Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alyss 05-25-07, 08:58 AM	I takes me a good month or so to write adventures? What the hell should I do? My players keep pestering me about when their going to be finished. I have a job which eats up six hours a day, and when I get home I just want to relax and watch a bit of TV, not spend four hours or so writing an adventure. Any advice?
Ubasrawr 05-25-07, 09:03 AM	Improvise on the spot? Make thins up as you go and then write what happened instead of preparing everything.
Abbacabba 05-25-07, 09:22 AM	When I first started running games I'd write out adventures in a similar style as the ones you can buy or download from the wizards site. It took way to long and I felt cheated when my players chose to ignore large portions of the adventure.... I've sense moved to just trying to focus on whats going on in the game world around them. Inform them of things and let them do whatever they want. Essentially free style, improv. The games move much quicker now, and none of my players ever really know the difference. A good strategy i use is looking at my world map, then writing down important NPC's and what they are doing. These "plans" move forward regardless of PC involvement. This way if your players get a odd thought to teleport 1000 miles north you don't have to scrap months of prep, you already have a good idea where they end up, whats going on, plot hooks, etc... Use notebooks, note cards. Have a good supply of locations you can throw down anywhere... An abandoned house out in the forest. A few taverns, inns, dungeons, ruins, etc... This way no matter where the PC's travel you can have them "Find" one of these places, and just make a few alterations and you have adventures to use anywhere at any time.
KJW 05-25-07, 09:24 AM	Yes, just write an outline and improvise, this is what I do most of the time. All you need is a hook, a few encounters and challenges, and a climax. What I also do is carry a spirral notebook with me most places I go and jot down ideas as they hit me. Waiting in the doctor's office? That is 10-30 minutes of prep time. Stuck on the metro? That is 45 minutes of prep time. And if all you are doing is an outline with improvisation you can design a good adventure in just a few days using a little spare time here and there.
Phrennzy 05-25-07, 10:31 AM	Don't write the adventure like you are going to publish it. You aren't. Set down an outline of things that will/might happen, depending on player action. If the adventure is site based, stock the dungeon and write it up. You don't need fancy fonts or boxed text - just notes for yourself. You don't necessarily need to ad lib everything - it's possible you aren't any good at that. Don't include monster stats on the pages of your adventure. You'll have the Monster Manual, or you can print out the page of the SRD and use that.
I_Avian 05-25-07, 10:57 AM	The way I plan is this: Spider diagram with the central plot idea/ location, random thoughts as they come recorded there. Make out 2 vague timelines for the plot, generally involving "what would the villain do if the heroes did nothing" and the "where the PC's encounter the plan, what info they get, what they might do" timeline. When it comes to the plot as a whole, it's pretty vague. I'll try and stat any main character they might fight, otherwise it's just plot/personality notes. Then, when it comes to each session, I'll draw up any stats/ maps for encounters I expect to happen, and have a list of bookmarks for stuff that's semi likely (mostly based on knowing my player's personalities and tendency to derail my plans with some ingenious intervention). (In a dungeon, the mapping will be more detailed and the level of certainty generally pretty high) After that, it's a case of improving within that plan. Flexibility is key to cutting down on writing time.
King_Pellinore 05-25-07, 12:41 PM	I have zero time to write out adventures, other than an occasional quickie. For the long drawn out adventures I go to Goodman Games, the dungeon crawl classic series has some great stuff. A little tweaking and they fit right into the setting. http://www.goodmangames.com/ http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php Saves me loads of time and the players have a blast.
Alyss 05-27-07, 10:12 PM	Cheers for the help. I'm still not sure what I'll do though, cause I'm awful at improv
DarkNick 05-27-07, 10:59 PM	I don't think you need to go the whole way with improv, just use less prep than you currently do. Here are some ideas to cut your prep: Really take a brutal look at what you need and don't need to run a game, there is probably a lot of stuff you can chuck and your players won't notice. Try to use more monster stock unmodified from the MM (then just reference the page number) - NPCs take the most prep. Don't stat out NPCs for roleplay encounters Use more pre-made adventures. There are hundreds online for free. Don't figure out DCs for everything, do them on the spot. Educated guesses are usually good enough and your players won't notice. Create a situation but don't write a solution(s) - let the players work out a solution. This can cut your prep in half easy. Don't create scripts for descriptions or conversations. Just use a few bullet points. Don't write backgrounds if the players will only see a fraction of it, forget about world history. Chances are they are in your head anyway. Keep it simple. Draw simple maps or steal them off this site. Scribble notes down, don't write it all out meticulously. This will save you a lot of time. Use shorthand. If you run out of stuff during a game or find a situation you have not prepped for just ask for 10min. Most players don't mind taking 10 for a drink, smoke, **** etc..
Abbacabba 05-27-07, 11:37 PM	Cheers for the help. I'm still not sure what I'll do though, cause I'm awful at improv You may be awful at it, but your players may not ever know the difference. 95% of the time mine don't know. I've been asked many times ... "How did you know we were going to do XXX" or "how did you plan for XXX?" If played with confidence and with out going "ummmm, uhhhh ... " alot its hard to tell if your making stuff up or just (slightly)adjusting things on the fly.
InsertNameHere 05-27-07, 11:48 PM	I agree with what most other people here are saying - it's appropriate to do adventures that are mostly improv. One little strategy I use is to map out a dungeon, without placing objects or encounters. Then, if I have planning time, I can gradually enhance the map with monsters and areas of interest. I end up with a nice dungeon, regardless of time spent.
Alyss 05-28-07, 12:17 AM	Cool. Thanks for the tips!
CCS 05-28-07, 01:06 AM	Cheers for the help. I'm still not sure what I'll do though, cause I'm awful at improv Well, you'll either improve at it or learn to write faster....:) One of the two, maybe both.
Nom 05-28-07, 02:55 AM	Most players don't mind taking 10 for a drink, smoke, **** etc..The rules assume you take 10 for these activities outside combat. ;)
Noon 05-28-07, 04:11 AM	Cheers for the help. I'm still not sure what I'll do though, cause I'm awful at improv I'm like that too. What have you been trying to get at in previous adventures? Perhaps we can boil down the essence. In the previous games you've written, what sort of themes or recurring bad guys came up again and again? Once we cut away the unimportant stuff, you'll find alot of the prep time is cut away too. And also what you do do is because it's important to you.
Roivas 05-28-07, 04:46 AM	I too spend a lot of time prepping my game, but I do it while I do other activities to assist in my creativity. Watch a movie with a notepad in hand, go for a walk to the grocery store instea of driving, and while at work don't pay attention to what you are doing. Okay the last one might not be the best advice, particularly if you work in a factory on the line, but you have 160 hours to prep for a weekly 8 hour game. Use the time given to you and try to write less down and memorize more. If your adventure is inside your mind you can change it mid-session if a plot twist is lacking. Only write down maps, traps, and any NPC they could fight. Everything else is just an idea waiting to change.
jaspercrey 05-28-07, 08:16 AM	We we play we usually have about 3 hours a session - not a lot of time. We have basically created a format for mini adventurers that works really well - at least for us. It's quick and easy if you use point form. We never worry about maps. We call it "The 8 Element Adventure". Here are the elements: The "Hook": - self-explanatory The "Not even a Scratch" Encounter: - Something the party will run roughshod over with little trouble The "Is everyone Okay?" Encounter: - One or two combat encounter equal to the party's level in terms of CR. - Sometimes one of these might be the climax/BBEG The "Whew - That was Close" Encounter: - A combat encounter at least 1 CR above the party's effective level. - Can be the climax/BBEG but not always. The "Lime-Light" Challenge: - A trap (which caters to the rogue), a tracking-challenge (for the ranger), or some other challenge designed for one specific character in your party. We try and switch this up every session so that each player gets some lime-light. The "You talkin to me?" Event : - A good old "Diplomacy", "Bluff", bribe or some other interaction-inspired event. The "Who'd a thunk-it?" Event: - Once per session, we try and introduce something "new" into our campaign, something that would prompt a "bardic lore" or a "knowledge:______" check. This can be a new, never-before-encounter monster, a rare item, etc. The "Plant-the-Seed" Event: - Something that plants-a-seed for a future adventure - be it a map, a rumour, an item, the villains escape, etc. It is like a hook, but much more vague and open-ended. Sometimes I might drop one element in favouring of doubling up on another, or if thongs are running quick, the DM will through in an extra Standard Combat Encounter or two.