Having several well built characters and the knowledgeable players to play them is one thing, but actually having your adventure up and running, is another. While some game-masters are capable of building their material on the spot, without any prior thought, this approach (while great for some) sometimes yields a mishmash of an adventure, which sometimes lacks all the intricate details, hidden meanings, foreshadowing, and many other tools which are used by story-writers and game-masters alike, to create great tales.
When most game-masters that deal with the pre-planning of things try to construct intricate tales, they do not plan them to take place within one adventure, rather more like in a campaign. An analogy can be made to a book, in which the campaign is the book, and the chapter is the adventure, much like a scene in the grand view of things.
However, great things start from smaller things. And it is best not to rely on the grand scheme to keep things moving to much , for it will cause many times of disappointment. Thus, one must be able to build a campaign.
Like most tales, the construction of a campaign is much like the construction of a novel, and has more to share with books then with novels. However, be were - you are not writing a book, and thus many things are also deferent. But the main build is similar, and can be broken down into several steps:
1. Create a concept.
2. Create a skeleton.
3. Add connector scenes.
4. Add main NPCs.
5. Add Hooks for next adventure.
6. Add "meat" to the bones and fill holes created before.
7. Forget everything and run it on the skeleton.
Step 1: create a concept
I know it is already spoken about a million times , and probably the hardest part in any creative process, but the first thing you must know, before creating something, is what you are going to create.
Creating the concept is relatively simple once you get the idea on what you are about to do. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you exactly how to get new ideas. The concept of an adventure should answer some simple questions about it, such as:
- What is the adventure based on?
- What is the adventure trying to accommplish?
I have been told, to suggest a couple of books from which to draw ideas. While this list is completely subjective, it might come in handy. Ideas can be found in novels, such as those written by RE Howard, Edgar Alan Poe, Lovecraft, Tolkyn, etc.. Also you can revert to films, and I have been recommended those of Akira-Kurosawa, Wild-west movies, and all sorts of simple-plot movies. More intricate plots might be the ideas for campaigns. As far as TV goes, since each person has a vastly deferent inventory, I shall not recommend. However, I would suggest a less periodic series, because it gives a better ground for campaigns.
You don't have to write more then a paragraph or two - just enough to get you comfortable with the subject. To demonstrate, I will show an adventure I prepared while writing this chapter:
My adventure happens in a small village near the city of my campaign. The characters are going to attempt and slay a monster that lives in a cave near the village. The adventure is intended to fill the players in on the world and prepare them for the real campaign, while providing "entertainment" for them while they are on the road.
Well, the above isn't that complex- it's more or less a basic, short, small scale hack and slash adventure.
Step 2: create a skeleton
In the second step of the creation of the adventure, you go over the concept, and create the ideas for the main scenes in its course. It is not required to do the scenes in great detail - that will be done later, but it is advisable, that after this step, you will have a clear view of what's going to happen in each scene.
The skeleton is important, because it lets you define the events that you want to happen. It lets you plan things with little effort, and it lets you toy with things. It also allows you to be more flexible afterwards if things don't go as well as they should have, because if you had done this stage well, you can use the main events and dump the less important events, which might be damaged.
So basically what you are going to do here, is to make a short list of the scenes you want in the adventure, with a small description on what will happen in each scene. You might want to do this like a "flow chart", with arrows that indicate how one scene leads into another. Don't get into great detail yet - you may change the entire thing time and again, and if you do a lot of work in this time, you might waste it.
Once you are satisfied with the scenes themselves, the main events, and the way each leads to another, proceed onwards.
This might be a good time to go over to literature again, as you can draw many helpful ideas to the deferent scenes from it, and to the role that each of those scenes play in the development of the plot, the tension, and the participating characters.
The basic construction of a dramatically designed play consists of 5 main parts: Exposition, Conflict, Complication, Climax, Resolution. Each of those parts play a vital role in the adventure and play/story alike, and most adventures include them all. Note, that the bulk of the story takes place in the "Complication" area, and there are usually more scenes of that type.
Exposition is the introduction of the characters, players, readers, etc. into the plot. It takes place usually in the beginning of the story, and makes the players/characters familiar with 4 main plot elements: Location, Time, Characters, Conflict. Simply said, it gives your players a clue as to the time and place in which the adventure takes place, and some foreshadowing on the main plot of the adventure. As to the main characters it introduces into the plot, those are usually the characters themselves.
The Exposition usually takes the first scene, but sometimes less. Some adventures, however, lack this element in order to give a feeling of weirdness or mystery.
In my adventure, the exposition element was a small scene in which the characters are seen walking through the woods, approaching the village. Some people are seen moving out of the village and may explain the monster.
"Conflict" is a name for a scene that introduces the main plot element. This element is usually the one that the adventure is going to revolve around - not the secondary or whatever plot that you might have in store for the same element. The scene also has to be built to reveal some more characters which are important for the plot itself.
After the characters reach the village, they are greeted by the assembly or something and are notified that there is a monster to slay. The characters move onwards towards the cave of the monster.
"Complication" is where you start putting all the elements which make the job tough for the character. They might know about them from previous scenes, but it is only here that they encounter those. Also, this is the place to enter sub-plots and secondary plots (the deference being that secondary plots don't have to have a special relation to the main plot, while sub-plots are descendants of it). This is the place that most of the adventure is going to happen, when the characters move within the problems and plot shifts that you give them to handle.
Anything that intrudes or distracts the characters from the main plot is a complication. Anything that actively intrudes is also a complication . There are tons of things you can put, like dungeons for H&S adventures and other encounters with your Non-Player-Characters for non H&S adventures.
In my adventure, I have decided to make things slightly more complex - as it seems, the only one who actually seen and know where the monster is, is a small child (who actually likes the monster). So the characters need to go and meet him (at the nursery) so that he will reveal to them it's location.
"Climax" - well you all know what that is. The final meet with the evil wizard, the duel to the death with the vicious monster, they are all peaks in the tension of the plot. The climax represents the ultimate tension point in the adventure, too which the entire plot drives. In the climax, the conflict of the adventure is finally resolved in some way, and the climax makes way for the end of the adventure.
Well it should be obvious by now, that as a climax I will have a meeting with the monster. This can be a battle, or not - I am letting the characters have the option of resolving this peacefully - but not all adventures are like this.
"Resolution" - the final chapter in the book - the conflict is gone, and all that remains is to bury the ashes, move onwards, get the reward, and plant the seeds for the next plot. This is a high drop in the tension, and it tends to be a short scene because of that.
The characters in my campaign return to town, and are greeted with warmth or anger. They have either killed the monster or came to an agreement with it, that they have to get the villagers to accept to.
Well, when you have finished inserting the basic plot elements into the tale, I think it's time to go over to making the transition segments:
Step 3: Transitions:
As important as the scenes are, the transitions are also vital to the success of an adventure. Although transitions are usually not breaking and changing the actual plot, they do set the mood, and serve a great purpose in breaking the tension and providing clues and foreshadowing.
The placements of transitions should already be know to you, and thus you need to start building them by creating a concept for each one. Don't make them too long because they will be tedious, nor too short, because then they will not give enough information.
In my adventure, the first transition needs to be place between the introductory scene, in which the players are walking into the village, and the village itself. I will build it as the characters enter the village to find it empty, but hear voices from the town square - the approach the center of the village, amidst empty buildings, until they get to the second scene.
Between the second scene and the third I will place a small passage describing the nursery in the local temple, and the walk to there.
Between the third section and the forth, I will place a walk in the woods in a trail that is evident to the characters.
Here, I chose to add another scene, to the skeleton - finding the trail, which will be linked to the transition passage in that which it is part of it.
next, I have the walk back to the village, and out of it.
Step 4: Non- Player Characters
Next, it's time to add some important characters to the entire story. Now, you just have to think of every scene, and try to make out which characters are important to the plot, and how. Then you will have to build those characters (for the first time in this manual, you are building them from top to bottom) so that they will fit your needs.
Remember, plot or no plot- it is the characters that make the game, and they are the ones who give the true feel to the adventure. So build them well (just look at the character construction episode if you want).
The main characters are the ones that drive the plot - they are not there just to interact, but also to prod the characters into action somehow. They are intended to cause some kind of affect in the character's hearts, and should be built accordingly. Unlike those, secondary characters are meant mainly to shed light upon the plot, and upon the main characters (this includes the player-characters).
In spite of the above, not all main characters needs to be built in the same detail - some are only important for their skills in a certain area (like, for instance, combat). This goes also for secondary characters. It is recommended, that you will have a name, a predominant personality trait, a list of motives (even just one) and a "red line" (the character will not risk himself beyond that line nor pass it willingly).
Special care must be taken when you portray the villain. A good villain will make the story a whole lot better. Of all the characters, it is it that needs to have the most details - especially if you intend to make it a recurring one. It must have all that you saw before, and more. You must build the main villain in such detail, that it is almost a character.
when planning scenes and NPC-PC interaction, a sentence or two on one must spend thought of the Desired outcome for the scene, and the outcome that the NPC's desires to achieve from the encounter. This may be of help in 'guiding' the adventure (IE with the players meeting the mayor in the scenario, you would have the direction that the party follows as your (DM) desired result, and the Mayor's (NPC) as something like monster killed, party does so with no risk to villiage, party does it for as cheap as possible, mayor seen as hero for 'fixing' problem. Form these motivations, you will know how to play the mayor, as a shrewd, but concerned citizen, with a tight reign on the purse strings.) Those details will be of great assistance to the final construction of the NPC.
I chose to enter several main characters into my small adventure. (mind you all, that I make it a point not to take "special" monsters strait out of the rule-book, and I prefer to create them from the ground up instead...so what the characters will meet is NOT a hiuan-tee) .Also I will not detail them in full here, because I have not the room (you saw the character creation page written by 6'4" dwarf).
First, I drew in my mind the monster, the villain that the characters were sent to kill. It is a combination of both human and snake, and by a fluke of luck, it is a female. (I rolled the dice on that). It is, interestingly, a moral character, drawn into the cave by force of necessity, after being maliciously turned into what it currently is by a long-dormant transmutation -based trap, that did not have enough 'juice' in it to finish the job. I wanted such a character to make the plot slightly more complex, and also to make the players know that nothing is black and white, and that things are deeper the they seem to be. It's name it "killit" (you got it right here...I did take 'kill' and 'it' and put them together), and it's main motive is to survive and have some peace of mind.
Next, I drew up the village elder - the one who speaks at the assembly. He is basically a man with great concern for the village. He has respect from the village and knows it, and his motive is to keep the village safe from what he perceives as a threat. He looks frail, but his spirit is strong, and he is persistent. His name is Owen.
After that I drew the child who is supposed to direct the characters to the "monster". He is Elad, a small, 9 years old child who went into the forest with his father one day and disappeared, and was returned by the monster. But this is irrelevant. He played with the monster several times before his mother found out, and will not help the characters if they show a real intent in killing the monster. However, he is a child, and easily fooled.
Then, for the village scene, I drew up the mother - Selina. A slightly paranoiac, stubborn, overprotective, prejudice mother. (sorry if this sounds negative, I did not mean that truly). Well she found out about the monster casually, and freaked out until the entire village was on it's feet but scared to do something about it.
I will not tire you with the secondary characters, such as the father, the children-keeper, etc. it took too long already.
Next, it's time to think of the last of important matters: how do the characters fit into it all, and what will draw them in.
Step five: Hooks
Your adventure can be great- spectacular even, but if you won't find a way to get the characters involved, then you've already lost. I sacrificed too many adventures because I could not find a way to integrate the players inside, so I am including this into the actual writings of the adventure. I hope that it helps.
Every character, if it is a good one, has something that you can use to pull it to things. It has, sort of speak, leverages, that you can "pull" to get it to do what you want it to do, and go where you want it to go. Those are named, in an non-formal slang, "hooks".
Be it a personality trait, a thing of the past or the present, a mission, a goal, or whatever, it is a hook if you can affect the character by tweaking with it. if a character has strong moral obligations such as "will uphold justice no matter the cost" or "will help others" or whatever, you can play on those things and use them to draw people into the adventure.
However, if the characters already have something in their characters that fits well in the campaign, it is very much advised to make use of that aspect. Most of the characters have motivations, and all of them have backgrounds. Proper use of such elements will draw both player and character into a more enjoyable game, and enhance the player-game master cooperation.
Off course, you don't have to rely on the character to bring you a hook. You can, especially in the beginning of a campaign, but also in single adventures, create events in the character's life that will be added to it's personality as hooks. Things like dreams, prophecies, the death of a loved one or the loss (temporary or permanent) of a party member , etc. all serve under this category.
So do your homework, read again the character backgrounds, and then change details in the adventure you had written so far, so that those will contain stuff that will "activate" those hooks in the characters, and draw them into the story.
It is also a good place to stop here, and to decide to plant some stuff that will be used in the next adventures, and that will help reel the characters into it. some foreshadowing, some omens, whatever you want.
In my adventure, I had a character grown to be a knight and on it's quest to gain fame so that it's claim to the status will be enhanced, a character who's been over-influenced by the town bard and thus on it's way to "risk and adventure", and a character who is there to gain the heart of the sister of the first character, and her father's approval for marriage.
So when the characters reach the village, the subject of chivalry and honour and valour pops up, and also of loyalty, and of the fame it may bring the group, etc.
Next, we add the final details
Step six: Details, Details
Well, so far, you have most of the adventure laid out before you. At this time, you could, in theory, go out and use it with your players. But a refined adventure will outdo a crude one everyday, so you just might want to reconsider this. Just sit down a bit, and add all the small details that you did not add before this time.
Until now, you wrote only small portions of each scene. Right now, it is time to fill those scenes with life. review all the notes that you wrote before, and write the scene with the NPCs inside it, with the environment, and with all that it needs to do. By now, you know what you need to write, and only need to implement this knowledge.
Yes, now its the time to write down all those beautiful monologues and dialogues, put into the adventure all the descriptions that give so much more flavour and feel and mood into it all. Make sure to include in those writings the motivations of the non-player characters, that you had reserved from earlier on. Those are vital to the adventure and should not be overlooked.
It is also now the time to draw all the maps you haven't drawn yet, and basically fill in all the details yet absent from your design.
It is advisable, to pre-prepare a small description of typical areas not in the immediate scenes, but common in the area of the adventure. A peasant's house, a forest clearing, the path of a near-flowing stream, should be useful if you come to an unexpected event, as you will probably will. Do the same for minor, unrelated NPCs.
Those things need not be in the immediate adventure, but they will come in rather handy at times, and will add plenty of flavor to the adventure, as they could be easily incorporated into the fabric of the existing adventure, and come quite handy if the characters ask specific questions about the scenery. Besides, you can always recycle them for your next adventure (not too often though) as they bear little importance.
I'm sorry to tell you, that I won't be showing you an example of the finished adventure. It came out rather long. But I suppose you can imagine what it's like. I added a forest, the village itself, all the scenes in detail, some extra foreshadowing of the monster, and many other details, including the village elder's speech.
Step seven: It's time to forget.
Greetings - you should have an adventure by now. it's just a matter of running it. however, no matter how well you've planned it, I have grim news for you. The players will usually do something that you did not predict beforehand.
Pre-written adventures usually run smoother, with greater detail, and generally better then those made up on the spot. But their main flaw is the fact that they are less flexible, and thus, if you don't know exactly what your players will do and how they will react, that's where you'll fall.
So to get the good side of everything, you should do the writing and everything - know your adventure as if you are it's writer, but be prepared to run it on it's skeleton and nothing else. Because eventually, you'll have to.
Good luck.
Last sparred thoughts:
Maybe I should have put that in the beginning of the chapter. What follows are the advice of some experienced players and game masters, that will help to greatly enhance your gaming experience. I hope.
Like everything in this book, you can accept it or reject it - whatever you think is best. However, there are some advice here that are truly worth the trouble of building your adventures with those in consideration. Here those are.
1) Use humans for villains. Their being considered not evil nor good (unlike elves or orcs, for example) is agreed upon by most of the Game Masters that use to post in the forum from which I pluck my material. This gives them the opportunity to be role-played with, rather then taken for granted.
2) "In my experience, role-playing is better on the surface than exploring a dungeon, fighting monsters. Since there are very few role-playing opportunities vs. a zombie, orc, ogre, etc, humans usually make the best opponents. Humans have the added bonus that the PCs can't just rush in and attack the bad guy. First they have to identify him! Monsters can be good for a plot side note, if the players are getting bored or frustrated with the main plot, distract them with a monster ravaging the countryside. But it usually works best if the real villains are human. " (dok)
"I'd probably expand that to intelligent foes, not just humans. Creatures such as goblinoids led by a smarter creature (imp, quickling etc), or demihumans, or even a wraith leading some undead." (6'4" dwarf)
The End.
-Amir Peleg aka Strider
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