Hi everyone,

I am in the process of creating my own adventure. I am wondering how you all do it. What, if any, software do you use? For maps? For writing the copy?

Currently, I am using Scrivener. Mainly because I also write novels and already own it. It is great for organizing the information with nice drag and drop and such. Not as great at importing graphics and such, though it does do it. I began this process before DDB was up and running and I was manually putting creature stat block in the copy. Now, I think I'd rather link to monster here in DDB.

Anyway, your ideas, feedback, and your process would be greatly appreciated.

Use programs that you find intuitive or are already familiar with - trying to use something just because someone else does or says they think it's good can often result in spending more time trying to figure out the software than actually producing your content with it.

That said, I am partial to the Adobe Creative Suite (an older version I've owned for years, at least). It is relatively expensive (especially given many programs that perform similar functions are free). I digitally paint maps in Photoshop because it is very close to just drawing on my vinyl battle mat. I make custom character sheets for my group's use with Illustrator and inDesign. And I use inDesign to put together my adventure notes (whether for printing or to use as a PDF).

I've been trying to adapt to using other programs that theoretically could be quicker on putting an adventure together (like an actual word processor instead of a layout program), but at this point nothing has managed to improve either the final product or the work-flow and production rate (it's hard for a software to overcome more than a decade of familiarity).

An A4 notebook, as in a paper notebook?

I'm a bit new to DMing but I use paper and index cards. I do each place on a card with notes on description, hints, important landmarks. Ditto for encounter or puzzle/trap ideas and monster lists with XP or CR but no stats. Then I can rearrange these as needed to build the full storyline and put it all into any writing programme and include monster/NPC stat boxes. 

I have Scrivener, don't use it - but it's a great option. Maps I do on my iPad - we play theatre of the mind and if I need something for a particular battle I'll just do a rough layout on the table. In terms of running a game, I use Game Master 5e by Lion's Den... until DDB offers something similar, anyway. Makes tracking initiative and monster damage a breeze, but it is iOS only.

I generally have used OneNote, but saw some interesting things that people did on Trello (both of these are free tools).  I find Trello a bit more work to type everything in the way I want it, but once the info is in there, tracking things is nice with the labels/coloring they allow and the ability to move cards to different sections easily (when something is completed, or a neutral/friendly NPC becomes a villain or vice versa.  (I use a different color label for each player to track individual stories/goals and also mark Villains/Adventures as "At Large" or "Deceased" or something along those lines with a red/green label depending on the situation.   

Here is a picture of my trello board I'm building out for a new campaign at the moment.  This is more of a template where I filled in a bit of the NPC's that will be first encountered, but obviously haven't put any of the PC info in there yet (we start in 2 weeks).  

As far as maps/graphics -- I have nothing at all.  That is my most difficult challenge, as I play mostly on roll20.  In person it's easy to just draw something on grid paper as it's being explained/developed, but I feel playing online I have to have it all set up beforehand which is quite difficult, and if I'm doing that I want it to look pretty cool, so honestly most of the time I just find maps through google searches or reddit.  I did however recently help kickstart Arkenforge, so am super excited to get a copy of their alpha software in the next week or so and work on my own maps using that.  

I'm still using mostly Microsoft Word and Paint.

I recently found "Dungeon Painter Studio" on Steam. It is actually very good for creating maps. I guess my original post was more about the writing process, like organization and layout. But a good find should be shared. It even has a style built in that makes the map look like old school D&D modules in blue and white.

Since this thread began, I have switched from Scrivener to Word. I love Scriv, mainly for it's organizational abilities, but with Word, I can make the text look like I want. For example, I made a paragraph style that emulates the look of the monster manual stat block, red lines and all.

The way I am organizing it now in Word is with multiple folders and documents. I made a folder on the desktop and keep everything in there. I have a sub-folder for my map PNGs. I have a document that is my introduction to the module. Then, I have a document for each section (map area) etc. etc.

Keeping it subdivided just makes it easier to work on. I am not opening one giant document every time I want to work. Also, should something become corrupt, I only lose a section, not the whole thing. When I am finished, I will combine the sections together into one document.

I use Inkarnate for maps of local regions like a starting area or something like that because it's no good for continent-scale maps and can't do the layouts of towns/cities/etc but does nicely for these 'Small Regions'. Even then, it can be a little limited but still a neat little tool. I am planning to learn how to use Campaign Cartographer 3 for my maps just so I have more options with regards to my maps.

I use OpenOffice (mainly for the Text Document) to write all manner of information for everything from quests to location descriptions. then I organise the files into various folders. For example:

1. I have my Parent Folder for all the stuff to do with my setting.
2. Within this folder, I have three more: Regions, Lore, and Pictures.
3. Within Regions, I currently have a folder for one continent.
4. Within the folder for the continent, I have folders for Locations, Maps, Important NPC's, Organisations, and Quests.

So with OpenOffice, Inkarnate and a few folders on my PC, I've managed to have the basis for organising all the information regarding my setting and it's quests / story arc.

Has anyone had success using apps like old MS Excel for NPC stats or is that too much extra work?