Creating an Adventure
Mark Green
markgreen@almac.co.uk
Making an Adventure. A few notes for DM's.
These are some thoughts put to paper and may/may not be
original. They should in all cases be taken as IMHO. The
theme I am addressing is "How do I make up an adventure":
The basic plot for an closed-system adventure can be
reduced to: Problem, Piecing together a solution,
Solution. The basic plot for an open-system adventure can
be reduced to : Introduction, Sequence of Events,
Resolution, Progression to next Sequence. Most campaigns
probably run an open-system composed of many closed-
system adventures, each of which is considered as a
discrete event.
Closed-System Adventures
The best starting points from which an adventure can be
derived are People, Place and Time:
(a) Key Character(s)
(b) Key Environment(s)
(c) Key Event(s)
(a) So, you might think of a character, such as an old
dwarf. Visualise the appearance first, and you may find
the character will emerge from that, as well as their
history (why, they got that scar on their ear from
falling off a Pony when they were young, thus making them
scared of heights). From that history may come the tag
for the plot-line. For example, our ancient dwarf needs a
certain stone that can only be mined from a huge sheer
cliff-face. The characters are hired to do this, or
perhaps tricked into it, as he is also poor (when I
visualised him, he was wearing dreadlocks and a tattered
cloak).
(b) The environment can be standard, standard with a
twist, or downright unusual. The standard (from Tolkeins
mines of Moria), is the dungeon crawl or wilderness
adventure. Try taking a standard environment and turning
it on its head. For example, a Water-based adventure on a
series of lakes, but the lakes have been frozen.
Therefore lots of opportunities for sliding mages, ice-
skating thieves, snowball-throwing goblins and even ogres
hidden in snowmen?! The above example could be an
adventure entirely conducted on a cliff-face (watch those
birdies...). A more unusual environment might be a
strange root system under a giant tree, in which various
occupants live, or one of the alternate planes (watch out
for Star Trek themes here).
(c) Key events can take place before, during, or are
being led up to during the adventure. A key event might
be the change of Mayor in a town, which occurs a month
before the party arrive. This simple event might lead to
all sorts of speculations for designing an adventure
(does the mayor raise the taxes? Why? Oh, it's to pay the
ransom for his son, kidnapped by ...). A key event during
the adventure might be "half-way through this adventure,
the Centaur the party have met will be killed by a
poisoned arrow". The adventure can be then developed both
ways from that (before the event and after). Events that
are building up promise the most adventure, but tend to
be harder for the DM to run. If the characters take Plan
1 instead of Plan 2, can the event still happen. If
taking this course, try to allow flexibility into the
design for any alternate sequence of events. Having lots
of separate plots helps, as you can always allow the
party to move from one to another if they prematurely
foil a certain event from taking place (as they should!)
Open System Adventures are in the widest sense the whole
campaign, and in a lesser sense, a set of distinct
adventures which have overlaps, whether they be because
the same characters are involved, the same theme, or the
same NPC's from one adventure to another. They can be
divided for convenience into the following cyclic stages:
(a) Introduction
(b) Sequence of Events
(c) Resolution
(d) Progression to next sequence of events
The introduction to an open adventure should contain a
few anchors into the DM's projected future for the
campaign. That is to say, if you want Dragons at a later
point, why not introduce some object now that will have
no use until later when they meet such things? This will
eventually increase the players' perception of the
consistancy of your world, even if you have to wing it
sometimes! Have an NPC mention something in passing, or
have the characters see an event, that will have no
import until three adventures down the line. It isn't as
hard to do as it sounds, and you can always "retro-fit"
meanings to prior events.
The sequence of events can be quickly sketched out as a
time-line or simple list. What you need to know at this
stage is *why* the characters will be at particular
points at particular times doing whatever (to whom)! If
the rest of your closed system adventures flow from that,
you will find that they flesh out the overall picture and
provide feedback to it as well.
Resolution comes about when a particular adventure has
been closed. It should be obvious to the players what to
do next, and they should be breathless to get it
accomplished. If neccessary, use the Hercule Poirot
device of having a Sage NPC provide a summary of the
characters' adventure, and prompting questions. This is
also a useful device for getting feedback from the
players in character.
The progression to the next sequence of events (usually
another closed adventure) can be facilitated by
commencing the adventure "some days later...", as in
"Some days later, after your succesful raid on the Temple
of Entriopia, you reflect on the words of the Sage, who
spoke of the Astral Linkage between the Temple Bell and
the mountain known as the Howling Hag, in the barrens of
the North. Could this be where the Gladiok Harj you seek
was located, after all?" (heavy hint from the DM here if
neccessary).
An example of making up an adventure, with Green's DM Design
Tip Number One included absolutely free of charge:
(a) First, let's decide on an event. How about (as its in
the news at the moment; and the world of current affairs is
a source of more fantastic stories than sometimes grace the
insides of fantasy novels) a Temple that is allowing female
initiates to join for the first time. Right. That
immediately leads to a NPC, being a female initiate who
wants to join that Temple. Right. That only leaves the
environment. How about (a quick look around my office
reveals a poster of a beach and a picture of a Samurai
Warrior, which leads to ...) a coastal area, which is used
by various monsters as a (holiday resort? Too silly,
perhaps) combat area. The Temple is up on a pinnacle of rock
surrounded by sea (drawing on my memory of a nearby beach).
This quick example demonstrates where ideas may be found;
the news, one's environment, and one's own memories. It also
leads to further research, as in what creatures inhabit
coastal areas, what myths relate to mermaids, and so forth.
Lots of "outward pointing" learning, as an antidote to too
much inhabiting an inner-world.
Now for Green's DM Design Tip Number One : If suffering from
DM's block, open a dictionary and choose a few words. As
well as all that valuable learning, many of my best
adventures originally sprang out of this wonderfully handy
list of words! Here's a real example from today, whilst I
was looking up the word "adventure" to see where it come's
from (and it means 'chance' amongst other things, which is
what the players should feel; that they have a chance of
winning against the odds, but only that). Two words on the
same page caught my eye, and became:
The Adytum of the Aeons. A sacred temple complex dedicated
to a deity whose prime concept is eternity and the division
of time. Thus, lots of clockwork designs, timed traps, and a
sense of going back through time as the temple is
penetrated, with more ancient weapons, creatures, artefacts
to be found the closer to the centre the party delve. The
central treasure might be a sacred timekeeping instrument
with relevant magical powers.
Have fun!
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* 1st 1.11 #5129 *