Adventure building

[Tanuki Tales]

How do you guys usually go about crafting your home games (when you aren't running a published adventure of course)?

Do you come up with an overarching antagonist and build up to them or is that something you decide on last? Do you start at the end and work back or from the beginning and work forward? Do you start outward and then work in or inward and then out? Etc.

[MisterKaws]

Start small. Don't plan too much. Players are made to derail plans. Make a small countryside town, put them in some encounter with a small hook. After that you go bigger. In non-tippyverse campaigns, nobody adventurers don't really know much about geography(sucks to be you if one of your players maxes Knowledge(Geography)), so you can just wing it slowly. When the players are somewhat reeled in, you can start planning a BBEG.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Tanuki Tales
Do you start at the end and work back or from the beginning and work forward? Do you start outward and then work in or inward and then out?

All of the above, all at once. :smallsmile:

For my current campaign, I started with an overall idea of The Great Events and how the party would be drawn into them, and I’ve elaborated and filled in constantly ever since. I have certain things I want to be sure to include, but I’ll also take cues from players and develop in directions they’re interested in. So far it’s worked out pretty well, although it does mean a lot of work for the harried DM.


Originally Posted by MisterKaws
In non-tippyverse campaigns, nobody adventurers don't really know much about geography….

Au contraire. I opened the campaign with an overview of the region’s geography, and two of the PCs in particular have a solid notion of lands both near and far. One of them was a scholar who made a point of bringing along maps; the other was a caravan guard who picked up a lot of information while out on the road.

That said, there are still plenty of blank spaces on the maps for them to explore, but there’s certainly no reason for them to be completely ignorant of their world. These are adventurers, not hamlet homebodies. By definition they’re drawn to horizons, and there’s no reason they wouldn’t learn as much as they can along the way.

[MisterKaws]

All of the above, all at once. :smallsmile:

For my current campaign, I started with an overall idea of The Great Events and how the party would be drawn into them, and I’ve elaborated and filled in constantly ever since. I have certain things I want to be sure to include, but I’ll also take cues from players and develop in directions they’re interested in. So far it’s worked out pretty well, although it does mean a lot of work for the harried DM.



Au contraire. I opened the campaign with an overview of the region’s geography, and two of the PCs in particular have a solid notion of lands both near and far. One of them was a scholar who made a point of bringing along maps; the other was a caravan guard who picked up a lot of information while out on the road.

That said, there are still plenty of blank spaces on the maps for them to explore, but there’s certainly no reason for them to be completely ignorant of their world. These are adventurers, not hamlet homebodies. By definition they’re drawn to horizons, and there’s no reason they wouldn’t learn as much as they can along the way.

Again, I said nobody adventurers. Those level 1 guys who just left their respective learning places and still don't have a single scratch in their clothes. Your party sounds more like experienced(to some degree) adventurers, and not at all level 1. They also have two guys who seemingly picked up Knowledge(Geography), and in case they didn't, it would absolutely be within your right to abstain from providing them any maps, aside from the most basic directions in a 20-50km radius, plus common roads.

And you started the campaign by saying: "hey, you guys are gonna do that." This is Railroading. It's okay if the players are okay with it, and it seems you've adjusted the track with the players, but not all players like this style of play. I'd actually say most players like being left alone to explore, instead of knowing half of the story from the very beginning.

[RNightstalker]

When constructing a campaign it's a great idea to have an outline/table of contents to know points you want to hit, encounters you want to have, etc. I would build stories as they come, but I would build adventures one by one. You can run into problems with prep time, but you don't want to go too far ahead, have an encounter set up that gets sliced through like a hot knife through butter because there were things the party was doing that weren't expected and weren't allowed for. Even more time is wasted on that, and it's not a good feeling packing up afterwards. You could also end up finding something better to fit your needs that will help you accomplish your goals.
To summarize, have as detailed an outline as you want, but don't write the next chapter until the previous one is finished. Players and PCs have a great ability to write the campaign for you if you're paying attention.