This is exactly the sort of "nuts & bolts" resource I've been wishing for as a DM since I first picked up a DMG, and I unreservedly recommend it to anyone who strives to improve their adventures.

I only have one quibble: at least in the .pdf, there are a ton of typos!

This guide is a great book about the design of a RPG adventure that I take a pleasure to read and to grab the knowledge.
Even, some of the advice can work for other things of life than the design of an adventure.

People often say that they know what makes a good adventure, or the sort of things they want to see in one, but few - until this product - have attempted to tease out how to make it all work. Herein is a collection of 15 essays about the adventure design process, what works and what does not, but all with one eye cocked at not just writing good adventures, but also publishable ones.

The Introduction is pretty much an outline of how the first few essays came about and why the authors began to share this kind of material - with many of the essays having developed out of ideas kicked around during the development of Open Design projects.

The first essay looks at The 3 Audiences, and analyses how there are three quite different groups of people to whom your adventure must appeal if you hope to see it in print: the publisher, the gamemaster and the players. It's short, both in length and detail, but thought-provoking nevertheless. The next essay looks at the merits of compact and concise writing, then there's one on how real writers push on past the fun parts of writing to ensure that the piece is as good as they can possibly make it, but also knows when to stop and mail it in ... you are already getting the idea of a collection of essays that will really make you think, whether you are a published author (or want to be one) or are interested in some of the thinking which goes into the role-playing books and magazines that you read.

Will reading this improve your writing? No, you have to do that for yourself. But this work will get you thinking about what you do and that WILL make you a better writer. This can benefit you even if it's not RPG adventures that you write, or want to write. Who knows, I may even write better reviews! There is a whole bunch of fascinating ideas here, which will send me back to read, reread and above all think more about what I'm doing when I write and run games.

Did you like Wolfgang Baur's "Adventure Builder" series on the WotC website? Did you like his (short) run of "Dungeoncraft" articles? Consider these kind of like the graduate-level semester.

These essays were written for a specific audience:

• writers interested in freelance design work (for example, essay #2, "Shorter, Faster, Harder, Less" on writing tersely)
  
• GM's willing to spend money, time, and effort to create kick-butt adventures and experiences for their players (for example, Nick Logue's "Stagecraft", on cinematic techniques)
  

My recommendation: get the print version. It's well-assembled and a nice size.

I just finished reading this and it's great. It offers great insight into the minds of the creators and for such a small books covers an array of different topics to help make adventures.

I just bought and read this this morning, and I must say, I found it really handy and insightful to read. It gave me lots of ideas and made me understand why some of my ideas were not so hot.

An excellent buy for anyone interested in the game design industry.

Absolutely worth every penny if you have any desire to design professionally or up the quality of your DMing abilities.

15 essays, all targeting different aspects of game design, written by Wolfgang Baur (mainly), Nick Logue, Keith Baker, and Ed Greenwood.

Highly recommended.

A great set of esays useful not only for future, profesional, adventure designer but also for all the gamemasters, veterans or newbies.

You can learn, or think in, some interesant questions with this manual.

¡Highly advisable!