How to create an adventure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltbfqsm7958&list=PLo4-n9V0bKIU9DdKtSNhdJvlDs01ihWPc

Location Based Adventures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnaTV2s4N-o

Takes place in one specific place (the most common way to run an adventure)

1. Brainstorm the creatures and monsters I want to use in the adventure.

• Monsters with a CR 2 or 3 lower than the level of the party
• Boss monster with a CR about equal to the party

2. Jot down game master notes

3. Create the storyline

• Set up the villain
• What does the villain want
• What's the villain doing to achieve these goals

4. Flesh out locations

5. Flesh out NPCs

6. Design random encounters

7. Roll for treasure and loot

• put loot throughout the adventure, not all at the end -- it gives the party a reason to explore the dungeon; also hide some loot that requires some checks.

8. Create the inciting action or adventure hook

• Clearly describe what the problem is
• Provide motivation to go on the adventure (rewards)
• Provide a clear next step

9. Create adventure details

• overall description.. what is the floor, walls, ceiling made of...
• create a map for the dungeon
• create the details of the map (create reel-out text)
• create encounters in those rooms

10. Create the resolution

• what are the rewards
• are there any consequences

Avalanches and Ambushes https://www.thedmlair.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Avalanches-and-Ambushes-level-5-DnD-5e-adventure.pdf

Review the Adventuring Day Mechanic (p. 84)

Event Based Adventures

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MO0IRzGCAlE

It's not tied to a location, it's frame based on what happens instead -- what the villain does and what the response of the players are.

Requires less preparation but requires more improvisation during the game.

1. Create the villain -- what are the villains motivations, the goal, who are the minions

2. Create the storyline or plot (setting up the scene, not writing a book)... consider a timer or some mechanic to limit resting

3. Determine the inciting event/action and the party's goals

4. Determine and flesh out key NPCs

5. Plan events that will occur in the adventure (what events occur and when they occur if the party does nothing... plan out some possible reactions to what the players might do, these can be vague enough there might be overlap or a reaction might be generic enough to cover lots of player actions)

6. Plan encounters using minions that are level appropriate (this is similar to creating random encounters you'd use on a location-based adventure).. plan variable difficulties (using waves, tougher encounters, etc.)

7. Flesh out key locations (what locations do you need to know or might come up in the adventure; you might not need to plan out every, maybe just one room or a subsection of a location)

8. Plan a climax -- typically a confrontation with the villain (either a successful or unsuccessful ending)

9. Plan a resolution

10. Run the adventure! (Really?????)

How I'm building hubs

Each city should have a job board that offers a few "random" quests; have another subset of random quests set aside for if/when the party asks around town (they don't need to be directly linked to a given area... just toss out a random quest at the tavern if the party asks there; the same quest could be given out if they asked the town cleric instead). The goal here is to give the players "too much" to do so they want to miss things; if you only offer 1-2 things, the party could feel railroaded into doing only those things. It's important to realize the outcome of side quests could have the same result (e.g. the fork in the road comes back together) but the players are unlikely to realize that because they chose the path.

create a set of "main quests" in the hub, have the side quests link to the main quest (some of the rewards for the side quests should be requirements for the main quest)

"What should I do?" "Spend some time getting stronger before heading out on your own..."

• plan a few quests that can lead to another subset of quests (e.g. a scarecrow attacked a farmer, defeating the scarecrow lets the party know about a hag that created the scarecrow)
• offer quests that result in completing parts of other quests (e.g. going to a farm let's the party gather resources for another quest; the party could have gone to the hunter's shack, the bandit camp, or the farmer's house to get the flower)

These quests should have varying degrees of difficult and not all of them are meant to be completed "on time" (they may need/want to come back later)... others may expire (or completed by other adventurers) if they've spent too much time doing other things

Have a handful of random encounters planned