I've been playing DND for about 6 years and have been DMing for about 3, in that time I've realized that I don't like long paced campaigns. I tend to either get bored playing as the same character or I have ideas for other campaigns that I'd like to run that pull my attention away from my current campaign. I do enjoy running modules however I also enjoy creating my own stories and adventures and so I've decided that I'd like to make some of my campaign ideas into pre-written adventures.
When I come up with a campaign I usually start at the end, who is the BBEG and what is their goal. Then I come up with the begining, what events introduce the players to the situation and eventually take them down the path of the adventure. From there I will usually create a number of adventure points (or goals) that will eventually lead the players to the end of the campaign. Depending on the adventure I try to keep the points non-linear similar to CoS where they could be acomplished in any order as chosen by the players or as the points present themselves.
So have any of my fellow DMs created there own adventure module style campaigns? Any tips or tricks to look out for or useful tools to use?
P.S I am not a new DM and am not looking for advice on how to create a campaign or on how to DM as I'm fairly happy with my system. I'm simply just looking for advice on how to turn my adventures into pre-written modules
So have any of my fellow DMs created there own adventure module style campaigns?
Not really, no.
I am running a long campaign right now... but I would not say I made it "adventure module" style. My adventures are outlines, bulleted lists, maps with quick notes on them. I do not write things out like a module is written, because it would be a waste of time. All that writing is done for DMs to learn the module. I don't have to learn the module because I wrote it. All I need are notes to remind myself of what I was thinking when I made all this stuff up in the first place. Yes, I need those notes, for reminders. But I don't write long narratives, because as the creator I do not need them.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm not sure I follow your goal. Are you trying to better organize your campaign into "pre-written modules" to make your own DMing easier? Or are you looking to find a way to package your adventures into modules for other DMs to use? If it's the latter, as is the case with any genre or medium the best advice is study how published adventures are designed. If you're not looking to produce the equivalents of the big hardcover books, check out what adventures are selling well on DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG to get a sense of what sells. Adventurers League would be another option, also available on DMsGuild. Learn the published form, apprentice yourself to it basically, and once you feel you've mastered it, or demonstrated mastery in a marketplace or convention, start experimenting with pushing the form further. That in a nutshell is how pretty much all creative production is mastered.
It's one thing to run a good game based on your own stuff. It's a different challenge to translate your creativity and organization into a work that can be run by another DM successfully. If you noticed any of the press done by some of the writers of Candlekeep, most of them came from "indy" game design backgrounds. They all noted the hardest learning curve was conforming to the design formatting standards WotC asserted for their product.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I've been playing DND for about 6 years and have been DMing for about 3, in that time I've realized that I don't like long paced campaigns. I tend to either get bored playing as the same character or I have ideas for other campaigns that I'd like to run that pull my attention away from my current campaign. I do enjoy running modules however I also enjoy creating my own stories and adventures and so I've decided that I'd like to make some of my campaign ideas into pre-written adventures.
When I come up with a campaign I usually start at the end, who is the BBEG and what is their goal. Then I come up with the begining, what events introduce the players to the situation and eventually take them down the path of the adventure. From there I will usually create a number of adventure points (or goals) that will eventually lead the players to the end of the campaign. Depending on the adventure I try to keep the points non-linear similar to CoS where they could be acomplished in any order as chosen by the players or as the points present themselves.
So have any of my fellow DMs created there own adventure module style campaigns? Any tips or tricks to look out for or useful tools to use?
P.S I am not a new DM and am not looking for advice on how to create a campaign or on how to DM as I'm fairly happy with my system. I'm simply just looking for advice on how to turn my adventures into pre-written modules
Not really, no.
I am running a long campaign right now... but I would not say I made it "adventure module" style. My adventures are outlines, bulleted lists, maps with quick notes on them. I do not write things out like a module is written, because it would be a waste of time. All that writing is done for DMs to learn the module. I don't have to learn the module because I wrote it. All I need are notes to remind myself of what I was thinking when I made all this stuff up in the first place. Yes, I need those notes, for reminders. But I don't write long narratives, because as the creator I do not need them.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'm not sure I follow your goal. Are you trying to better organize your campaign into "pre-written modules" to make your own DMing easier? Or are you looking to find a way to package your adventures into modules for other DMs to use? If it's the latter, as is the case with any genre or medium the best advice is study how published adventures are designed. If you're not looking to produce the equivalents of the big hardcover books, check out what adventures are selling well on DMsGuild and DriveThruRPG to get a sense of what sells. Adventurers League would be another option, also available on DMsGuild. Learn the published form, apprentice yourself to it basically, and once you feel you've mastered it, or demonstrated mastery in a marketplace or convention, start experimenting with pushing the form further. That in a nutshell is how pretty much all creative production is mastered.
It's one thing to run a good game based on your own stuff. It's a different challenge to translate your creativity and organization into a work that can be run by another DM successfully. If you noticed any of the press done by some of the writers of Candlekeep, most of them came from "indy" game design backgrounds. They all noted the hardest learning curve was conforming to the design formatting standards WotC asserted for their product.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I turned a campaign I already finished into a module once it was... okay for most,terrible for a fairly vocal minority.
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