before you pick system, before everything else. Boil down what you want the game to be about. From that decision, everything else should flow. And, it shouldn't really matter if you are at the campaign design level or an individual adventure, although, thinking about it, the approaches would likely be a bit different. I'm not likely going to make unique mechanics for each adventure, but, I probably would for a given campaign, for example. But, even at the adventure level, the choices you make should all flow from those core concepts. For example, if I decide that I want to make an adventure about exploration and discovery, I have to make sure of some pretty key elements. First, there better be something to discover and somewhere to explore. But, also, I should make sure that the discovered thing will be discovered, or my adventure would suddenly be about exploration and frustration. :) As I approach the design of this adventure, I would write down that core concept or concepts and start graphing out a web of ideas, just brainstorming at first - finding concepts that go with or concepts I don't want to explore. I don't know. Maybe this is how everyone else does it already. I've never thought of designing adventures or campaigns this way. Ejecting all mechanical ideas first and starting with a more abstract concept just isn't how I've approached adventure building, when I've approached building things with any real method at all. :erm: Just chucking this out for your edification. Have you listened to the podcast? Whatcha think? [/QUOTE]

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