Creating an Adventure Module

[Bjarkmundur]

My players have finally completed the Menith story arch in my Homebrew campaign, and it was remarkably good! It had a handful of memorable characters, the initial quests laid some groundwork for the main quest and the final action scene was REALLY good!

When I look at the story in hindsight, it would make a really tight adventuring module, which would probably be rated for getting players from 3rd to 4th level. I'm considering it, but I have no experience making "readable to others" modules. I've read a bunch of them, and I e tried adopting the style, but it really never works.

If there's anyone here who wants to create/visually design an adventure module, I'm more than happy to provide my content (in excruciating detail!). Just let me know if you're interested.

[Chronic]

I think you need to present your adventure a bit, what world is it, what's the ambiance, and a quick synopsis would be good to interest potential writers.

[Bjarkmundur]

Good Call!

Magics, monsters, mysterie, lords and ladies, and a riot! This is what Menith has to offer to 3rd to 5th level adventurers!
Get to know the new City of Menith when it was still just a town, and they had no idea what power lays dormant under their very feet!
The adventure features skill challenges, combat encounters, social encounters, casual RP, and a fully developed town with markets and NPCs to interact with, as well as some interesting lore the DM can expand upon for their own world, if they so wish.

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So the adventure happens in a medium-large town that can be set in any setting. The main bulk of the town is located at the base of a weathertop-style hill, with its center located on top of the hill. The hill is a near perfect circle with a perfectly flat top, and is called Menith Hill. The flats and farmland sheltered by this hills are named Flats-under-Menith, commonly referred to as The Flats. Adventuring season has been slow in Menith for a while, and the locals are vary of travelers, but a few key figures are in dire need of some hired swords.

The adventurers show up after their travels and set up at the inn where they are greeted by the barmaid Shara, who tells them the local Potion Brewer, Peppermint Jr., is looking for a group to hire, and she also asks the group for a personal favor. Peppermint will give the group a standard monster-hunt quest to gather resources for his experiments, and will reward them in potions and gold. The personal favor is regarding the local blacksmith, Havar, who has been dreaming to become an adventurer since he was a kid, but has recently lost his spirits. Shara asks the adventurers to go and rekindle his fire.

These two quests are meant to get the party invested in the common locals, as well as to start the adventure with some action. These characters will all return in the final scenes of the adventure, which is why they are featured heavily at the start. When the adventurers have finished Peppermint's quest they will draw the attention of the Lord Mayor, who sends a carriage to invite them to his estate on Menith Hill.

The Lord Mayor talks to the adventurers and explains that he is holding a big feast in a few days time. The guests are all Lords, Ladies and Nobles of adjacent regions, and he is worried that he'll do poorly in mingling with the guests. This is mainly a point of concern due to the usual verbal fights for the pecking order of the lords, and the Lord Mayor is... well poor with words.

The days leading up to the feast are used to set up the main plot of the location; a strange magic that is trying to invade the adventurer's minds. During this time the adventurers can take an additional quest at Peppermints, enjoy some downtime, and spend their coin. Before they have time to investigate what's trying to invade their minds however, the day of the feast arrives.

In the feast we will meet one of the neighboring Lords, Lord Davis, who has set his eyes on Menith. He wants to make the Lord Mayor look weak in front of the other nobles and then plead his case to take over Menith, for "the protection of the Region". Davis is an aggressive and militaristic man, and very good at the politics these feasts offer. A skill challenge takes place where the adventurers challenge Lord Davis at every jab he tries to make at the Lord Mayor, which results in Davis losing his cool and challenging the adventurers to a test of skills; A boulder throw, archery contest and a test of wits.

Whether the adventurers win or lose the contest, Davis will send his sorcerer and goons to ambush the adventurers after the feast, seeing them as a potential problem for his future plans. If the Sorcerer is defeated and Davis confronted, he will be forced to pay a fine, as described in the Code Legal (1000gp for assault).

After the feast, and a slow days for the adventurers to spend their coin, the adventurers realize they aren't the only ones having their minds invaded. The entire town erupts into a violent riot during the night, as the magics take hold of more and more people. The adventurers work with the local temple and Menith Guard to manage the riot (which includes all the previously introduced NPCs, and a polymorphed Rhino). The adventure ends in the adventurers uncovering ancient magics under menith hill. When this is discovered they also find a way to protect the people from the mind invading magics, making Menith safe again. The discovery of the ancient ruins, and the magic therein, explains why Davis reacted so harshly, why the riot happened, why travelers seem to avoid Menith, and why the locals were so vary of travelers. The adventure ends on a happy note where the Lord Mayor gains the favor of the other Lords on how well he dealt with the crisis, and is declared Lord of the new City of Menith.

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This is the adventure outline. I have of course left out some bits, as well as all the mechanics used to run the adventure, and all the dialogue for the NPCs
This was really fun to write, and I would love to see it set up as a fully-fledged module for other DMs to use. A story outline doesn't help other DMs much, but having diologue, quests, pictures and all that jazz can make Menith a nice stop for any adventuring group.