Before I begin, a brief note on structure. There are two extremes when it comes to writing D&D, totally structured and totally freeform. The former is incredibly detailed but will take you an eternity to write. The latter can be done in an hour at most, but requires you to think on your feet completely. The approach I take, and that WotC take, is somewhere in the middle, some detail but requiring the DM to think up dialogue for the NPCs and the fine detail.
Starting Off
Starting Off
[I'm not going to spend too much time here, because anyone who's ever wanted to write D&D already knows what it is to get an idea. 'Inspiration', as they keep going on about in my scriptwriting course, can come in many forms and from many places. Suffice to say, you need an idea before you can start writing anything, and in the case of D&D this is likely going to be fantasy-related.
What's important to remember with D&D is that your idea has to allow for player participation. There are loads of great ideas for amazing plots out there, but most of them aren't suitable for D&D. Your idea has to allow for the players doing the plot differently than you originally thought; if it can't hold up to alternative approaches then you're just going to railroad the PCs, which is no fun for them.
Note that the PCs doing totally the wrong thing isn't a problem, or not a problem for your idea at least. If you adventure involves the PCs rescuing a princess and killing a dragon, you haven't messed up when the PCs kill the princess and make friends with the dragon. The PCs haven't messed up either, but the point is that your idea wasn't a bad one; it just wasn't what the PCs wanted to do.
[I'm not going to spend too much time here, because anyone who's ever wanted to write D&D already knows what it is to get an idea. 'Inspiration', as they keep going on about in my scriptwriting course, can come in many forms and from many places. Suffice to say, you need an idea before you can start writing anything, and in the case of D&D this is likely going to be fantasy-related.
What's important to remember with D&D is that your idea has to allow for player participation. There are loads of great ideas for amazing plots out there, but most of them aren't suitable for D&D. Your idea has to allow for the players doing the plot differently than you originally thought; if it can't hold up to alternative approaches then you're just going to railroad the PCs, which is no fun for them.
Note that the PCs doing totally the wrong thing isn't a problem, or not a problem for your idea at least. If you adventure involves the PCs rescuing a princess and killing a dragon, you haven't messed up when the PCs kill the princess and make friends with the dragon. The PCs haven't messed up either, but the point is that your idea wasn't a bad one; it just wasn't what the PCs wanted to do.
Mapping
[u]Mapping[/u]
If you're going to write D&D, sooner or later you're going to have to draw a map. I draw mine on the computer, using MSPaint, and I'll give some examples here of how do them the same way.
Start by drawing a square 25x25 pixels, and then fill it grey. This is your basic dungeon tile, a 5 foot square space.
Next, you'll want to copy and paste the tile a few times and create some larger spaces. Also draw out some doors, as you'll need these too. This set should cover most of your needs for the dungeon.
For outdoor environments, fill the square in green, blue for water, brown for wooden floors, etc. Other terrain like trees and swamp can be covered with other colours, and items such as tables, chairs, beds, etc, can be handled in a similar way. In short, whatever works for you is fine, so long as you attach a key to your map so you don't forget what means what.
If you're going to write D&D, sooner or later you're going to have to draw a map. I draw mine on the computer, using MSPaint, and I'll give some examples here of how do them the same way.
Start by drawing a square 25x25 pixels, and then fill it grey. This is your basic dungeon tile, a 5 foot square space.
Next, you'll want to copy and paste the tile a few times and create some larger spaces. Also draw out some doors, as you'll need these too. This set should cover most of your needs for the dungeon.
For outdoor environments, fill the square in green, blue for water, brown for wooden floors, etc. Other terrain like trees and swamp can be covered with other colours, and items such as tables, chairs, beds, etc, can be handled in a similar way. In short, whatever works for you is fine, so long as you attach a key to your map so you don't forget what means what.