DnD Adventure "Creative Writing Exercises" Advice

[DnDMaronFletche]

I have been doing a DnD adventure with a DM who's looking to "pass the baton" to someone else to DM so he can be a player. I had an idea for an adventure, but I can't seem to get it written down. Having trouble converting my ideas and visions into a coherent story.

Any DMs out there have any exercises, tricks, tips, resources for me to look up in order to get the "creative juices" flowing? I'm pretty strapped for cash so things that cost would need to be at an absolute minimum. I'm hoping for some free and open web sources to be pointed to - perhaps threads on this Forum I should check out, as well as advice from those more experienced in Dungeon Mastering.

Thank you for any and all help. I am hoping this site will be a great resource once I get my adventure going! :smallsmile:

[Reaper34]

any pre-made adventure from any edition. steal liberally from them. same with movies and books. as for structure.

figure out what you want to happen. from start to finish.

1. players meet
2. plot hook meeting
3. go to point a for key
4. go to use key.
5. return to plot giver with thing

then flesh each out you only need very broad ideas at first. then put in obsticals in them. the players will screw up the rest for you...... i mean do the rest and save the day.

[Ewhit]

I'm sure you will receive Alot of info here.
1. First determine what type of game players they are. You should already know A. All action or all role play. 50/50 etc. this will allow you,them to enjoy game. Maybe even ask them.
2. What level will you start at. Hopefully 1 or 2. No more than 3.
3. Start slow and small at first since its your first time.
4. Pick a city town forest ruins etc for them to meet. Talk to each person seperately or email. give each person a piece of different lore regarding same quest. Pick race of lore or keep it secret; received from their teacher or research etc. I'll toss this out lost Gems of Harmony 6 gems that someone had in a golden crown
5. City or town they ask info get supplies each person told another stranger in town asking same things getting supplie. Group meets up use this for role play.
6. And after town Or if they each went to lore location seperately they meet up by seeing campfires or hear combat. Etc. this should be small combat to work together. Orcs goblins lizard men etc. Find final clue to lore location or to extend find creature village. Stealth in find prisoner who provides info or info in leaders area final location hint. Use skills to figure out final clue. If prisoner. He was looking for same thing got captured provides his lore maybe you can't see entry except by moonlight
7. Reach cave dungeon ruins etc for ending point. Or extend find opening. End. See how much time went by lunch break? end of play time? What they liked and not liked. Since its first time DM this can help for part 2.
8. Whatever you pick prisoner either joins as npc healer etc or leaves and becomes contact for later adventure Information source etc maybe a low Lvl paladin or cleric from city or town
9. Ancient or magical writing discovered can they read it etc go search dungeon ruins etc
Fight few creatures maybe undead skeletons zombies etc are they guardians or something sinister.
Add a trap or clue based on each ability. Strength test int test for them to pass different locations. Gives role play to solve it based on class or to work together to solve it
Find lore about ruins tapestries wall writings books etc a crown with 6 glowing gems whatever you want
10. Another low level fight or medium depending how they are doing
11. Find possibly magic item +1 or spell scroll etc
12. Final room fight. Few light creatures and hard boss based on what you think they can do damage
Maybe wright or stronger skeleton or zombie. Or even a evil cleric who has been living there searching for same items.
13. Final treasure gold crown with 6 empty slots for gems and more info lore where the gems may be located what they do. Up to you maybe each one gives +1 to different stat. Strong but up to you. Don't make it easy to find 1 per 2 adventures.
Or maybe they don't work except together for 1 person.
Maybe the paladin cleric ally is more than what he seems. Prince who grants audience and asks them to find the gems because they belong to family or he needs it to protect country
14. Add a villain eventually who on and off wants the gems as well. Warlock with thief ally or familiar. Steals a gem or almost.
Sorry. Added to much and the tiny phone is bothering eyes. Maybe not what you want but read and pull from everyone

[Zman]

I run PsuedoSandbox games,meaning that I create the world and then let the players interact with said world with mostly free reign, then I have the world advance and react to the players. Gotta think on your feet, but it creates a living world.

Here is a rougher structure I use.

Plot Arcs
Major Plot Arcs: Create one or two or three large overarching plot arches that are happening in the background. Oftten these are main storylines the players can always come back too. They generally shouldn't be simple, a BBEG or huge threat shouldn't be immediately apparent.

Minor Plot Arcs: Create many small plots that are related and part of the Major Arcs. Often these create standard adventures and lead to other Minor Archs or are multipart. These often are a bit more straight forward.

Side Plot Arcs: Create many, often on the fly small side quests. These don't advance the Major or Minor arcs, but do take up time and can often be mini or even large adventures in themselves. If a particular takes off it could spawn a new Minor or Major Arc.

Time: Time passes and the world evolves and changes based upon the arcs moving in the background and what evens the players alter, hasten, or stop.

Here are a couple examples.

Main Plot Arc
Means to an End: Massive bandit activity in there area has disrupted trade. The disrupted trade is bankrupting City A. City B has been minorly affected and becoming more dominant in the region. The head of a merchant family in City B is working with the ruler of City B and planning an assault on City A once it is sufficiently weakened. The ruler of City B is a pawn of the Merchant who in turn is working with a Nefarious Organization who has plans to eventually rule the entire area.

Minor Plot Arcs
Bandits: Bandits are attacking the roads near village A under protection of City A. They can be found and eradicated leading to their leader who in turn is connected to operative in City A. Operative can be tracked and interrogated and connected to Merchants in City B. Multiple bands of bandits are active in the area and can separately dealt with, not doing do weakens City A.

In Need of Coin: City A needs coin and has multiple opportunities including guard work for caravans, negotiations with City for protected trade routes. Can connect to Bandits Plot or Merchants Plot.

Merchants: The Merchants in City B are cutthroat, but one family is doing particularly well. Investigation leads to various forms of corruption, black markets, slave trade, etc each investigatable. Corruption ties lead to people in the Keep.

Power Play: Ruler of City B is working with and bankrolling Bandits to starve out City A. Many spies in City A getting ready to undermine its economy and military. Once City A is sufficiently weakened City B tries simultaneous assassination plots and marches an army. Each portion can be interacted with even mass battle, or foiled assassination.

PuppetMaster: Clues point to someone pulling the strings, influencing people, and orchestrating events. This man is an agent of the Nefarious organization whose real goal is to destabilize the region, not be fit the Merchant or the Ruler of City B. This person can be found, and ties followed. Leads to other Minor Plots.

Side Plots
Sword of Special: Legendary sword rumored to exist, can be researched and found though dangerous trial and tribulation.

Save the Damsel: Girl can be saved endearing daughter of Ruler of City B to the players and vices versa. Or, she is not saved and dies. Potential assassination?

Time: everything is happening in the background, set time tables for major events, minor events, and let the olayer's choices have consequences. Give them decisions, tough ones, ones that can alter the world.


This is how I create a Campaign. Sometimes it starts with simple arcs and they evolve taking on a life of their own spawning new arcs and writing their own story in a living world. Takes a bit of work and on your feet thinking, but wow can it be fun. And campaigns can be reused with different players and the everything is different, sometimes very quickly.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Any DMs out there have any exercises, tricks, tips, resources for me to look up in order to get the "creative juices" flowing?

As an aside (because this won't help you much in your current situation), learning a bit about creative writing can be really helpful for a DM. There are a lot of transferable skills between the two tasks.

I myself do NaNo WriMo (http://nanowrimo.org/) every year, and this is exactly the sort of question I'd take to their fora. They're super helpful with this sort of thing, and there are creative writing challenges, dares, word wars, typing sprints, adopt-a-plot-element threads etc. run over the forums that might be helpful for you. And it's free!

[Joe the Rat]

So how writer-minded are you?

Me? I suck at narrative. But I'm good at spatial and causal relationships. Get yourself a nice junk drawer full of event ideas, and start looking at how you can hook them together. In short, map your ideas like you'd map a dungeon. Or if you're really wacky, flow chart it.

For a starter, set a starting location and two hooks. Pursuing one means the other gets delayed. If they wait on a "go find this treasure" quest, it's pretty static. If it's "there's goblins in the basement," that can escalate to "people are missing" if left alone too long - or "some other group of adventurers / king's agents / the local wizard took care of it" to introduce potential allies, or adversaries, or red herrings.

Different types of hooks give you an idea of what your players like. If you earn 500 for recovering an artifact or 500 for rescuing children, which do the players like more? Have a few variations of this, and remember who or what survives from each one. You'll find out where your players want to go, and you can start building a plot from there. Or which canned adventures to kitbash into a usable form.

And after you get a plan... you're done. Get your descriptions, get your cutscene text, and go to town. You don't to write out something someone else could use, or makes a pretty story. You're setting up an adventure.

Some other directions:

Try making a few Five Room Dungeons. Keeping in mind that the "dungeon" can be any series of locations - or timed events - or how entire "adventures" string together (a Gatekeeper that prevents further progress until resolved (the necessary key?), a Red Herring that isn't part of plot A - but could be part of a new chain if it really piques interest.)

Hit up a random dungeon generator. Now take all of the strange selections, and explain it. Why are there hobgoblins hiding out in an abandoned beholder's layer, and how did that owlbear get locked in the Library? Why is there a library?

Get or make a list of random encounters. Now explain why each one would be on the road/ in the wilderness / hiding in the sewers / etc. They may never go anywhere, or they may be what your players latch onto.

Write down your plot holes. If the players start asking how or why something happened, and you don't have an explanation, you now have a mystery. Goblin ninjas are cute, but where did they get the black pajamas and the training? Is it part of the culture in your game? Or is it someone else using them as pawns?
If you do try this, make sure you get to the first patch quickly. If the payout is too long, they may not make the associations.

Ask for backstories and personal quests. In other words, have the players come up with some plots and hooks. What do your players want to do? Look for missing artifacts? Hunt the craven thug that killed her master? Seek knowledge? Raise an undead army? Take down a despot? Get really rich?

[Oramac]

Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said, but I'll throw out my 2 cents. I've not written any D&D adventures, but I am in the middle of writing a novel based (very loosely) on D&D.

My first recommendation would be to take a minute and define your world a bit. Nothing too specific. Just broad strokes.

- High magic or low magic?
- Is it landlocked? A bunch of islands? Mostly coastal? Where is it?
- Who's in charge? A benevolent king? A viscous tyrant? Something in between?

Once that's done, do all the stuff everyone else has said. A basic outline can be very helpful.

[Ninja_Prawn]

A basic outline can be very helpful.

And a villain/antagonist. If you know who they are and what they want, you have all the tools you'll need to improvise later.

So perhaps one of those quizzes that ask questions and you answer in-character (as the villain) could be helpful?

[NewDM]

There are a lot of adventures on DMs Guild for free or extremely cheap. The last one I ran was Cave of the Missing (http://www.dmsguild.com/product/179004/Cave-of-the-Missing) which is 'pay what you want', you can just put in 0.00 and get it free. You can steal ideas, maps, NPCs, and other ideas from these adventures.

Other places to get ideas would be any website that does fantasy or medieval short stories, movies, books. Sci-Fi can cross over pretty good. I once made an adventure based off a movie about slugs that take over people's minds.

[DnDMaronFletche]

Thanks all for what you've posted so far.

Joe The Rat: How "writer-minded" am I? Not very, if at all! I used to write a lot, mostly poetry, but "life" has gotten in the way and I've been "too grounded in reality". Maybe I'm taking on a project beyond my mental means, but I DO want to reclaim what I used to do years ago.

All things for me to explore/play with (after work, of course - gotta get back to my job! :smallwink: )

[ChelseaNH]

Any DMs out there have any exercises, tricks, tips, resources for me to look up in order to get the "creative juices" flowing?

It sounds like you have ideas, so the problem isn't with your creative juices, it's with the elements of the craft. My tip for someone who wants to write is: write.

It's not going to be perfect when you write it down. It's not supposed to be. Writing is a process. It's more like a little bit of writing and a lot of rewriting. Initially what you're doing is creating bricks, which you'll start to assemble into a structure and rearrange and switch around until it feels right to you.

It sounds like you think you have to sit down and produce a building, and really you need to start making bricks.

[JNAProductions]

I have been doing a DnD adventure with a DM who's looking to "pass the baton" to someone else to DM so he can be a player. I had an idea for an adventure, but I can't seem to get it written down. Having trouble converting my ideas and visions into a coherent story.

Any DMs out there have any exercises, tricks, tips, resources for me to look up in order to get the "creative juices" flowing? I'm pretty strapped for cash so things that cost would need to be at an absolute minimum. I'm hoping for some free and open web sources to be pointed to - perhaps threads on this Forum I should check out, as well as advice from those more experienced in Dungeon Mastering.

Thank you for any and all help. I am hoping this site will be a great resource once I get my adventure going! :smallsmile:

Well, not sure how applicable this advice is to you, but my advice? Wing it. Wing the crap out of it. Don't prepare anything other than encounters, just let the story unfold naturally.

As part of this, learn to say yes (if you don't already).
"Is there a wizard's guild here?" "Yes."
"Is there a city nearby?" "Yes."
"Can I have an artifact at level 2?" "Here, have the Head of Vecna." :P

It's what I do, and it works pretty well. Then again, I also have a LOT of experience winging stories, so it might not work for you. That being said, if you think you can do it, it can lead to some great stories.

[Ninja_Prawn]

My tip for someone who wants to write is: write.

And mine? Read.

Read every day, with a critical eye. Understand what the author is doing and why. You can learn so much from other people's mistakes!

[Vogonjeltz]

I have been doing a DnD adventure with a DM who's looking to "pass the baton" to someone else to DM so he can be a player. I had an idea for an adventure, but I can't seem to get it written down. Having trouble converting my ideas and visions into a coherent story.

Any DMs out there have any exercises, tricks, tips, resources for me to look up in order to get the "creative juices" flowing? I'm pretty strapped for cash so things that cost would need to be at an absolute minimum. I'm hoping for some free and open web sources to be pointed to - perhaps threads on this Forum I should check out, as well as advice from those more experienced in Dungeon Mastering.

Thank you for any and all help. I am hoping this site will be a great resource once I get my adventure going

Although the DMG is an excellent resource for adventure hooks and design, here's an exercise to assist you:

1) Create a problem for the PCs to encounter/solve/whatever.
2) Why is the problem happening?
3) Why would the PCs care to get involved beyond boredom? - Look at their character ideals, bonds, etc...

example:

1) Bandit raids on the road leading north from town.
2) A particular merchant group has hired bandits to specifically target a competing group.
3) The party had been hired to escort a particular shipment on it's next leg of the journey, a shipment now lost to the bandits. If the party wants to get paid (and maybe get a bonus for going above and beyond the call of duty; or alternatively not get penalized for late delivery), they need to recover that shipment.

Possible future hooks: After discovering the bandit camp, the PCs realize that the shipment is not there, it's been sent on to the HQ of the coster that hired the bandits. PCs must pursue and break into the HQ to recover the goods for their employers, along the way acquiring evidence of the perfidy. Maybe the maguffin turns out to be more important than a mere shipment (especially if the employer is requesting such lengths to reacquire it) ...maybe the PCs discovering this turns them into targets of assassination, and so forth.

Any future developments could be stream of consciousness, perhaps one of the opponents becomes a recurring villain (or even a reformed ally) if they escape a battle, etc...