Adventure/Campaign Construction

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

I was just curious as to how much time everyone spent on creating adventures. How deep to you go? What level of detail do you use?

And campaigns too. how do you build your worlds? do you keep the same one or recreate every time? do you make big maps or start small and expand?

Etc., etc., etc.

Basically what goes into your construction and how long does it take?

[Chi]

Yeah cause it takes thriondel about a month just to get started.:biggrin: ya know I still like ya though.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

Yeah cause it takes thriondel about a month just to get started.:biggrin: ya know I still like ya though.

yeah if you weren't bugging me all the time! jk sometimes it does take me awhile. i like to have a map of the whole world made first. before i ever start writing the adventure. which also takes me forever. or used to. we will see what happens. i used to try and write out every possible thing that could happen. but i am going to try and not do that any more

[Kalanth]

Campaigns are one thing, worlds are another. I spend about 2 - 3 hours a day preparing and writing adventure stuff, drawing maps, and generating NPC's and such. When it comes to the world I either use Eberron or my Homebrew.

In regards to the homebrew, 2008 marks the 10th year anniversary of when I began designing the world. To this day I still have only truly fleshed out one continent.

[mrken]

Like Kalanth I have been working my World/campaign forever. I started this world/campaign back in 85 as a player and 88 as a GM. Still I only have about a third of one continent sort of fleshed out. The rest of the world is a skeleton. lol But still I have run a few groups through it. Each time I start them in a different area further down the time-line.

As for how much planning I do for an adventure I pretty much follow the lead of the party. They pick the road and the sometimes the plan, I fill in the potholes and road blocks. lol Generally I plan about five "encounters" and keep all the monster stats so I can bring them up if and when I might need them again. I can change the stats to customize the encounters at the table if I need.

As for how much time I spend preparing, we generally play on Saturday so I start Sunday. I will go through and figure out the xp and any treasure and stat bumps first. I will e-mail the players the xp they get to spend however they want and fill in my spreadsheet the new stats. Then I begin to plan the next weeks encounters with what they were doing according to their plans and what I want to do to keep the players inside the time-line I have planned. I keep tweeking the encounters until I have about five sometimes more as I know they will not always follow my plans. This could take as little as five hours and as many as fifteen hours, but some of that time is mental work figuring out the logic of how their plans and my plans mesh.

Plus I paint minis to represent NPC's and build terrain pieces to center the play for coming weeks. It is almost a full time job it seems sometimes. Of course it helps that I don't really have a life.

[tesral]

I was just curious as to how much time everyone spent on creating adventures. How deep to you go? What level of detail do you use?

And campaigns too. how do you build your worlds? do you keep the same one or recreate every time? do you make big maps or start small and expand?

Etc., etc., etc.

Basically what goes into your construction and how long does it take?

Five minutes, most of a month. What am I doing and why?

Abba Sanctuary took me four weeks of pounding the keys. Four solid weeks of pounding the keys to finish the eight levels.

Last week I spent half an hour getting ready. Mainly stating up the baddy.

I usual put more back story into the scenario than the players will ever see simply to give me better hooks on the NPCs. When I have something of the little guys' motivations the world sparkles. It doesn't feel like a plywood backdrop in a cheap movie. You feel you can walk anywhere do anything and there will be people with lives and stories. And I WANT IT THAT WAY!!

That is where most of the work comes in. Keeping it real.

[cplmac]

Up to now, I have always used premade campaigns. I would have the major encounters all wrote up, to make sure the game flowed smoothly. I would also have about 10 random encounters planned out, that could be dropped into where ever they were needed while the party moved about.

I am starting to make my own campaign world now, so I am not sure how long it will take with this being my first try at it. I will try to keep posted my progress, maybe in a separate thread so as not to derail this one.

[Valdar]

The more work I put into the game or world, the smaller percentage the characters' part in it is, so I try not to overdo it for fear of turning the players into spectators for my amateur noveling attempts.

I created the world containing Perinor in a little over an hour:

http://www.worldsedge.org/perinor.html

If anyone has an idea for their character that depends on something existing in the world that I haven't created yet, that thing gets created. Perinor had a near civil war 20 years ago because a character's backstory was made more interesting by it being there.

For plots and adventures, I spend the whole week thinking on and off about what I'm going to put in, the implications of having this or that creature or plot twist, etc, and then, hours before the game starts, I pull out the books and crunch out the monsters, maps, and treasure. This last part takes an hour or two, depending on how energetic I feel.

All in all, very efficient. I'd say our scribe works a lot harder blogging the game than I do creating it:

http://worldsedge-kate.blogspot.com

A previous game I ran was not efficient at all. I'd not only map areas, but cast them in plaster so the map would be 3d. I'd paint minins several hours a week. I've produced an 80-page handout containing the creation legends of the world, and a 40 page journal describing the adventures of the group whose stuff the PCs were just now finding in the Dragon's horde, both in the same week. I think my current players like the 1-hour-of-work campaign better- partially because I'm less stressed about having a big return on all my work, and partially because the characters are a much larger part of the story.

[Jcosby]

I usual put more back story into the scenario than the players will ever see simply to give me better hooks on the NPCs. When I have something of the little guys' motivations the world sparkles. It doesn't feel like a plywood backdrop in a cheap movie. You feel you can walk anywhere do anything and there will be people with lives and stories. And I WANT IT THAT WAY!!

I couldn't agree more. I usually put a ton of work into the npc's and thier backgrounds which in turn makes the world more alive for me. I hope that then translates to the players and they get the same feeling. I also require players to write a fairly substantial background for thier characters so I can use that to intertwine the characters into the main plot and world around them.

I feel that the more work the DM does in the background on the world the more free he can be with the players. If I have everything fleshed out and have a true living breathing world and not just stat blocks I don't have to limit the characters at all. They are free to do what ever they please and the campaign doesn't feel linear.

Jeff

[DMMike]

Looks like a good group of DMs - putting in their due diligence.

I started making a world once. Global map, astral bodies, pillars of magic. Then when I spent dozens of hours on one little duchy, I realized the rest of that world didn't even need drawing. I mean, if today's enlightened Americans have trouble naming all the continents and oceans, why should anyone in a fantasy world know what's out there?

"Here there be dragons."

So now I'm limiting my writing to a general campaign plot, the next 5 - 7 encounters, and a handful of key players. By all means, let there be more to the world than that, but let that be improv, not planned. Your social life depends on it!

[Kalanth]

I am married with a beutiful 3 year old daughter, my social life is currently complete. :)

In general my reason for putting forth so much effort is because I want to tell a good story and provide a memorable game. I love seeing the faces of the players light up with that well placed surprise or plot twist. There is nothing quite like watching a player get excited because of something you did with your world too that they find really cool.

However, right now it is also out of spite as I was dumped from my previous game on a day that I was not there because they said that it was more fun without me around. That spark of bitterness, and that one of the players from that game joined mine as well, as spurred me to create a game better than the one I left so as to convince (through word of mouth) that they made a mistake.

From what I was told this past Sunday that is proving to be true as the old game is now breaking up and those players are begging me for a slot cause of what the one player has been telling them. :)

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

I couldn't agree more. I usually put a ton of work into the npc's and thier backgrounds which in turn makes the world more alive for me. I hope that then translates to the players and they get the same feeling. I also require players to write a fairly substantial background for thier characters so I can use that to intertwine the characters into the main plot and world around them
Jeff

i also have the players write me a nice background for their charcters. as i weave their pasts into my the adventures they mean so much more to the PCs. they have a personal stake in the matter. this time they are not getting money or treasure. they may very well be fighting to save a loved one.

[drewshi]

Currently with Correu I spend about two to three hours a week mapping out the world. Since it's a world where I have an adult campaign and my son's campaign, it's proving interesting. I try to vary my adventures by using some created by others and then some of my own. My rule of thumb is usually my adventure, then a pre-written one, and then one of my own. Currently, the adult campaign is going through a series of islands, determining their status post-Empires War. They are in an adventure I found at the Dragonsfoot website where they have to secure a watchtower being held by hobgoblins before an army of elves swarm in. They will then proceed to an new island where they will be stranded and have a limited amount of time to get off the island before it's destroyed.

[MortonStromgal]

In my older age I think you write a good one shot as the beginning that can be drawn out into a long term thing and have an idea about an ending. Write up the major antagonists and their motivations and then wing it from there. I think Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex is a good example of that style of writing. The BBEG isn't a part of the first episode but it hints at a possibility of something bigger and the minor villain is defeated.

[Bearfoot_Adam]

I am starting to make my own campaign world now, so I am not sure how long it will take with this being my first try at it. I will try to keep posted my progress, maybe in a separate thread so as not to derail this one.

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm making my first campaign world. GURPS Fantasy has been a big help in reminding me of things I have forgotten about. I have so many ideas and I start to overload on what I want. Pretty soon I'll have lumberjacks from space, riding dinosaurs, while overthrowing a corrupt ruler who happens to be a super smart Hippopotamous. (It's not that bad but close) Looking forward to your thread. I'll start one too. Maybe we'll be able to help eachother out.

[cplmac]

Oh yeah, anytime that you're able to steal, er.. borrow an idea from someone is always good.

[The_Richard]

I tend to put allot of time into the design of the world. not to plan everything out though. instead to have enough to come up with npc's on the fly. as in "hmm, the characters are in the sea port town and looking for information... there could be the grizzeled dock hand, suave pirate, gay sailor (great comidic opportunity there), fishmongers wife, etc.". i like to have alot of the world maped out especialy the towns. that way no matter where the players roam there will normally already be something there. as for the adventures i will make the end guy first. that is the one that will shape what the underlings are like. to an extent anyway. plot hooks are easy to drop if you already know where they lead. plan the first encounter and then let the players guide what should be in the next one.
sorry if that is a bit disorderly, i don't always think in straight lines.

[Kalanth]

When I created my world I did a lot using the old 2E book, World Builders Guidebook. At least I think it was 2E. That book was amazing in what it helped me do detail wise ranging from population, weather patterns, tectile plates, and governmental systems (at the time I only thought in Feudal systems).

Going back over what you wrote once a year helps keep some of the more mediocre things out too, as I went over the world with a fine tooth comb with the release of 4E to make sure the world conformed with the new rules. There were quite a few places that it was painfully clear I was 19 when I started writting the world and I brought those things up to date.

One aspect to a world that I find most usefull is to never shy away from an abstract idea. If you want Air Ships, go for it. You think this world would be perfect for Musketts and Cannons, rock on. The Ogre nation inhabits flying cities because the Illithid overran their former homes (something I did with my world), then have at it. These abstract ideas keep the world yours and keep things truly interesting. It is a fantasy realm and the players want to see some 'fantastic' things from time to time.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

When I created my world I did a lot using the old 2E book, World Builders Guidebook. At least I think it was 2E. That book was amazing in what it helped me do detail wise ranging from population, weather patterns, tectile plates, and governmental systems (at the time I only thought in Feudal systems).

Going back over what you wrote once a year helps keep some of the more mediocre things out too, as I went over the world with a fine tooth comb with the release of 4E to make sure the world conformed with the new rules. There were quite a few places that it was painfully clear I was 19 when I started writting the world and I brought those things up to date.

One aspect to a world that I find most usefull is to never shy away from an abstract idea. If you want Air Ships, go for it. You think this world would be perfect for Musketts and Cannons, rock on. The Ogre nation inhabits flying cities because the Illithid overran their former homes (something I did with my world), then have at it. These abstract ideas keep the world yours and keep things truly interesting. It is a fantasy realm and the players want to see some 'fantastic' things from time to time.

Exactly, you have to go for the abstract. If you don't then it will eventually get boring. The only difference between worlds being the coastlines, names, etc.

[nijineko]

creation is my hobby. world-building is one of the standard activities for that. i can usually rough out a world in an hour or two. sketched maps, major flora and fauna, perhaps a few major npcs, major sites of interest (often just an evocative name with some ideas scribbled next to it, or a quick sketch of something interesting...) some races with major points of culture and history, the solar system, the rudiments of a calander, some ideas about religion and the cosmology.

then after the roughing-out is done, it can take hours, days, weeks, months to fill in details. i typically try to focus on relevant areas, as in relevant to the campaign and pcs. that way i don't take so much time-and allows for player participation. if the world in question is not for an rpg (after all, i do this as a hobby, seperate from rpg) then i'll flutter here and there focusing on whatever catches my interest.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

creation is my hobby. world-building is one of the standard activities for that. i can usually rough out a world in an hour or two. sketched maps, major flora and fauna, perhaps a few major npcs, major sites of interest (often just an evocative name with some ideas scribbled next to it, or a quick sketch of something interesting...) some races with major points of culture and history, the solar system, the rudiments of a calander, some ideas about religion and the cosmology.

then after the roughing-out is done, it can take hours, days, weeks, months to fill in details. i typically try to focus on relevant areas, as in relevant to the campaign and pcs. that way i don't take so much time-and allows for player participation. if the world in question is not for an rpg (after all, i do this as a hobby, seperate from rpg) then i'll flutter here and there focusing on whatever catches my interest.

cool. i wish i had the concentration you do. i get going and then i think "hey this would be cool!" and get going on that and then it becomes a vicious cycle

[tesral]

cool. i wish i had the concentration you do. i get going and then i think "hey this would be cool!" and get going on that and then it becomes a vicious cycle

ADD is a big help.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

ADD is a big help.

i know. it's like that with everything for me.

[Kalanth]

ADD is a big help.

It truly is. I have too... Oh, something shinny!






Oh, sorry... Where was I?

[tesral]

It truly is. I have too... Oh, something shinny!

Oh, sorry... Where was I?

I was taking about the concertinaing to the exclusion of all else part.

Side note: I don't believe in ADD. It's a "disease" called "being a normal boy" that teachers wish to drug out of existence because they stick kids in an unnatural environment and expect them to not go nuts.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

I was taking about the concertinaing to the exclusion of all else part.

Side note: I don't believe in ADD. It's a "disease" called "being a normal boy" that teachers wish to drug out of existence because they stick kids in an unnatural environment and expect them to not go nuts.

touche! i'm with you there

[The_Richard]

Side note: I don't believe in ADD. It's a "disease" called "being a normal boy" that teachers wish to drug out of existence because they stick kids in an unnatural environment and expect them to not go nuts.

unfortunately due to doctors being pill happy, over prescribing, quacks has lead to people not believing in ADD. there are actual cases of ADD out there. probably not even half as many as have been diagnosed. it's sad the level to which we trust doctors and the level to which their incompetence has risen.

[Kalanth]

unfortunately due to doctors being pill happy, over prescribing, quacks has lead to people not believing in ADD. there are actual cases of ADD out there. probably not even half as many as have been diagnosed. it's sad the level to which we trust doctors and the level to which their incompetence has risen.

I have long been diagnosed with ADD (ADHD in the old days, but they did away with the H and said all ADD is hyper). To this day, at 29 years old, I still encounter the ADD problems that I did as a child and I have not taken medication for it in 15 years. Distracted easily and often unable to focus, but when it comes to video games I am locked in while the action is going. Give me a load screen and I am going to desktop to surf the net or changing the channel on a console game.

With D&D I have trouble staying on task. I will work dillegently but I must have something with which to distract myself because the science of me is that to be distracted means I will bore of the distraction and return to work. So, for me, world building is from love but I certainly don't benefit from the ADD concentration when it comes to it.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

unfortunately due to doctors being pill happy, over prescribing, quacks has lead to people not believing in ADD. there are actual cases of ADD out there. probably not even half as many as have been diagnosed. it's sad the level to which we trust doctors and the level to which their incompetence has risen.

what's and "actual case"? i'm definately with tesral on this. i think that every little boy is like that. and school is unnatural. i went crazy everyday in there

[Scifione]

I spend about.....wait a minute; what am I doing here? I should be working on the next adventure, my champagn, and my homebrew campagn setting. :ranger:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
It depend on you. You can spend a few minute reading over a module or hours just hand crafting NPCs. :decision:

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

so after or during the world creation process does any one place random hooks through out the land? or do you just make one to start with and go from there.

[drewshi]

I tend to start with a major city that is a major power player in the realm and then build the world from there. I sort of discover the world as the players do. It's proving interesting this time around as I am planning on running three campaigns set in the same realm of Correu. There is the current online game I play with my friends, the tabletop game I play with my son, and a play by post I am going to start next month on Livejournal. Trying to have three different game forms in the same realm with the possibility that the players may cross paths should prove interesting.

[Duniagdra DaaMyour]

My DM experience was brief to say the least. Right when it was my turn to DM, because we rotated through our group, three of our key members moved (job transfers, not me... seriously...) and two became to busy with life.

My first campaign focused around a town with three level 1 adventures right in town. I used a number of premade adventure modules and changed names and such to fit the region my campaign was going to be in. I couldn't consider my campaign a world since it wasn't even a nation yet, let alone a continent. Sadly, after climbing five levels, it all came to an end.:(

I was relying on "controlled" random encounters to handle the "unknown variable" and if they went someplace I didn't want them too, I made sure to have a list of possible obstacles blocking them. Basically, I drew up a chart of NPC's and creatures according to where they were. It was working out well. In all, it took me one week of two hours a day (twelve hours really) and we started.

[Thriondel Half-Elven]

My DM experience was brief to say the least. Right when it was my turn to DM, because we rotated through our group, three of our key members moved (job transfers, not me... seriously...) and two became to busy with life.

My first campaign focused around a town with three level 1 adventures right in town. I used a number of premade adventure modules and changed names and such to fit the region my campaign was going to be in. I couldn't consider my campaign a world since it wasn't even a nation yet, let alone a continent. Sadly, after climbing five levels, it all came to an end.:(

I was relying on "controlled" random encounters to handle the "unknown variable" and if they went someplace I didn't want them too, I made sure to have a list of possible obstacles blocking them. Basically, I drew up a chart of NPC's and creatures according to where they were. It was working out well. In all, it took me one week of two hours a day (twelve hours really) and we started.

not long at all really

[DMMike]

so after or during the world creation process does any one place random hooks through out the land? or do you just make one to start with and go from there.

I consider everything a hook, so my answer would be "both." I try to let the world sort itself out economically and naturally, and let the PCs choose from there.

This means, among other things:
-the bad guys expand their evil (good?) until they bump into unfriendly forces

-the PCs face a new set of options after every choice they make (in theory, if not in practice)
and
- PCs who aren't self-motivated are vulnerable to the DM's plot whims, which probably tend to be more on the catastrophic side than the PCs might prefer


With that in mind, I still try to cater to the talents of the characters - it keeps them interested and excited. However, nothing gets PCs searching for solutions like a challenge for which they're not ready (uh oh, we don't have anyone in the party with Profession (fortune-teller)).