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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bluenose" data-source="post: 6120063" data-attributes="member: 49017">A hook. Something that gets the players/PCs attention, and involves them in the adventure. Whether it's a treasure map, an ambush, a barge, a poem - anything can work.Either:A place. Some place where they need to go. Something that feels appropriate for the type of site, rather than a series of rooms and corridors with enemies in them. The Thanatar temple in Shadows on the Borderlands is spooky, dangerous, and sometimes disgusting - all very appropriate. Bogenhafen during the festival is exciting, chaotic, full of distractions; and at night it's misty, closed in, and damp.Or:An event. Something is happening/has happened. What are the PCs doing about it? People to talk to, things to investigate, rituals to disrupt. Shadows over Bogenhafen is one of the best examples of an adventure where the event is important, with things happening at their own pace unless the PCs stop them.Complications. The things that stop the PCs just doing what they want. Note that doesn't necessarily mean enemies. The head of the Watch isn't necessarily in league with the ritualist, he's watching out for his town and doesn't want heavily armed adventurers wandering around causing trouble.Resolution. The success and failure conditions, and the wider consequences thereof. Did the ritual take place and [spoiler]a major demonic outbreak swallow a town[/spoiler]? The witch hunters will probably want a word or two with that band of trouble-makers who were reported wandering around doing strange things in the hours before that happened.And then there's other types of adventure, where there's a hook and a resolution and everything inbetween is left to the PCs and their GM, who is probably armed with a large number of tables to generate events and encounters. Get most of those right, implement them well, and you've got the basis of a good adventure. Do all of them well or excellently, and you've got something people will remember for a long time.Edit to add: Freedom. Giving players plenty of freedom is much more important to some groups than others, but a scripted adventure where the PCs progress from one place to another is not likely to be better than average for my tastes.</blockquote>

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