Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 brutticus Apr 04, 2012 23:45:55	So I've been playing DnD for a while now, but this is my first time DMing a game of it. Ive DMed other games, but this is the first one that has a real emphasis on grids and maps. I love this aspect of the game for several reasons, but now i kind of see it makes the DMs job much harder.  So i have come directly to the source. My players have beens sent to destroy the barbarian tribe that has been raiding caravans and delivering the prisoners to the Cults of Orcus for use as zombies and crucibles. They have made it to the Barbarian stronghold. For which i have no idea real ideas, just a few basics.  The players have just finished fighting the Cultists in an underground catacomb, and so i would like to try something different. Because I see the Iron Wolf (I stole names from the builder, so sue me) strong hold is more of an encampment, i would like to see this area more open ended.  Its difficult because i have no idea how to approach an open ended adventure site. Do i start with the sorts of encounters the party will be dealing with? the backstory (These are fierce, heavily armored dragonborn)? the traps (one of my weak spots)? Should i start by designing a map? Any advise, both general and specific, would be so incredibly helpful. Thanks in advance
#2 TheForgottenCommand Apr 05, 2012 22:16:18	Hey Brutticus,  When i design a new adventure site, i normally work with the backstory and vague ideas and build those up into thematic encounters with specific traps and monsters.    The first thing i do is think about what i have done in the past few sessions, what the party was good at, what they were lacking in, and any monster or trap idea i want to reskin or construct. If i have been using about the same number of monsters as there are Party members, i may switch to a few powerful elite creatures or a small swarm of barbarians (believe me, nothing can satisfy a violent group like cutting a bloody path through a small horde of hard-hitting minions and leaving behind a mass-grave when done every once in a while). This keeps encounters engaging, refreshing, and keeps me from falling into a rut of similar battles. If the party was very good at sliding monsters, but it hasn't been to any good effect except setting up flanking so far, i will play a little to the party's strength and throw in a small cliff or ramparts and now both them and the enemies are gunning to toplle the others over. If the party has a weakness, i exploit it to a degree, not cruely. it reminds the party that although they are definetly a cut above the rest, they are not perfect, and increases the difficulty.    I then think about the encounters that will happen, how they will be different from each other, and what are the goals of both the party and the monsters. Goals such as timelimits or "protect the escort" add depth and variety to encounters and ensure that not each one just becomes a contest of the quickest sword-arm.    I would easy to say that there is a certain laddder of thought process for designing open ended sites, but really any part you mentioned above can develop and change the others. I would recommend brainstorming and jotting down ideas for each and if you come across a cool idea, circle it and come back to it. Then later develop it and think about how it relates to the others and ties them in to make the adventure higher quality than when you started.    If you feel the need, work on what you are the least comfortable with first so you have more time and can put a greater focus into it. With practice, it will become less and less of a weakness and more of a strength that can make an encounter. To be honest, i never recommend that you start with drawing the map first, since that limits other possible ideas and may leave you constantly redrawing it. A map should be the neatly wrapped bow to a well-planned adventuring site.    Sorry about the rambling, and i hope you found this helpful.    Also, don't worry about stealing the name. A DM's job is to be entertaining, not original. its a cool name, and therefore is worthy of use.
#3 PoniesNSunshine Apr 06, 2012 2:48:22	Designing Top Down: Environment: Where all this is taking place is going to be pretty important.  I think one of the key elements here is how your players want to play.  If they just want to go in for a good dungeon crawl, then an abandoned fortress with connected rooms will serve just fine.  If you want to try something a little more complicated, you could do any number of things:  - A series of caves on the side of a cliff connected by ladders and outcroppings - A large temple complex partially buried in a sulfur spewing, bubbling pit - A collection of islands (in water, or floating, or in the swamp) connected by rope bridges - Inside the the massive skelestons of a dragon graveyard - Scattered throughout a large a forest with intelligent spiders or ghosts (who could be bribed or convinced to help) - Inside a massive labyrinth left by the gods, that guards an ancient secret The "not a dungeon" setting has the advantage of letting the party approach each encounter in their own way, and also allows for the party to gather information about the other areas left to explore and what order they want to  take each one in.  For the basic set up, you could just flowchart out the encounters - write each encounter idea you have,whatever comes to your mind, like  Scout encounter  Ambush encounter  Puzzle/Riddle encounter  Rescue and Escort  Big Battle 1, 2 , 3  Nonsensical random encounter that your party can have  The "lara croft" moment (coming across a massive statue or just completely epic set piece that really gets the parties gears cranking) The Social encounter   The Big Trap Boss Battle  etc. Then you can just sort of attach each one of those encounters to a location and let the party just go where they want to go.  They might find something like a door or portal that can't be opened unless they solve a problem somewhere else, or even not let them get to the big battle til they resolve all the other pieces (find 5 keys, activate the 3 statues to Bahamut, destroy the 6 altars to Orcus, decipher the journals from the three priests to get the secret password to the inner sanctum, etc.  After I do the encounter basics, then I start doing the map design and finally I start adding the stats and the characters based on on the map design - archers for a two leveled room, some brutes in a tight spot, etc.