Really curious as to some of the structures and processes my fellow GM's use when developing scenarios and games for their players. Let's hear some of your best practices and ideas.
If I can't come up with a good adventure hook, I'll often use a film as inspiration.
I'll take the last film I saw at the cinema, transpose its plot and theme to somewhere in Golarion and try and come up with something similar. It's particularly interesting trying to reimagine action scenes from the film in a fantasy context.
Then I'll put the idea away for about a day and then go back to it. What works well for a movie doesn't necessarily suit an adventure. It's important to put your GM's hat on and build more freedom and choice into the adventure; otherwise an adventure based on a movie can turn into a railroad.
My finished adventure is often only a very different cousin to the movie that inspired it. Certainly my players have never noticed the connection.
When building encounters, I think carefully about the powers of the player characters in my game. I usually pick a couple of different powers per PC and build in elements that either limit or play to these abilities.
I like to push PCs out of there comfort zones as often as possible. For example, in a recent adventure our PCs had to battle an assassin in a king's court where they weren't allowed to bear weapons larger than a dagger. The assassin, on the other hand, was heavily armed.
Of course, balance is important to keep your player's happy. If I set an encounter in dead magic zone, I make sure that the next encounter down the line plays right into the party spellcaster's hands to make up for the previous incapacity.
Those are good ideas, TT. What I struggle with most is the balance between freedom and preparedness. I want to give the PCs buckets of freedom, but when I get to planning I go bananas and end up with a railroad. How does everyone strike that balance?
I often use the illusion of choice. If Im planning to throw a werewolf pack at them, I'll give them 3 reasons they need to fight the werewolves. If they chose one of the first 2 reasons they have a better vantage point, if they don't the werewolves will attack them. Just an example.
No matter what, if I plan an encounter, I'm going to show it off to my players. Wether they talk their way out or fight through it they are going to have that encounter.
I admit as a GM it is hard not to rail road a plot at times and is something I have to consciously work to avoid. Structurally is there any kind of pattern you like to use? How many encounters do you like to fit into a game session? Interesting idea with translating films into adventures.
Also how much attention do you pay to CR when building and how often do you fudge rolls in favor of the players?
First of all, I make sure I'm playing with players who are interested in heroic adventures and are happy to actively get involved in a wider plot. I make sure we're all on the same page.
I don't need to railroad players because they're interested in completing the adventure I've written. They respect the amount of time I've put into it and they're not looking to disrespect that effort by declaring their player's are going off to do something completely at odds to the adventure's plot.
However, I always make sure there are various ways to approach a particular encounter, and try to prepare with this in mind. Of course, my players still surprise me!
I also talk to my players about their characters goals and interests, and try and weave those elements into the wider adventure.
I usually fit about one or two encounters into a two or three hour session, although more epic combat encounters can run over two or three sessions.
I tend to use my gut feeling on building combat encounters rather adhering rigorously to CR. Something I get it a little wrong. In those instances I am happy to fudge dice rolls to make an encounter more dramatic or to prevent a PC death.
I've never subscribed to the notion that a GM must follow the same rules as the PCs. However, on the other hand I don't consider a PC death anything to be proud of, unless it was dramatic death during the thrilling final encounter.
I do follow the rules on the whole, but I'm not afraid of an 'undefined magic spell or effect' as a plot device. That helps write adventures a little quicker.
What do you think are the hallmarks of a great scenario?
I usually figure out what I want to have thematically in an encounter, then either pare it down or buff it up to match the power level i'm aiming for.
Unless it's for the game I run for my cousins, those guys I try to kill