Hello the great community of Paizo!
I was wondering how most of you guys manage your adventures/dungeons?
Do you you write in simple note books, and/or use notebooks with squares to draw your dungeon?
If possible, try to be as specific as possible.
Do you have a separate list of all the important NPCs with their personality traits, separate sheets for each room?
I am type of person that likes to use a table as a template, when creating an adventure. I usually don't write description for a dungeon, as I make my own terrain/dungeon, so it's a lot easier for me to describe.
NPCs: Dungeon room x: etc etc.
I hope you guys are able to understand my question.
If you could point me to a template that could make my adventure/dungeon making process easier, I would most grateful.
Thank you!
Hmm, I don't use a specific template. I start with notes/outlines on paper and then I just type up most of my adventures in MS Word. For example here's an excerpt from an old adventure.(fonts and colored text make it far easier to read in Word but they don't transpose here easily) The Numbers match up with the key on the map. The italics was intended to be read to the players.
8.) “Lit torches flicker from one wall of this long hallway. Dark archways line the left-hand wall. An eerie feeling slides down your back and you feel drawn to the darkness if you stare at it too long as if the grave was calling to you.”
As each pc walks past the second archway they must make a Will save DC-14 or feel compelled to enter the darkness.
9.) The walls of this room are lined with burial niches, some of which are empty
Any pc who failed their will save will climb into one of the niches and lie down for 10 minutes. When the compulsion wears off the pc will be shaken for 1 hour. -2 to attacks, saves and damage.
If anyone enters the room that isn’t under the compulsion Skeletons in the niches will animate and attack. Anyone reduced to 0 hit points or less will be stuffed in a niche.
For maps, it varies. I might use Paint, Maptools or paper depending on
the environment I'll be playing in. During the campaign I usually have a sketch pad I take notes in and use for scrap paper.
And I use Excel to make character sheets for NPCs. Excel works great for NPC tracking since I can create a new sheet for each NPC and just add on as the campaign develops.
Back in the day when computers weren't so portable I would still type up the adventure and then print it out for game time. Maps would all be on graph paper then and Npcs would be hand written in a notebook.
For Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition (the take-away here is that it's a module, not a homebrew game)
I have the printed book, for fast random access to specific pages. I have the appendix sections marked with tape flags. I use a tape flag to mark the first page I'll need for a given session, and I use a bookmark for closing the book and setting it aside during combat. I'll read ahead before the session.
In preparation for the session, I copy stat blocks from either the PDF of the RotRL(AE) or the Paizo PRD, and paste it into a Google document. I make any adjustments as necessary, such as bonuses for special gear or buffs if needed (the AP usually has those). I'll highlight certain things, such as special abilities I don't want to forget to use, or SR/immunities to find them easily. I won't include a tactics or morale block, because I ideally remember this information, but I also like to deviate from the book as needed, so a fuzzy recollection is fine here (this is a home game, not PFS). I pull up this Google doc on my tablet when combat starts (if I didn't have the tablet, I'd use index cards, or perhaps printouts). The point of this is that I don't need to get out the bestiary, or flip back to the stat block of a creature defined in the AP several chapters ago. This also allows me to customize creatures.
I have an extremely detailed spreadsheet for managing XP and loot. I like to customize the items gained, and I have 5 PCs, where the AP is designed for 4, so I have to supplement the printed loot with extra items to help the party hover near the recommended wealth guidelines (otherwise I wouldn't bother with it). The spreadsheet helps me calculate how much wealth I have planned for each level, and I can modify the treasure as I like, and therefore ignore the stat blocks after I've entered the data and adjusted it to my liking.
I mentioned that I run for 5 PCs, and this lightly affects preparation. When all 5 players are present, I will increase the number of monsters or improve monster tactics to maintain the challenge (or change nothing if it's a meaningless encounter). So, I add treasure for the extra PC in my preparation phase, but I don't bother with preparing encounters differently; I wing it. (Edit: XP stays the same -- divide by 4, give to each PC -- keeps it simple, but note this enters houserule territory).
Edit: I started to record notes, but abandoned that idea, in the hopes that this will sharpen my skill at ad-libbing or remembering my plans. For particularly subtle or complex things, I'll keep notes, and use a tape flag in the book as an indication that I need to go look at my notes in addition to the book, or even as a simple reference cue. Also, I'll rehearse NPC dialog while driving, in order to prepare for that, so I'm not staring at the floor going, "um" every 3 seconds while I try to think of a response.
Another Edit: Ah, I also keep an ear out for what the party wants to do, and if it involves leaving the AP material, I'll kinda make up an idea for how I'd want to handle it, and think about it off an on over the intervening week, but I won't necessarily plan for it in any detail, unless it's at the end of a session and the party specifically intends to go do that next time.
This is my problem too. I want to be able to print stuff off (I have the idea of having a computer on the gaming table) and possibly put it in a book. I'm actually thinking of building a web application that'll help me write campaigns and navigate via a virtual map for generating adventures, then have it print off a pdf to put in a binder.
My personal preference would be to have a huge binder, and organize everything using encyclopedia like tabs - e.g. one tab for each important NPC, one for each section of dungeon, or city, or etc. This way I can keep everything for future reference.
In the future, I might divide all the info into 2-3 binders. Maybe one for NPCs, One for dungeons and one for the persistent world
Thank you very much for sharing your experience and advice!
Despite the fact that many GMs use a computer to make most of their adventure (literally writing in word, excel, using photoshop, maptool etc), I think I will stick to my notebooks.
I am not implying I never will use my computer for my Pathfinder Campaign, au contre! I love the free content available on the internet!
I love printing out furnitures :)
Thanks again people, you are awesome!
Probably not the best way to go about it, but I use a combination of my phone, a notebook, and printouts. I use my phone for:
1.) Pre-made soundtrack of music appropriate for certain encounters/events
2.) Internet browser with tabs from the SRD ready to go. If I need to look up a rule quickly I use the tabs to run a quick search
If I had a laptop, I would just use that instead of my phone. But I only have a desktop. :(
I use the notebook for:
1.) Pre-made session notes (such as NPC dialogue, loot tables, etc.)
2.) LIVE session notes (such as "Craig attacked mayor of Woodbridge then fled the city" or "party decided to let Aldon's wife die, watched the Barghests eat her" or "King Darius likes Florina but hates Craig")
3.) Keeping track of secretly rolled PC modifiers, such as Perception and Sense Motive
4.) Keeping track of each combat encounter, including Initiative, rounds, damage, etc.
Yeah, my notebook sees a lot of use... it's just easier and quicker to hand-write things sometimes. It's also fun to read previous "live" game notes when preparing for a new game. :)
I use print-outs for:
1.) Reference Maps... I use the reference maps to hand-draw the areas on plexiglass over grid paper during the live game. I only use the plexiglass/grid paper if initiative is called for... otherwise, the maps are simply drawn on a whiteboard.
2.) Handing out regional overland maps to players that I make between games
3.) NPC write-ups and stat blocks. I rarely use the actual Bestiary or any source book during game-play, unless I need the stat block of a summoned monster or something.
And yes, all this stuff takes a good amount of time to prepare before game-time, but it's just how I've always done it. Sometimes I will actually print out grid areas of significance, but not usually. For one thing, it uses up a lot of ink, paper, and time to do that. For another thing, players skip some areas sometimes, and I don't want to waste paper/ink/time on something that might not even be used.
Be ready for anything.
That's honestly the best advice I can give on managing an adventure for your players. I have to subscribe to this one really seriously, as the campaign that I'm running right now is almost entirely dependent on the actions of the PCs; I've presented them with an inital problem in order to get them into action, but the end result of that problem (ie. who's responsible, how do they save the day, etc.) is entirely up to them. I frequently have to make up new characters on the fly in order to accommodate the very dynamic nature of the campaign.
There was a joke made during one of the early Darths & Droids comic strips where the unnamed GM says that the player's actions taught him to never plan ahead more than 10 minutes. When players have at least some choice in the matter, be prepared for anything.
The NPC Codex coming out at some point will be EXCELLENT for these kinds of situations, as it will hopefully have stats for lots of different characters at the ready for immediate use. I know I will be using it a whole lot as soon as I can get my hands on it.
I just do a sketch of the dungeon/town and write,then print, in open office format all the NPCs and important events/encounters.
Everything else i keep in mind, since in my experience players will never do what the GM expects them to do, i stopped writing down everything i thought they could possibly do.
Once i know who are the main bad/good NPCs, what their motivations and the overall map of the area, everything else i make up on the moment.
edit: of course i take with me the general info on the current quest written with my desktop PC (background,main encounters and two or three possible solutions, but usually the players come with their own).
