3.5e adventure writing advice?

[Septimus Faber]

Hi everyone.

So here it is. I'm about to be DMing in our group, which will probably consist of 3 lv6 characters, I think (not certain about this though) a swashbuckler, a rogue and a spellthief.

I have never written an adventure (or DMed) before, so any advice anyone could give me on either one would be very much appreciated. I don't need specific plots or anything, just general advice.

Thanks very much,

SeptimusFabrius

[Darrin]

I have never written an adventure (or DMed) before, so any advice anyone could give me on either one would be very much appreciated. I don't need specific plots or anything, just general advice.


This depends a great deal on the type of adventure you want to run. We can't give any specific advice unless you tell us more about the campaign or more about what kind of theme you're looking for. But, broken down broadly:

A) Classic Dungeon Crawl. Put the PCs in front of a dark tunnel entrance and let 'em go. If you really want to do it old-school, scratch a series of rooms on a piece of graph paper stolen from your high school geometry teacher. This is the easiest adventure to put together and run because it constrains the PC choices to three basic variables: 1) Pick a room, 2) Deal with monsters/traps, and 3) Collect treasure. Character motivation, historical background, the complex political and technological upheavel that created the economic and social conditions that made evil wizards retreat into monster-filled dungeons and made roving bands of well-armed adventurers a profitable career can be safely ignored. Kick in the door, roll for initiative. There's a lot we can go into as far as encounter design, estimating CR/ELs, balancing risk vs. reward, and that's not even touching stuff like self-sufficient or believable dungeon ecosystems, but the best place to start is probably take a look at the Five Room Dungeon (http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=156) by Johnn Four.

B) Wilderness Crawl. Give the PCs a rough map of the local terrain, tell them to find "X", and let them go. Although somewhat more open-ended than the Dungeon Crawl, it's usually just a "floating room" dungeon where all of the "rooms" are encounters that are either tied to a particular hex/space on the map, rolled randomly off a table, or some mix of random/scripted encounters. The encounter design is very similar to a dungeon: decide what creatures you want to throw at the PCs, and then give them some loot. Toss in a few clues or NPCs who know something about "X" (and were conscientious enough to write it down, hopefully on/inside something fireproof, so that the party can discover it on a corpse), and you're good to go.

C) Black Bag Job. This is the standard scenario for Shadowrun/Cyberpunk games, but the formula is very simple: Patron hires PCs to break into castle/dungeon/whatever and steal the Macguffin. The PCs spend days or weeks planning extremely intricate and clever ways to break into the target, and then inexplicably switch to the Full Frontal Assault as soon as they get within spitting distance of the target. They loot the target with standard Dungeon Crawl tactics, grab the Macguffin, and then meet their Patron at the previously-agreed-upon secret location. The Patron betrays the PCs, grabs the Macguffin, and orders his minions to kill them. The PCs fight their way out of the trap, then spend the rest of the adventure hunting down their former Patron, usually by breaking into his heavily defended headquarters with another idiotic Full Frontal Assault. If you want to go full Baliwood, then throw in one of the PC's brothers as an evil henchman that switches sides, sacrificing himself to save the PCs from certain death, and a Femme Fatale that has a change of heart at the end, disclosing the BBEG's fatal weakness to the PCs. Although this formula is mind-numbingly predictable, most players love this because it gives them lots and lots of things to kill.

D) Investigation. This is the default Horror/Call of Cthulhu scenario, but these can be extremely challenging for groups that like to kill first and then kill anyone who wants to ask questions later. Something horrible happens to an important NPC, usually a King of some sort but anyone from a PC's background will also do, or if you're desperate someone important standing next to the PCs when they're busy trying to murder someone else. Clues are left at the scene of the crime, which may lead to other encounters, and eventually to a killer or BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guy). Designing a good investigation scenario is really hard, because the PCs will frequently hit dead ends or go down routes no sane rational human being could ever predict. Avoid tackling this one yourself until you've had a chance to run several prewritten investigation scenarios that have been thoroughly playtested.

E) Stop the World-Ending Ritual. This is usually a more beefed-up version of the investigation scenario, except it involves a well-organized group of Evil Cultists who have a carefully scripted plan to destroy the world. Events happen according to a pre-established timeline, which continues to move forward even if the PCs aren't at the right spots investigating or finding clues or whatever. The timeline may shift around as the Evil Cultists try to deal with the meddling PCs, or more often than not has to be massively reworked by an irate and panicked DM while the clueless PCs flounder about with absolutely no idea what is going on. Although considerably more complicated than the simple investigation scenario, you can usually salvage these by railroading the PCs to the Cultist HQ just before the ritual is complete, and as soon as the PCs see something they understand like "Dead Cultist = Good", they'll happily plow in with swords swinging even if they don't understand what's going on. Again, best to stick with prewritten and thoroughly playtested modules on this one.

F) Monster of the Week. This is the standard "Buffy" formula, although many TV shows use this, and it's the default scenario for Deadlands and many other supernatural horror RPGs. First, put the PCs in a semi-remote location with limited resources, so the PCs can't just call on the local 20th level wizard or the Invincible City Guards/Shopkeepers From Hell to get rid of anything nasty. Supernatural monster kills somebody, usually while the PCs are present. They attempt to kill it, but it's immune to everything they can throw at it. The monster finishes whatever its immediate goal was and then disappears, leaving the PCs to heal up and then investigate any clues the monster may have left behind. At some point later, Monster attacks again, PCs try to kill it and fail, then it disappears. Rinse and repeat as necessary. In between attacks, PCs talk to locals, investigate clues, etc., as with a standard investigation scenario. Eventually, they collect enough plot coupons to get the BIG CLUE, which tells them the monster's weakness. Find lair, exploit weakness, kill monster, collect treasure. Next week, same scenario with different monster and different weakness.

I think that covers most of the basics.

[Septimus Faber]

This depends a great deal on the type of adventure you want to run. We can't give any specific advice unless you tell us more about the campaign or more about what kind of theme you're looking for.

I'm thinking "kick-in-the-door" as the PCs seem to dislike intensive roleplaying (except where it involves killing stuff).

[EyethatBinds]

You might have trouble running a 2 man game with no healer, and no spell casters (spell thief doesn't count). They might want to create a bit more variety in the group's class spread or straight up fights will be difficult to complete as they go into higher levels.

Actually, even at level 6 they'll have a tough time with most monster who don't attack them head on.

[prufock]

So here it is. I'm about to be DMing in our group, which will probably consist of 3 lv6 characters, I think (not certain about this though) a swashbuckler, a rogue and a spellthief.

This party setup seems like it would be good for an infiltration or swashbuckling piratey adventure. Take something like the Princess Bride and flip it on its head. Instead of the valiant hero chasing the group of kidnappers, you could have a demonstrably powerful villain (make sure he kills a Worf-like character) chasing the PCs who have been charged with protecting the princess.

[Septimus Faber]

You might have trouble running a 2 man game with no healer, and no spell casters (spell thief doesn't count). They might want to create a bit more variety in the group's class spread or straight up fights will be difficult to complete as they go into higher levels.

Actually, even at level 6 they'll have a tough time with most monster who don't attack them head on.

It's a three-man game, actually. Other than that, thanks. Sorry, I can't help correcting every teensy little error I see. It's a character flaw :)