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The answer to that, for me at least, is time. Writing a usable adventure takes time I do not have. So I buy and use and modify published adventures.
It does raise a question for me - is there a good resource for the novice DM to refer to when it comes to designing adventures?
It might not even be an OSR / D&D resource - good adventure design is pretty much independent of rules.
So, cough up your secrets. Dig the dusty tomes off your bookshelf. Lets find our "Adventure Design for Dummies" books ;)
Tome of Adventure Design is flippin great and being a novice DM, I found it very easy to use.
ReplyDeleteTome of Adventure Design is probably the best such resource out there.
ReplyDelete-C's PDF's and Kellri's Encounters Reference are also recommended. The Old School Primer also has some good advice.
Adventure Creator's Handbook. Don't know the ToAD, but this is solid gold.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rpggm.com/products/adventure-creation-handbook/
Back in the early 2000s, I did enjoy Part III of the real "Dungeon Master for Dummies".
ReplyDeleteSeems like it's even a "collectable item" now given the used price:
http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Dummies-Dungeons-Roleplaying-Paperback/dp/B00850IX10/
For me it's a matter of "considerations." They are guidelines that set parameters but are flexible in their application.
ReplyDeleteI seem to remember there being a great product that not only helped you design dungeon environments that where logical but also fill out there histories..
ReplyDeleteI believe it was called Central Casting: Dungeons -
http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=6917
As I recall it was also pretty much systemless, if not completely systemless.
@Tom G - easily found on Scribd apparently...
ReplyDeleteExcellent! I'm lead to believe that it's a tough cookie to find in print. Well worth a go as I remember. :0).
ReplyDeleteHow would something like B1 In Search of the Unknown fit into this?
ReplyDelete@BeZurKur - B1 can serve as an excellent old school example of micro setting and sandbox - but not sure how it works as a toll to teach newbies "Adventure Design"
ReplyDeleteThe Dungeon Alphabet is a great resource, the 1st edition DMG is pretty darned good.
ReplyDeletethe best answer is look into many sources, don't stick with just one.
The Tome of Adventure Design is a great resource when building ideas, but -- at the risk of accusations of pimping myself -- I think the techniques I describe at my site work better.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about it being introductory material. It could probably be made so, it likely can be considered so by those with a background in mathematics or computer science (if only so you recognize what a graph is).
Y'know, this megadungeon thing I'm working on.
Adventure design may be too big a subject to tackle. There are so many different ways to approach it. When I think of how I learned it, it was always through different styles of supplements/adventures.
ReplyDeleteSay, Erik, do you think it might be worth my time and effort to bundle up my scenario design stuff, polish it a bit, and try pushing it as an adventure design guide?
ReplyDelete