Hi All. I am currently writing an extensive adventure path of my own creation. (Lvls 5 to about 10). I am wondering if anyone with more experience has some advice for a young, aspiring writer such as myself. I am particularly concerned with how much time this project is taking. It seems like the work is never-ending and I have trouble staying motivated.
Hello Magnu.
Good on you, adventure writing is always time consuming, and APs even more so, which is why many people rely upon pre-written adventure paths, or perhaps like to tweak APs or run modules as a series.
It depends upon who you're writing the AP for. When you say it's taking a long time, are you writing for a group of players or writing with a view to publishing? In either case I'd say its definitely worth playing some of your adventure and then seeing how it goes - quite often RPGs can be a wonderfully emersive concept for everyone but the development of such ideas is a huge part of the fun. I'm just playing a fantastic game of Conan as a player, which is enhanced by how the characters interact.
Some cool ideas miss the mark when played whereas others work surprisingly well, which is often down to experience, and without trying something out you'll not be sure how things work, a great reason to try however!
Pre-judging the way APs go is something Paizo are absolute masters at, but even then judging how average groups will always play is not easy, and trying to pan out a whole AP is a major commitment. It's a little bit like writing a novel in that you put a huge amount of effort up front with no certainty that anyone will like it, but if you aspire to write that's half the battle right there.
An AP written for specific players gives you loads of scope and can be fantastic fun, but always try things out first and be adaptive, don't write too much and expect things to go the way you think as they never do.
Can you let me and the fine fellows of the boards know who you're aiming at first, and then I and others will be happy to chime in with more ideas.
Huzzah!
Rich
RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32
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I normally tell starting writers to do a few things.
First of all, don't let the fine details kill you. Get the important stuff done first, and if you have time then move onto the less important details. Most of the details can be improved at the game table. Important details are the maps, the stat blocks and the read alouds. Not important details are the cool shops in town, name of government officals that the PCs probably wont see, and any history that is not part of the plot.
Don't try to write a whole adventure in one sitting. Instead, write out an outline with major NPCs summarized and a basic timeline. A timeline can use the different levels the PC achieve as well as days or months. Events closer to the beginning will be more set in stone then events near the end, so don't feel like the outline is the finial schedule of events. If this AP is for just your home game, let the actions of your players guide you in designing the events later in the AP. The reason is simple, it will be more tailored to be the game they want to play.
Once you have a summary, write the AP one session at a time. I personally use a format similar to the one used by PFS. About one or two minor combat encounters, a couple non combat encounters, one major combat encounter, and some plot related stuff. Writing a home AP this way helps you to keep control of the pace of the game and also lets you build something cool for each session.
My last piece of advice is not to feel like you need to write or create original material all the time. New monsters, huge maps, and even new NPCs for every session will burn you out. Most of the time you can just copy paste what you need.
Hi All. I am currently writing an extensive adventure path of my own creation. (Lvls 5 to about 10). I am wondering if anyone with more experience has some advice for a young, aspiring writer such as myself. I am particularly concerned with how much time this project is taking. It seems like the work is never-ending and I have trouble staying motivated.
Is this your first adventure writing project? It sounds like you may have jumped into the deep end without learning how to tread water. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the idea of writing a six-level campaign, consider starting with a short adventure made up of a handful of encounters. Once you're comfortable with that, move on to bigger projects. There are shortcuts and motivating tricks you'll learn along the way, and you'll get that satisfaction of a project completed much more often than if you were working on one giant project.