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View Full Version : Adventure structure idea (anyone seen this before?)



Chiron
2009-05-05, 04:01 AM
Now that I'm inching closer towards making my campaign a reality, I've started to tackle the problem of the adventures that make it up. Being as how the first segment is something of a murder mystery/thriller there's going to be a certain amount of investigation involved meaning that there are a few somewhat linear requirements for the adventure to proceed properly.

But what I was thinking of doing is taking all the clues and steps that need to proceed properly and turning them into self-contained events that can be placed virtually anywhere on the map (http://www.yawprpg.com/pics/maps/C-Lake.jpg). Something akin to a choose-your-own-adventure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choose_your_own_adventure) book really. That way if the players grab completely the wrong end of the stick from the clues I can still insert the next step into 'D' instead of having them wander clueless until they decide to try 'B'.

The sneaky-sneak in me is liking this idea, because unless the party is truly stupid all the time, they should end up feeling like they're getting things right more often than not. We all know how a party can get the wrong impression from time to time and run with it all the way to ruin while the DM is left to wonder how to salvage the mess. This way, they're telling their own story, while I get to tell mine. It doesn't really matter if victim #3 is a farmer or the head of the city watch, what matters is that they discover the killer is an insane cleric whose babbling hints at something more sinister.

Basically the plan is to have a number of plot elements and encounters:
(A) Start
(B) Clue 1
(C) Encounter 1
(D) Clue 2 etc.

[1] Location 1
[2] Location 2 etc.

Each event/encounter would have a number of locations at which it can occur and then leave clues to the next item in the sequence.

But (there's always one) I'm well aware that this good idea is just the beginning. The players are able to not only think of the 'wrong' location, they're also able to consider the 'wrong' suspect (who needs to be a specific class and role) or circumvent the processes entirely. So I'm after questions, comments and suggestions on improvements I can make to the idea.

Pronounceable
2009-05-05, 05:41 AM
I think this is one of those things DMs eventually realize that they can do and start doing.

Anyway, it's a good idea. Divorcing an event from the scene it's written for is a bit of work, but no major trouble. There's also the possibilty that the REAL culprit is actually the baker's wife as that PC suspected, and not the shifty cleric that appears in those other scenes. You can railromake the game flow as much as you like if it may possibly increase the fun.

You can also go around making variations of the same scene for all available locations if you don't mind extra work.