Comment First, thanks so much for doing this AMA. On designing adventures, one mistake I feel I make is putting in two much detail when writing up options for players, for the sake of preparation. I constantly ask myself questions like “what if they do this, or that? What if they ignore this completely?”
And yet, when I read through things like the starter set and the newest adventure Death House, I find that there’s minimal detail compared to the novel I try to cram into an adventure. I’m currently working on an adventure for the Dungeon Master’s Guild, and I want to make it seem as professional as possible.
My question is, how much information is too much, when does it become extraneous, and how do you know? How much PC freedom do you think you should take into account?
Any advice for an aspiring adventure module creator and future full campaign writer? Are there any super amazing Chris Perkins tips and tricks that go beyond what the DMG wrote out?
Thanks again for doing this AMA, sorry to word dump, I’m about to see Deadpool and have to turn my phone off, but I couldn’t miss this AMA!When you write an adventure that you intend to publish, you need to remember that you aren’t the audience. The adventure needs to provide information that other DMs need to run it effectively, but not too much information lest the DMs feel like there’s too much hand-holding. It’s not a science; it’s an art. The trick is to communicate the information as concisely as possible, and make sure you’ve closed any glaring rules holes. If you’re relatively new to adventure design, give your adventure to someone else to playtest for you, and watch them run it. You’ll start to see holes you never knew existed.from discussion AMA with Chris Perkins (Today at 10:30 AM PST).
And yet, when I read through things like the starter set and the newest adventure Death House, I find that there’s minimal detail compared to the novel I try to cram into an adventure. I’m currently working on an adventure for the Dungeon Master’s Guild, and I want to make it seem as professional as possible.
My question is, how much information is too much, when does it become extraneous, and how do you know? How much PC freedom do you think you should take into account?
Any advice for an aspiring adventure module creator and future full campaign writer? Are there any super amazing Chris Perkins tips and tricks that go beyond what the DMG wrote out?
Thanks again for doing this AMA, sorry to word dump, I’m about to see Deadpool and have to turn my phone off, but I couldn’t miss this AMA!When you write an adventure that you intend to publish, you need to remember that you aren’t the audience. The adventure needs to provide information that other DMs need to run it effectively, but not too much information lest the DMs feel like there’s too much hand-holding. It’s not a science; it’s an art. The trick is to communicate the information as concisely as possible, and make sure you’ve closed any glaring rules holes. If you’re relatively new to adventure design, give your adventure to someone else to playtest for you, and watch them run it. You’ll start to see holes you never knew existed.from discussion AMA with Chris Perkins (Today at 10:30 AM PST).
