How to write a scene/encounter.

[Kurt Kurageous]

I'm proposing something radical.

What if there was a format that authors all used for scenes in adventures? It would make the DM job much easier if the format put information in consistent locations. You could buy something from WotC or DM Guild or anywhere and you knew it would be easy to run because you knew it would follow a consistent format.

What if this was a hyperlink to my proposed format?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98YU9Baldnc19aUHM/view?usp=sharing

Would you tell me what you think?

BTW most of the ideas/concepts came from theangrydm.com.

[Unoriginal]

First of all, what do you mean by " a format that authors all used for scenes in adventures"?

Are you talking about published adventures?

Second, I don't really see how this format would make things simpler than they already are, at least how it would universally do so.

Third, not all writers conceptualize "scenes" the same way, or at all, and trying to shove their works into that format can be detrimental.

Fourth, this can lead to an over-standardization of things happening in an adventure.


I'm not going to say you're having badwrongfun for using it, because everyone has a method that fits them personally, but I don't really see the universal appeal

[Kurt Kurageous]

First of all, what do you mean by " a format that authors all used for scenes in adventures"?
Are you talking about published adventures?
Second, I don't really see how this format would make things simpler than they already are, at least how it would universally do so.
Third, not all writers conceptualize "scenes" the same way, or at all, and trying to shove their works into that format can be detrimental.
Fourth, this can lead to an over-standardization of things happening in an adventure.

"a format that authors all used for scenes in adventures" I am proposing a format like the screenplay, but simpler. The reason there is ONE motion picture and television format for the screen play is that it must be shared and understood by almost everyone involved in a production. With D&D, there's just the DM and the players. But the DM has a whole world to run, dialog to give, situations to resolve. I am asking the writers to make it easy on the DM.

Published adventures absolutely. If you've run them, you know that you pay good money to read about information scattered all over the book (monsters and some NPCs in the back, some on same page, etc.) or buried in a paragraph of text. This means the DM who has not more or less read and memorized that encounter must stop the game to reread or search for essential items. It even happens without your own stuff if it's been awhile since you ran it. I don't know what published adventures you have run, but I would not call CoS or OOtA simple. CoS has over 100 named NPCs. I know because I listed and located them.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98SnpDUzBWeEJMeUU/view?usp=sharing

And CoS changes spell lists and stats from the MM, so I built a compendium for it to keep them straight. Why WotC does not recognize the need for a hyper-abbreviated stat block format and a scene format I don't know. There are suggestions they do when you see the word "developments" below a wall of text in a scene.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98RkNDZjRWaXpuOFE/view?usp=sharing

True, all authors do not conceptualize the same, but if they could all communicate it the same consistent predictable way, we (the DMS running them) would be better able to execute their concept. I am proposing the same idea used in writing a song. If you want other people you never meet face to face to play it, you'd better be able to write it down using the standards for key signature, time, notes, etc.

Not sure about the fourth point. A scene is a building block of an adventure and should serve a particular purpose in your story. If it has no purpose, perhaps it should not be in the story. I'm not trying to standardize any of the 5Ws in the game. I'm trying to standardize how that information is conveyed to the overworked DM so they can run the game easier. I'm trying to make more DMs, and more DMs better.

The format guides the writer to include things that make a good scene. They are not all strictly necessary in every scene, but considering them each time will make your scenes better. That's how it will help beyond simplification.

[Unoriginal]

Well, have you tried to write three whole scenes using this method?

Or re-write three scenes from a published module?

[Kurt Kurageous]

Well, have you tried to write three whole scenes using this method?

Or re-write three scenes from a published module?

The format has evolved since I did it last, but more or less I wrote a short 12 scene adventure using something very much like it. It needs rework, but I've run it twice and it's pretty nice having almost everything right there on the page. Compare this with HotDQ second chapter trying to figure out what you can and cannot say to the party about the missing monk, or the first chapter figuring out what the castle keeper says to the party about the hidden tunnel.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzHVsiBMMb98MnRlSmxnRktFcUU/view?usp=sharing

I haven't rewritten anything from WotC. If you want me to, pick something. I don't have SKT or PotA. The format is not designed to support all of the module. There will still be room for big sweeping lines of narrative.