I just realized something today. I've been gaming for well over two decades. I've written TONS of campaign settings (homebrews, plus one professional). I've written tons of game systems (again, amateur, plus one professional).

But I think I've never once actually written an adventure. After having run literally thousands and thousands of game sessions, I don't think I've done a single one of them from a written-down adventure that I wrote.  I have, on a regular basis, written down some little sloppy notes, never much more than half a page's worth. Or done dungeon maps, sometimes several pages worth.
But I've never gone and written out a full blown adventure with the details to run that.

Is that a common thing? Or is it more common to be in my shoes? What do you do?

RPGPundit

Are you kidding? I don't even have NPC's most of the time.  Players encounter a bad guy 'wizard' who casts teh right spells and dies if they do... I dunno... that much damage seems to be enough...

When I DO try to write an adventure out I never get past the basic premise because I'm a lazy git.

A page of notes for any given session, and some cue cards with 'contingency encounters' (that typically are re-usable), are about the extent of my 'adventure writing'.

Back in my heyday, I wrote out adventures in a lot of detail, very much like old-school published modules, except hand-written. I was a lot more comfortable with that than simply winging it. Most of the guys I gamed with also wrote out their adventures. I have rarely run across a DM who winged it, and the times I have, I have disliked it. No offense to anyone here, but the games I've played in where things were done by the DM winging it felt too much like cops & robbers or improvisational theater, neither of which I had any interest in.

Quote from: ColonelHardisson;311479Back in my heyday, I wrote out adventures in a lot of detail, very much like old-school published modules, except hand-written. I was a lot more comfortable with that than simply winging it. Most of the guys I gamed with also wrote out their adventures. I have rarely run across a DM who winged it, and the times I have, I have disliked it. No offense to anyone here, but the games I've played in where things were done by the DM winging it felt too much like cops & robbers or improvisational theater, neither of which I had any interest in.

I'm not sure what you mean by "winging it".  I typically have a well mapped encounter area, a key, and stats for all likely opponents.  I might have a few notes on their motivations, etc.  That takes only one or two pages normally (I write small).

Since I wrote the adventure, I already know most of the details.  I just need some notes to remind me of certain things.  In contrast, professional modules are written for other people, so (much) more information is needed.

I don't consider my approach "winging it" -- although, if the players go off in some unexpected direction, I do try to 'wing it' as much as possible (although I also try to have some 'general encounter' ideas and notes available for such occasions).

Quote from: Akrasia;311486I'm not sure what you mean by "winging it".  I typically have a well mapped encounter area, a key, and stats for all likely opponents.  I might have a few notes on their motivations, etc.  That takes only one or two pages normally (I write small).

That's what I consider a pretty thoroughly written-out adventure. I gave old-school modules as an example of what I consider to be written-out adventures - maps, keys, stats, a few lines here and there about motivations or actions taken in certain contingencies. If what's being discussed are adventures with a lot of boxed text and storylines, then no, I didn't do that either.

I keep notes in a variety of notebooks. One for each campaign, one general GMing notebook, one for actual play and summary of played sessions, et cetera. Generally my own adventures look like flowcharts or bullet lists of succeeding game elements, NPCs, relationships between clues or groups/factions, some ideas for encounters to drop in the game, a keyed map with one liners for each area, that kind of thing.

I use this as a base to run the game, and I'm winging the particulars, taking notes as I play.

Writing an adventure for others is a completely different business (I wrote adventures for conventions and fanzines in France). Much more information is needed, absolutely. And an eye towards the organization of the information provided, and how it serves the user in actual play.

Depends upon the game.

T&T, yes, I've written out the entire module.
D&D - Cyclopedia Rules - drawn out the dungeon, statted the monsters within, no notes.

Traveller: not really; go with the flow. Often have done deckplans, tho'.
Star Trek (various editions): usually no. Did one once for LUGTrek for a demo.
Justifiers: yep.
GURPS: nope
TFT: usually maps and monsters, not notes
Dark Heresy: Yes.

BTVS: Wrote out the entire campaign except the ending session. It's pretty schematic... Session big bad, major plot twists, other bad guys. Only a couple maps.

Fantasy Hero: Just the big map of the world.

Generally, I tend to be a sandbox type GM.

I am not quite sure where the ones draws the line between "having notes" and "writing an adventure".

If you are prepping an investigation heavy game, you might to have to consider the premise (the who, where and whys) and consider possible clues. You might also want to flesh out the location and NPCs a bit, maybe think ahead about what kind of things the characters might try or what kind of problems you might hit. Is that writing an adventure or just notes?

There a handful of adventures which I did write up properly, as it with the intention that other GMs could them pick up and run them, to share with Gamma World mail list. I even organised a contest once for a Gamma World Xmas scenario, but that was a while ago.

I use nothing more than an NPC list that pretty much says "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How?"

Then I might have a simple web diagram showing how all the NPCs connect or don't connect.

Conflict/Cooperation between PCs and NPCs is ultimately what fuels the RPG engine. Motives or goals are what fine tunes the performance.

I've never written out an entire adventure in module form, but I am a big fan of stealing maps and NPC ideas from other people's adventure modules.

I started writing up my newest adventure over about an hour and a half yesterday and today. It starts with an outline that highlights major plot points. At this point I haven't precisely determined the chronology (and in fact it may change or fork into several paths with cross-over points before it is done).

Having three or four of these readied means being able to just walk in and run a game. Still have to do the NPC's and stat up the various horde and monster groups. Here's the outline...

Hellfire Gate, Enemy at the Gate, Tales of the Horde,

A Castles & Crusades adventure. Play is for 5-8th level characters. Characters begin as professional businessmen in a large village or small city

1. Smoke on the Horizon
Glows in the Night
Warnings of an early attack
~Players may investigate

2. The Refugees
People are moving through
~ Players are hired to protect the village/villagers.
~ Players are hired to escort the refugees.
~ Players are hired by the refugees for protection.
~ Players are hired to scout the attack horde.

3. The Overlord's Army
Marches to meet the horde
Experiences a betrayal by a traitor in the leadership
The Army is overrun
~ The Archers
~ The Baggage Train
~ Players are hired to recover the lord's personal effects/standard

4. The Town Evacuation
The Panic
Emergency Supplies Shortage
Transportation Shortage
~ Players are hired to protect the village.
~ Players are hired to Escort the Refugees.
~ Players are hired to escort supplies in.
~ Players are hired to Scout the Horde

5. The Advanced Scouting Party
Players meet the horde advanced guard and are ambushed
~The horde is hostile
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ The players are driven into an ancient ruin, where they must find an alternate escape route by going through the dungeon...

6. The Blood Truce
A party of Goblins and Orcs arrive under a banner of truce. They wish to negotiate a blood truce so that their families may escape destruction at the hands of the advancing horde. The party (Sons of the clan leaders) offer themselves as hostages for the conduct of their tribe.
~ More refugees stream through the village
~ maybe new allies arrive to help defend the village from the approaching horde.
~Maybe new weapons and armor are made available to the players from goblins wishing to trade for supplies or transport.


7. The Final Battle - The horde arrives at the village...

Back in the 80s I used to try to emulate published adventures by making detailed maps and writing full descriptions (sometimes including read-aloud boxed text) for each location or event, full stats for the monsters and NPCs with personality and/or tactical notes, etc. By the time the 90s rolled around I'd gotten over that and was much more likely to go with a single page outline/flowchart and a supply of generic stats and maps as needed, or even less than that -- 100% improvisation.

After a few years away from rpgs in the early 00s when I ran my first campaign back I reverted to my 80s mode of full "module style" detail, but it became too much work and I burned out quickly (I realized I was spending probably 4 hours writing for every 1 hour of playing). When I run games now I do a little more prep than in the 90s -- in addition to my outline/flow-chart I'll usually draw out a map and stat out the key NPC and monsters rather than just pulling generic pre-gens from somewhere -- but it's still a sketchy (and often incomplete) map and 1 or 2 pages of cryptic handwritten notes, and stuff like mundane furnishings of particular rooms, NPC personalities and combat tactics, how exactly this trap is disarmed or this secret door is opened, and all that other "module type" detail is made up on the spot as necessary.

I've written adventures. Here, I'll write another one.

Player characters are part of a T3 training cadre for a T1 world looking to get out from under the boot-heel of the nearby system exploiting it and over-charging for FTL access.

Scene: Busted Spleen Valley
Context: Platoon scale

The PCs are part of a single platoon of T3 infantry on maneuvers with two platoons of T1 indigineous infantry (see appendix). Deploy all units in the middle of the map (see appendix). Two platoons of T2 infantry, one of T2 armour, and three aircraft enter from the west edge. The enemy will try to destroy the indigs. The indigs may want to flee.

Post-scene: a PC is taken out if she is in any unit that is taken out. If the PCs offer a concession on the scene to escape, make them pay -- at least a medium consequence on each, say. Now, win or lose, have the table narrate the new situation. That should set up the rest of the evening and probably the next session. Hopefully they are now hunted in enemy territory, but it's possible that they are in a position to organize some indig units for some raids -- go to personal or platoon as necessary. Maybe a raid on a T2 compound to kidnap an enemy commander!

This should mostly wind up being about wounded PCs running from a dangerous but technologically inferior (to the PCs) invading force and a sympathetic but largely helpless local population. Science-fiction-fucking-vietnam.

PC Motivations: staying alive, getting off planet, saving the indigs, getting revenge, re-organizing.

Quote from: GameDaddy;311523I started writing up my newest adventure over about an hour and a half yesterday and today. It starts with an outline that highlights major plot points. At this point I haven't precisely determined the chronology (and in fact it may change or fork into several paths with cross-over points before it is done).

Having three or four of these readied means being able to just walk in and run a game. Still have to do the NPC's and stat up the various horde and monster groups. Here's the outline...

Hellfire Gate, Enemy at the Gate, Tales of the Horde,

A Castles & Crusades adventure. Play is for 5-8th level characters. Characters begin as professional businessmen in a large village or small city

1. Smoke on the Horizon
Glows in the Night
Warnings of an early attack
~Players may investigate

2. The Refugees
People are moving through
~ Players are hired to protect the village/villagers.
~ Players are hired to escort the refugees.
~ Players are hired by the refugees for protection.
~ Players are hired to scout the attack horde.

3. The Overlord's Army
Marches to meet the horde
Experiences a betrayal by a traitor in the leadership
The Army is overrun
~ The Archers
~ The Baggage Train
~ Players are hired to recover the lord's personal effects/standard

4. The Town Evacuation
The Panic
Emergency Supplies Shortage
Transportation Shortage
~ Players are hired to protect the village.
~ Players are hired to Escort the Refugees.
~ Players are hired to escort supplies in.
~ Players are hired to Scout the Horde

5. The Advanced Scouting Party
Players meet the horde advanced guard and are ambushed
~The horde is hostile
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ Horde reinforcements arrive
~ The players are driven into an ancient ruin, where they must find an alternate escape route by going through the dungeon...

6. The Blood Truce
A party of Goblins and Orcs arrive under a banner of truce. They wish to negotiate a blood truce so that their families may escape destruction at the hands of the advancing horde. The party (Sons of the clan leaders) offer themselves as hostages for the conduct of their tribe.
~ More refugees stream through the village
~ maybe new allies arrive to help defend the village from the approaching horde.
~Maybe new weapons and armor are made available to the players from goblins wishing to trade for supplies or transport.


7. The Final Battle - The horde arrives at the village...

this is almost exactly how i do it.
i may add a few more contingency notes, based on probable PC actions.
and, of course, full write-ups for all pc's.

on occasion, if i feel i want more specific details or there's a lot of potential treasure/important items/clues in an area, i'll fully describe locations with a detailed paragraph.

David

Quote from: RPGPundit;311456I just realized something today. I've been gaming for well over two decades. I've written TONS of campaign settings (homebrews, plus one professional). I've written tons of game systems (again, amateur, plus one professional).

But I think I've never once actually written an adventure. After having run literally thousands and thousands of game sessions, I don't think I've done a single one of them from a written-down adventure that I wrote.  I have, on a regular basis, written down some little sloppy notes, never much more than half a page's worth. Or done dungeon maps, sometimes several pages worth.
But I've never gone and written out a full blown adventure with the details to run that.

Is that a common thing? Or is it more common to be in my shoes? What do you do?

RPGPundit

I've written quite a few detailed adventures, but they were all for publication/sale.  When running a game, I never go into that much detail.  Just notes like major NPCs and their motivations, detailed/mapped major locations, maybe a few scenes, clues, or lines of dialogue I would like to convey if I can work them in.  

Most of the adventures I've written for publication have come from adventures I've run.  

I almost never use prewritten adventures as written, and a lot of times I'll run one to three adventures concurrently so none of them seem too linear.  So, I might start a "deliver the package" adventure, then throw in a "save the child" adventure along the way.  DUNGEON Adventures was always a good source of inspiration for this.
 
Another thing I like to do is break modules apart and work the individual parts into my campaign.  KotB was one of my favorites for this.  I scrapped the Caves of Chaos, took the individual tunnels and made them into their own lairs.  So, I'd take one of the goblin lairs, set it in a nearby forest, give the goblins a goblinish tribal name and some backstory, and just use the maps and stats from the Caves.  I did the same thing with Night's Dark Terror, a fantastic module with a lot of mine-able ideas.

Also, when running an adventure I always try to throw in a hook or two to foreshadow a future adventure (this might be a clue, a rumor, the introduction of an NPC, etc.) that has nothing to do with the current adventure, so it always feels like the campaign is going somewhere, rather than having those "lulls" between adventures where the players are just waiting for you to drop breadcrumbs that leads them to the next one.