Hi, everyone, thank you for your time.
There is a ton of info on how to run modules or steal ideas and encounters from them. However, I am looking for advice on the exact opposite and haven’t had any luck.
The question in short:
How do I go about writing published adventures for other people to pick up and run? What info is necessary, what info is unnecessary, and what is just distracting?
Tangential background:
In my decade of GMing I have used a published adventure exactly once - it was an awful experience, nothing went to plan, and I felt much more prepared than I actually was. I have never done it since.
However, I am currently writing my own ttrpg system. It’s going along great but before I even think about promoting an alpha release, I want to create a “Pick up and play” set - including basic, pre-created character archetypes and an adventure/mission, so you could jump in and try it out whenever.
I usually throw my players into a sandbox and plan every session individually to avoid burnout and to play my own little strategy game, if you will. That type of preparation just does not work when I’m trying to give someone else a prerendered package.
So I’m turning to the hive mind:
- What’s the info you would be looking for when running published adventures(, module campaigns, what have you)?
- Which parts are often given but you almost always ignore anyways?
- Which parts are just distracting and make you feel like nothing is going to plan, or even cause your players to often go “off rails”?
I’m not looking to write a whole campaign - I’m aiming for a mission of around two sessions, just in case that’s important to someone’s advice.
As always, any nudge is appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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A single session should be doable with one or two pages. I like the style the Mausritter community uses a lot. For an example, see the Stumpsville adventure in the base game.
A larger good example is The Waking of Willowby Hall. Multiple pages describing every room in a big mansion.
- There should be a single paragraph intro which can be given to players in advance (so no spoilers!).
- An image is great to convey the mood and style.
- A map is usually useful but think broadly. The map of Stumpsville is more like a picture from the side. Still good enough to say “you are here in now”.
- Offering multiple plot hooks is great to embed it into a larger campaign.
- Lots of bullet point lists and bold text parts to optimize orientation during play.
- To avoid going “off rails”, just state a clear goal. If they go “off rails” then it is a short session.
- Something I miss in many adventures (especially if sandbox style modules) is a sense of urgency. Work some kind of timer into your adventure. Willowby Hall has an escalation mechanism built in which increases danger essentially because time passes. In other words, don’t just “rescue the princess” but also “she gets sacrificed in three hours” and it should be possible to reach her too late.
What I don’t need is a showdown scene. In general, I prefer “adventure sites” rather than “adventure stories”.
I highly recommend you look up a 3rd party D&D 5e adventure called “The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse”. You can get the PDF for free. The author does an absolutely incredible job organizing information on the pages in a way that perfectly captures just the stuff needed for the adventure and nothing extraneous. IMO it’s the best organized adventure I’ve ever run.
Every scene is limited to just one page. With clear explanations of each important NPC one might meet in that scene, what the dramatic tension should be when the party is on that scene, etc.
If I could have every adventure I ever run for the rest of my life follow one format, it would be the format of that adventure.