writing adventures

[Mighty Halfling]

I work a lot from inspiration. Here are a few of mine ...

• Take concepts from the real world, drop them into the game world and ask "How would this work?"
• Come up with a title of your adventure first, and then figure out how you can make your adventure match it.
• Flip through a monster book, skip past all the creatures you've done before and stop at that weird one you always laughed at. Read it, figure out how to make it part of your plot.
• Alternatively, read a creature entry that been done to death and figure out how it can be done differently.
• Flip through a non-monster RPG book and hunt for little details you've never used before. Use those details as a key encounter in your adventure.
• Focus on the opportunity to use a specific monster, spell, weapon or magic item that you've never used.
• Watch something on a documentary channel. Before you start viewing, say to yourself, "I'm gonna watch this with the express purpose of generating ideas for my game."

[sblock=My Adventures] I've written three adventures for Dungeon ("Racing the Snake," "Buzz in the Bridge" and "Throne of Iuz"). I'm the line editor for EN Publishing's Faction Folio line, where I wrote "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Fronnori." What's that mean? Someone has decided I'm doing things right. Still, I'm no Wolfgang Baur! [/sblock]

 

[messy]

allo again

i guess i need to elaborate a little on what i need help with.

i need help in writing adventures (even an adventure path, potentially) for my home game. i'm interested in simple adventures with a believable plot, role-playing opportunities, and a few surprises. i feel like i'm pretty good at the technical side of adventure-design (making appropriate challenges for the pcs) but not so good at the creative side (why are the monsters here? what are they up to?). this is what i need help with.

that said, the responses so far are definitely helpful and appreciated.

piratecat, it's nice to hear that even the pros struggle sometimes

doug, i found the complications to be the most helpful part of your post

monkey king, i'm not interested in writing professionally -- that's your job

vascant, your post was a little vague; i'm not sure i understand.

glassjaw, i've got lots of ideas regarding monsters/bbegs, but nothing has written itself yet

exile, i'm not above stealing from other sources your ramblings are helpful, too

mighty halfling, those are some very helpful ideas

thanx very much, everyone. keep those ideas coming

messy

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Like I said, get your list of Stuff I Like together, then figure out how it would all coexist together. Once you've done that, you've started creating ideas for the setting. Figure out how the player characters' community would interact with them (trading, being victims of attacks, being the initiators of attacks) and you've got all the adventures you need.

 

[Raven Crowking]

i need help in writing adventures (even an adventure path, potentially) for my home game. i'm interested in simple adventures with a believable plot, role-playing opportunities, and a few surprises. i feel like i'm pretty good at the technical side of adventure-design (making appropriate challenges for the pcs) but not so good at the creative side (why are the monsters here? what are they up to?). this is what i need help with.

The original C&C had some great articles in their books about the things you're looking for. Wish I had them handy to quote from.

For home games, the best thing you can do IMHO is read prodigiously. I would recommend reading the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels (particularly the Tarzan, John Carter, and Pellucidar books) and the original Robert E. Howard stories. Then steal like a 20th level halfling rogue in a bakery after midnight.

This edition is really focused on putting things into game stats the "right" way. Go down that road, and you'll never get anything done. I recommend that you write out your basic plot, draw your maps, and determine what sort of things are where before you even crack the game books. Then, if it comes to a choice between your cool idea and the rules, side with your cool idea if at all possible....just be sure that you aren't stepping into Player territory. You can swap out equivilent class abilities, for instance, to make a monster into exactly what you want, and you can call it "Varient Class X" and give it a nice write-up if it makes you feel better later.

For plots, ask your self who the villian is and what the villian wants. Usually, the villian wants riches, power, revenge, or simply to survive (often by making local villagers provide food....sometimes including local villagers). It isn't what they want that makes villians the bad guys, it is what they are willing to do to get it. In the Doctor Who story, "Terror of the Zygons", the Zygons want to be left alone until a rescue ship can pick them up. When they learn that their home world has been destroyed, though, they want a new home world....and they are willing to wipe out humanity to get it.

We all understand the need for a home. We are not all willing to commit genocide to get it. Similarly, your PCs might want wealth and power, but there are some things (one hopes) that they will not stoop to. Figure out what they are, and then let your villians stoop.

Basically, give a villian a need that we all have, notch it up a bit, add in one of the Seven Deadly Sins, shake, and scoop up whatever comes out of the bottle. Or else just Wiki any human conflict that ever was, and disguise your source.

You should hope to be able to sum up your adventure in about one sentence. These are all ones I've used:

Spider cultists kidnap a merchant's son and intend to sacrifice him on the new moon.

Undead druids, mislead by a demon, stir up the orcs for war.

In a ruined city of the Elder Titans, a bound abomination struggles to break free.

An unliving creature from days gone by musters armies to try to conquer the modern world.

Aboleths gnaw at the underside of a city, planning to collapse it into the dark waters of the lake.

An outbreak of plague requires a sacred relic be brought from another town in order to stem the disease.

Human sacrifice awakens an ancient evil.​

RC

 

[Doug McCrae]

why are the monsters here? what are they up to?

I find the setting info helps me here. Take Eberron for example. In the Shadow Marches there are lots of monsters that want to eat you, House Tharashk wants to collect dragonshards and valuable plants, gatekeeper orcs want to keep the world safe from aberrations/extraplanar threats and cultist orcs want to sacrifice you to their dark gods. Members of the Order of the Emerald Claw want to acquire magical resources, keep fighting the Last War and overthrow King Kaius. Members of the Aurum and Dragonmarked Houses want to make money.

Motivations will vary by monster.

Low intelligence monsters mostly want food. They try to eat the PCs or people the PCs are protecting.
Savage humanoids, giants, bandits and pirates raid for treasure and slaves.
Undead want to defend their tombs or prey upon the living.
Fiends want to corrupt mortals, acquire souls or cause bad things to happen, in the short or long term.
High intelligence, evil monsters have cunning plans to increase their power and minions to help carry out those plans.
Warlords want to conquer as much territory as possible.
Cultists want to make sacrifices to their foul masters and free them from their extradimensional prisons.

 

[Phlebas]

new theory i'm trying out

take one overarching plot - create BBEG, create target to be defended that the PC's need to care about - work on the why, then come up with one or two hows that are going on in the background - flesh out over time, you can start with a few names and a motive, these things will grow over time

meantime work on the PC's - find individual motivations, backstory or interests. Give them a group they're a member of (Church, guild, family etc). then you can kidnap / blackmail / threaten / steal from or beg favour etc etc

write out an adventure focused on one PC, using their motivations to drive the plot. only need 5-8 encounters, one (or two) of which will involve 'THE PLOT' - normally all this takes is one side of scribbled A4 including rough maps - occasionally i'll dump monster stats from SRD or use an NPC generator on extra sheets

repeat for next PC & then next PC etc etc

with little effort, you have a few months worth of adventuring where every character gets his turn in the sun, and the PC's will be starting to wonder about 'THE PLOT'

start again with the first PC, vary the sequence if the mood takes you

at some stage you'll need to / end up detailing more and more about THE PLOT, and a good time should be had by all ! even if the PC's never work out the plot, at least they're having fun

(in practice i'm now onto the 4th PC's plot line, though one of the other PC's has worked out a hook for his and almost took me out of sequence but the beauty of the system is it wouldn't have mattered too much as I had a couple of adventures roughed out in advance)

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I just finished the game testing part of a module. So far it has been fun. It does take dedication, but at a certain point there is nothing to it but to do it.

 

[Flynn]

I follow one of two different patterns, depending on the scope of what I want to create.

For short stuff, I tend to select an odd number (such as 5, 7, or 9) of encounters for the adventure. The last encounter is the Grand Finale. For each of the pairs leading up to the Grand Finale, I choose either Combat followed by RP, or RP followed by Combat. This gives me a simple framework, and roughly splits the emphasis on combat and RP so as to please most of the players that participate in my game. For example, I might have a framework that resembles the following: R, C, C, R, C, R, F. I then choose a theme, a general goal and a bad guy for the adventure. I then work out what each step in the adventure is, usually just a sentence or two for each step. Finally, I create stat blocks and I'm done. Instant adventure, and it appeals to both roleplayers and combat junkies.

For longer stuff, I borrow an idea from writing. I choose a theme, a general goal and a bad guy for the larger adventure. Then I break the adventure idea into three sentences: a beginning, a middle and an end. I take each of those sentences, and break them down into three more sentences: a beginning, a middle and an end. This gives me an overview of the mini-campaign. I look to see if any particular area needs more fleshing out. If so, I break that sentence down into three, as above. Finally, when I have a complete outline, I treat each sentence as a small adventure, and use my initial process above for creating it for my game.

After a while, you can actually start doing some of this in your head, and just make the notes you need to run a session. Still, it's a good idea to continue the practice as you can, because it gives you notes to look at a year or two down the road when you are building to the climax of the campaign itself.

I hope that helps,
Flynn

 

[replicant2]

You should hope to be able to sum up your adventure in about one sentence. These are all ones I've used:

Spider cultists kidnap a merchant's son and intend to sacrifice him on the new moon.

Undead druids, mislead by a demon, stir up the orcs for war.

In a ruined city of the Elder Titans, a bound abomination struggles to break free.

An unliving creature from days gone by musters armies to try to conquer the modern world.

Aboleths gnaw at the underside of a city, planning to collapse it into the dark waters of the lake.

An outbreak of plague requires a sacred relic be brought from another town in order to stem the disease.

Human sacrifice awakens an ancient evil.​

RC

Great stuff, RC. Advice for the original poster: Use some of these in your game.

 

[messy]

wow, awesome stuff, everybody. you guys rock

if anyone has any more suggestions, i'm all ears

messy