Thoughts on Adventures

I've been giving you, my reader, a good tour though my world, in hopes you will use my world as your campaign setting. Well that's wonderful, but how about the adventure? How should you go about making a good adventure set in my realm or any other realm.

• First, know your players. Every player is different. Some like high adventure and magic, while others like intrigue and backstabbing. Hopefully your party is compatable with each other, but even if they aren't make sure you put a little of everything everyone likes so everybody has fun.


• Take a gander at those characters and their abilities. If your thief never gets to disarm a trap or pick a pocket, they are not going to be having fun. That, afterall, is their strong suit. Don't go out of your way to accomodate every characters special abilities every session, but at least get them in frequently.


• Pick an area and stick with it. Fleshing out a single area, whether a small forest or a whole continent, is a good idea. This way you can flesh out your NPC's, get good descriptions of locations, and make the players feel like they are there. Here is a bit of tricky spots, some players like lots of "flavor text" (descriptions for those non-roleplayers) and others don't. This goes back to knowing your player. If they like to know what color that building is, you best know.


• Have a list of names. You have know idea how often we made my husband randomly name his NPC's that he had no intent on actually bringing into the plot. (My husband takes hours to name characters, so we liked to give him a bad time.) At my house we have a book-0-names, just in case. Open it up and randomly pick, it works most of the time. :)


• If you intend to have the campaign for a while, plot out a main theme or goal. Every session doesn't have to be centered around that goal, but having one gives your campaign life and a reason for being. It could be anything from trying to crown the High King to finding that elusive ruin in some far off place.


• Be prepared for your players to veer. You don't know how many times my players in our Star Wars campaign went totally off the path I had planned. But don't get upset, the idea of playing is for your players to have fun! Just role with it. I tended to have alternative adventures if not fleshed out, at least outlined so I could always wing things. It takes time and practice to wing adventures on the fly, but don't get frustrated if you have to. Just have those monster books handy and let your players drive the plot for awhile. You can always try and push things back to your plot next session.


• Most importantly, remember to have fun! No matter what happens make sure you and your players are having fun. Most people say they don't want you to fudge rolls (let the dice fall where they may) but sometimes that heroic leap is only missed by a few points. Let your player have it. Then everyone has fun and its a good story to boot. This is why you should never tell your players the difficulty number so you can fudge if they are very close. I don't suggest doing this often, but sometimes a whole night of fun may hinge on that one roll!