Any advice for writing adventure paths?

[Libertad]

Although it's not for everyone, there are many advantages to an adventure path, such as saving on DM prep time and weaving a greater plot across multiple levels.

I have a particular adventure path in mind, although I want to get advice from other authors and designers who went down this route. What are the common do's and don'ts? What concerns should I have about writing it in comparison to a typical stand-alone adventure?

Thank you for any help that you can give!

[ngilop]

Well getting your work published requires 3 simple ( or not so simple depending on how you look at it)

1) talent, you have to look, sound and present your idea as better than the next guy

2) Luck, yes sometimes being in the right place at the right time works miracles

3) persistence.. do no get discouraged when the first publisher says No. keep at it and never give up if this is what you truly want :).

[The Insanity]

Uhm, I think he meant "how to make", not "how to publish".

[Coidzor]

Well, an adventure path is only as strong as its modules and your ability to tie them together.

So one of the first steps is to figure out an overarching meta-plot that would be hard to resolve in a single adventure module. So you need to figure out how and why the party gets involved and stays involved with the metaplot, possibly having several hooks and reasons for various different parties/individual party members.

I suppose one thing that has to be addressed is why they don't pass the buck, especially during the transition from one adventure to the next in line. And, of course, you need a way to get them from Adventure Module A to Adventure Module B.

Especially with the expanded rules for Downtime, considerations of how and when to allow for it are even more important now than when it was basically nothing other than when they could go shopping again or how much stuff the party crafter(s) could make and when.

There's a greater need for compelling, recurring NPCs, either as part of a location or as companions/associates/contacts for the PCs, in order to give a sense of continuity, I think.