Scribd
Upload
422 views

GMG4378 Preview

Uploaded by

littlepuppy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
422 views

GMG4378 Preview

Uploaded by

littlepuppy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

How To Write Adventure

Modules That Don’t Suck!


How to Write Adventure Modules that Don’t Suck
Writers: Jobe Bittman, Mike Breault, Anne K. Brown, Timothy Brown, Stephen Chenault, Casey
Christofferson, Chris Clark, Michael Curtis, Chris Doyle, Joseph Goodman, Allen Hammack, Jon
Hook, Kevin Melka, Brendan J. LaSalle, Lloyd Metcalf, Bill Olmesdahl, Steve Peek, Jean Rabe, Merle M.
Rasmussen, Lester Smith, Harley Stroh, Jim Wampler, James M. Ward, Skip Williams, Steve Winter
Developer: James M. Ward
Concept: Joseph Goodman
Editing: Joseph Goodman and Jeff Erwin
Cartoon illustrations: Chuck Whelon
Cartography & Layout: Tom Denmark
Cover design: Lester B. Portly
End Sheet Illustrations: Doug Kovacs

Published by Goodman Games

Contents copyright © 2017 Goodman Games. All rights reserved.

4
Introduction
What you hold in your hands is a very unique product.
This is the codification of some of the best ideas
of the world’s finest role-playing game designers in
what they think is important in putting together an
encounter.

Not only are their articles a must read for the new
game designer; the example encounters they present
offer the best in cutting edge game design.

This is the primer that every game designer needs


to have on his bookshelf. I’ve been in the role-playing
game design industry for over forty years. In many
of those years my products were the best selling
products out that year. I learned many new things
from this set of articles. Things that have improved
my design skills; so I know they will improve yours as
well.

I know you will find yourself mining this product over


and over again for fresh ideas.

James M. Ward

Summer of 2016

5
Table of Contents
Introduction ...........................................................5 Encounter: “The Goblinoid Differential” ..........70
Adventures in Context .........................................7 Making Monsters Cooler .....................................72
Encounter: “Dead Man’s Chest” Encounter: “All That Glitters Is Not Gold” .......76
a level 1 adventure ...............................................8
An Adventure’s Story...........................................78
Players Make Your World Go ‘Round! ..............11
Encounter: “The Old Lair”...................................83
Encounter: “The Doom of Riego” .......................15
Unleashing Your Dungeon Creativity ..............87
Listen! Do You Smell Something? ......................19
Encounter: “The Chamber of 100 Axes” ............91
Encounter: “Follow Your Nose” ........................23
Something Worth Fighting For ...........................92
Logical First Contact:
Encounter: “Shock Spiders” ................................97
Inventing Intelligent Science Fiction Aliens ......24
Building Better Encounters: Monstrous Symbiosis
Encounter: ‘Feeding Time’ ..................................29
and Environmental Factors .................................98
There Are No Empty Rooms in the Wilderness ...31
Encounter: “The Swamp of Doom” ....................101
Encounter: “Four Arrows And A River Running”
ATMOSFEAR ........................................................104
A Castles & Crusades Adventure ......................33
Encounter: “Dark and Deep” ..............................108
Making a Villain ...................................................36
The Sense of Adventure .......................................110
Encounter: “Honreed Duclaigh: A Dinner with
Death” ....................................................................38 Encounter: “Water’s Garden Shop” ...................112
Raison d’être ~ “Or Why Everything in LEGO® Building Toy Maps ...............................116
Your Adventure Should Have a Reason for Being
There.” ....................................................................42 Encounter: “Shipwrecked on Lay-Goh Island” ....120

Encounter: “The Overlook” ................................46 All Aboard for Adventure ...................................123

Know (and Love) Run Your Best Game Tonight .............................127


What You Write .....................................................48 Encounter: “The Oracle” ......................................130
Encounter: “Denkin’s Trading Post & Rarities The Risk vs. Reward Equation ............................131
Brokerage” ............................................................52
Encounter: “The Caprapod Nursery” ................135
How to Write Encounters That Don’t Suck.......55
Player Character Death ........................................136
Encounter: “The Deadly Crevasse” ....................60
Encounter: “Smallish Chamber of Doom” .......138
A Publisher’s Perspective On Adventure Modules
That Don’t Suck .....................................................62 Tell a Story .............................................................141
Encounter: “Eye of the Storm”: Encounter: “Chogti’s Lair” ..................................147
A Sample Encounter .............................................64 How to Design Setbacks That Don’t Suck .........151
Keeping Encounters Encounter: “Lair of the Chokebats” ...................155
within the Capabilities of Your Players ............66

You might also like