This is highly subjective I know; it's in general as opposed to advice. I've been sitting here trying to homebrew something and realized that my last three adventures are basically rehashes of the same thing: party comes to a settlement, there's an attack in town, and suddenly they either know the major NPCs of the plot or the villain. The rest of the adventure essentially becomes cleanup at that point.
So I thought "What makes for a fun adventure?" Is it a thinking villain or can you have just as much fun with mindless killing machines? Is it an interesting locale, gripping plot or what?
I know obviously the answer is "all of the above" but what do you look for or forward to when you, say, select a module to purchase/run, scan local PFS games or chat with your GM/players?
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There's not any "one way" to make a good adventure. However one thing I'd say is a good adventure is always about how well the players enjoyed it. I see a lot of DM's make the mistake of thinking a good adventure is about them and how smart or clever they are. It isn't.
As a lazy DM I like to make the players come up with stuff. I find they enjoy it more.
1. Talk to your players before. Make sure you know the players and know what they like to do. Ask them where they would like to see their characters progress. It's ok to derail this if it's fun or interesting or at the very least, fair. But involve them early on. Do they have back stories? If they don't, make them come up with one and use it to seed adventures building toward their destiny. When you start drawing from things related to their characters, it makes them more involved - and you got them to write it for you!
As an aside, this also gives you early warning if someone is going to be a problem at your table. When you talk to them, if they tell you they just want to kill stuff and be a jerk, you can anticipate their planned douchiness.
2. Allow the players actions to re-write what you have planned. If they do something off-script, but it's cool and they love it, let them have that moment even if it "ruins" the story you planned. If you need time to regroup and re-plan, take a break while you jot down the new directions. We had a BBEG that was 20-20 killed on a crazy arrow shot in the first adventure when he was only there to be introduced as the villain. DM let it ride and the new villain was introduced to avenge the first one's death. It made the character a legend.
3. Realize that all story lines have been done before. You don't have to come up something completely original. It just has to be original to that group in those circumstances - and their actions in that story will make it unique.
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Off the top of my head there are three things that are all elements of "fun adventures" in my mind. Not all have to be hit, but most "fun" adventures hit at least one.
Investment - if an adventure is tailored towards the PCs or a specific PC (especially a backstory or reaction to something the PC did in play) it becomes more intersting, which can lead to greater enjoyment.
PC Effectiveness - writing something that the PCs might have a greater opportunity to interact with because of some special widge they have or their forethought (ie just bought alchemists fire and then are hit with swarms, just got fire resistance and are swarmed by small fire elementals). In short, when PCs have a chance to more than succeed, but SHINE (even if it's at 1hp as the last guy standing before stabilizing their friends).
Serendipity - when PCs encounter something unexpected that they either benefit from or overcome when they don't think that they could (but without a deus ex machina or "GM PC" saving the day). Maybe they find a magic item that's really useful or get to talk to an NPC from a book they love.
More later, must away now...
-TimD
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Some of this will be repeat of previous posts, but just take that as a +1 to those.
1) PC specific adventure. Have the PCs' backstories fuel the plot. Make sure their actions have lasting results for the adventure. If they clear an area of the evil dragon, have settlers move in, establish farms, and build a city.
2) Adventure specific PCs. This is sort of the other side to #1. Make each character somehow tied to the adventure or setting. Give them boons from local spirits that they couldn't get any other way. Give them title, land, influence, and/or responsibility. Make setting specific spells and feats. Give plenty of opportunities to develop NPC relationships.
3) Effectiveness. Your goal should always be to show off how the PCs succeed. If a character is immune to fire, throw some fire damage at them occasionally. They should still have struggles, but for the most part, the struggles should only exist to highlight the success. However, an occasional failure, or simply a mediocre result, ensures that the successes don't feel empty or forgone.
4) Know the preferred style. Some groups like heavy role-play, some groups like pure dungeon crawls, most are somewhere in the middle. Find the balance between different style spectrums that fits your players.
5) Description. Use as many adjectives and adverbs as you can without slowing down the game. "You hit and deal 5 damage" is ok for a stock fight with goblins, but for more pivotal encounters you'll want more description.
6) Enthusiasm. I think this is probably #1. If you are excited to play and let that excitement come through, your players will enjoy the game more. Make a game you would want to play first, then make sure it's one you want to run, and worry about the rest later.
Something I noticed is that I went on the boards last week and asked what a good first Favored Enemy for my PFS ranger was, folks answered "human." This had never occurred to me, so I asked why. The response from a lot of folks was that humans tend to be villains in PFS modules. There's also a skill bonus against any human, but also the villain thing.
That got me thinking. Nearly all of my BBEGs are monsters. Not just humanoids or even monstrous humanoids, but all out monsters. Dragons, undead horrors, and intelligent aberrations tend to round out the tops of my villain food chains.
Does this restrict immersion or otherwise cause a suspension of disbelief do you think? My players never seem to take my villains seriously since they are alien monsters with earthshattering motivations. Perhaps an element of a fun adventure is a threat that is relatable. No one knows what it is to be a dragon with insatiable greed; heck, hoarding all the money isn't even that scary of a motivation. But EVERYONE can relate to a normal guy who is pushed into some terrible evil by the pressures of life, society and cruel fate.
The old "best friend is really the BBEG" trope can work sometimes if done right. You could also subvert it and make the real BBEG frame the friend. Then when the party kills their friend and they think they've won the actual BBEG shows up and rubs their faces in the fact that he just made them kill their friend.
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In my experience, the thing that works best is if you have at least one more sympathetic antagonist, even if the BBEG is more monstrous.
For example, say the world is facing an incursion from the plane of shadows, who wish to drive the world into a thousand years of darkness or whatever. The BBEG would be the Kyton who leads this incursion, but the party would also end up facing off with a wizard who believes the only way to defeat this incursion would be to call forth Groetus in a "It is better to end this world, so it may begin anew, than let the Kytons and Kuthites have it" deal. It's not that he's evil (or at least he didn't start off that way), but he's still just as much a threat as the BBEG.
That way, even if the main antagonists are Evil for the sake of Evil, you're still presenting the party with an enemy who has more to him than just that.
Beyond that, a big thing that I find makes for compelling adventure is interesting NPCs. I've found a group can overlook a 'familiar' plot (i.e. following the old maxim of beg, borrow and steal, with regards to your favorite books, movies and shows) if the particulars are sufficiently interesting. Since a lot of those particulars are decided for you by the ruleset, like the way magic works, and such, NPCs are where you get the most ability to make this particular telling unique.
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Added response to your original post: theme games can also be enjoyable "one-offs" or short arcs to take a break from a main game or to play when you have one of your main players unavailable for a time. Some of my fav and wackier things have resulted from one-offs that wouldn't have happened in a normal game, but that everyone decided might be cool to do as a short term thing (ex - Kobolds trying to become Pathfinders by going through something that Torch & co. convinced them was their Confirmation).
To your more recent inquiry about BBEGs: making human or even humanoid BBEGs seem as threatening or challenging is more difficult as PCs level. At lower levels where action economy isn't quite as brutal it works out a bit better, but at higher levels where you have to be more careful about environment & action economy its a bit more difficult to do well.
I've never noticed immersion issues or suspension of disbelief due to the nature of the BBEG. Of course, sometimes I intentionally obfuscate the exact nature of the BBEG to make it more of a challenge / reveal to the PCs. If you think its an issue, I would recommend taking basic human emotional drivers and twisting them slightly. Maybe the dragon is not just greedy, but hungry to destroy the economy of an area because adventurers killed its hatchlings for loot. Maybe the Aberration started out as a human(oid), but was cursed or otherwise became what they are at the end because of their actions as a human(oid). Also, I find that having multiple (sometimes even conflicting) motivations helps me flesh out the BBEGs long-term as they may use some minions for one thing and others for other tasks giving me the opportunity to have players interact with multiple spheres of influence before they know how they might be related (gives that whole "spider in the web of influence" creepy vibe).
-TimD
There is no limit to what a GM/DM can do to create a great and exciting adventure. Much like writing a book sometimes writer's block will come upon you and then when the veil has been lifted and you understand "movement" and twists and regional demographic Industries you cannot feel anything but overwhelmed.
Literally right now at this very moment I could create an adventure that confounds, deepens and become entangled in intrigue by the moment, but alas that takes the fun and excitement out of every GM/DM's freedom of creativity.....then I could just tell you also to go buy a module r two and let sleeping dogs lay.
Explore what involves life in general in a fantasy setting. Even a minuscule pinpoint in time can thread and weave many harbinger's and mysteries to experience and confuse players....embellish child, EMBELISH!!
Have you asked your players what they want from an adventure?
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This is highly subjective I know; it's in general as opposed to advice. I've been sitting here trying to homebrew something and realized that my last three adventures are basically rehashes of the same thing: party comes to a settlement, there's an attack in town, and suddenly they either know the major NPCs of the plot or the villain. The rest of the adventure essentially becomes cleanup at that point.
So I thought "What makes for a fun adventure?" Is it a thinking villain or can you have just as much fun with mindless killing machines? Is it an interesting locale, gripping plot or what?
I know obviously the answer is "all of the above" but what do you look for or forward to when you, say, select a module to purchase/run, scan local PFS games or chat with your GM/players?
I want to put this out there. The adventure is really secondary, I've seen some really basic stuff that ended up being some of the coolest encounters a group has had. The main ingredient is a Good Group. Not a good GM, but the whole group. If they are all out to be cool, inventive and fun then they could make an orc guarding a pie in a 10X10 room into a really awesome encounter.
When the group all strive to make the game fun for everyone the background is secondary.
Now of course once you have this group it is time to turn things around, toss in environmental challenges, odd critters, mysteries(watch any number of tv shows for inspiration), and any type of challenges that are more than "kill monster, loot body, buy better gear, kill better monster, etc". Everything in moderation.
In my experience, the thing that works best is if you have at least one more sympathetic antagonist, even if the BBEG is more monstrous.
For example, say the world is facing an incursion from the plane of shadows, who wish to drive the world into a thousand years of darkness or whatever. The BBEG would be the Kyton who leads this incursion, but the party would also end up facing off with a wizard who believes the only way to defeat this incursion would be to call forth Groetus in a "It is better to end this world, so it may begin anew, than let the Kytons and Kuthites have it" deal. It's not that he's evil (or at least he didn't start off that way), but he's still just as much a threat as the BBEG.
That way, even if the main antagonists are Evil for the sake of Evil, you're still presenting the party with an enemy who has more to him than just that.
Beyond that, a big thing that I find makes for compelling adventure is interesting NPCs. I've found a group can overlook a 'familiar' plot (i.e. following the old maxim of beg, borrow and steal, with regards to your favorite books, movies and shows) if the particulars are sufficiently interesting. Since a lot of those particulars are decided for you by the ruleset, like the way magic works, and such, NPCs are where you get the most ability to make this particular telling unique.
I'm gonna give this a big ol' +1. Getting your players to feel their greatest threat is sympathetic will go a long way to making a campaign memorable. And the memorable campaigns are the ones you want to make.
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Heya Mark.
Funny you should say all your BBEG tend to be monsters. I am the opposite. Though I usually set up urban campaigns. Makes a lot of sense to have favored enemy human then.
Which brings up the next point about immersion and player expectation. Its quite easy to get into a groove. When players expect the game to work a certain way its hard to stay immersed and take the game seriously. Routine probably has more to do with what you are experiencing then your choice of enemies. Be careful though, switching it up may sound cool and just what you need but the players might not like it.
As far as adventures go, my players love the AP line. They get a good idea of what to expect the campaign to be like. You kind of lose that with a homebrew. Unless of course, you are really on your game and can sell a campaign and the players buy in. I gave up homebrewing my players just dont go for it. They love published settings cause they can read it on their own time and imagine it. I tried a wiki once but they still didn't buy in. Oh well its not the worst thing ever at least they are bought in to something and being as lazy as I am its nice to have some of the GM lifting taken off my shoulders.
It's ok if you have tendencies as a GM. Every now and again, use those against the players. Maybe set up that it's another monster and then reveal it's actually the princess as an evil summoner, for example.
And as for favored enemy, our group doesn't let you take one unless you have a story explaining why you like hunting those specific creatures. I have a female half-elf ranger who hunts poachers - so human favored enemy works with her back story.
In my experience, the first part of making an adveernture fun for your players, is to make a game you enjoy to run/play. The more motivated you are as a GM, the more fun you can share with your players.
I can only second Coarthios suggestions on increasing the player involvement in the game.
While 'the fun adventure' of course is highly subjective, IMO having the characters (and players) be active participants rather than random persons cast into preset challenges, is very important. Pre-written adventures are often ruined for me, by the computer game feeling of going through a pre-defined game, that might not even correspond credibly with my character's motivation (especially should one or more new characters have been introduced).
If I were you, I would try to place the characters more or less permanently in one of those settlements they come by.
Introduce several optional storylines, which they may or may not choose to pursue. Have different factions that they can choose to interact with or not. And have them set up interests in the town, that you could build stories around.
It might be a little more work at first, but these things doesn't have to be fully fleshed out from the get go. You might have the primary npcs and factions described (along with their goals and motivation), but the rest can be filled in as you go along.
Having some generic encounters prepared, can help you cover encounter situations that might arise. You can reskin these to the current situation with relative ease (and without changing mechanics).
So you might have an 'ambush' encounter (changing races, having it be bandits or a guard patrol, depending on situation), a 'dungeon' encounter (mapped out, but it can be used as a cavern system, an old temple below the city, or some ruins of old), a 'chase scene' encounter (through the city, but the opponents can be changed as you see fit).
Basically, this is a tool for preparation for anything that might arise. It shouldn't substitute actually planning important encounters and events that the characters are moving towards.
Finally, in making any campaign, I'd say: "Give clues like crazy!". Making everything fit to a certain endgame from the start is difficult, and often require the characters to follow a certain path.
Turn it around, and introduce clues, whether letters, names, maps, magic items, or NPCs, whenever you can. Later on, you can determine whether they should be important or not.
It works wonders, when the players find out that the item they found at lvl 1 turns out to be critical at lvl 10, or that their actions a year earlier have a great importance on an entirely unrelated situation. It adds the feeling of everything fitting together, even though it might be an illusion, and you actually just saw an opportunity to tie some loose end together.
I just want to say have a cool premise! Write an adventure where pcs must find a way to a floating cloud giant citadel high in the air, a fortress on the clouds with tons of aerial battles and neat stuff.
Or an adventure where the players must explore a temple and then a portal in the temple takes them to the shadow plane version of the temple like a light dark world thematic with multi dimensional puzzles.
or and underwater adventure, or an outer planar adventure, or a winter/desert/swamp adventure where the terrain is as much a hazard as the monsters. Or an adventure where they are shrunk down to to tiny size in order to explore a cursed city that has been shrunk and placed in a stasis spell.
How about an adventure where they are trapped in a nightmare plane and hunted by a night hag who devours people in their nightmares. Or the next town they come to is actually a town where everyone has been cursed with lycanthropy and tonight is the full moon.
lol I got carried away with this. Anyways imagination and excitement will breed those things in your players.
I try to keep the chat at the table in mind and use player input to guide the game. This varies from letting the loons, er, players to virtually determine the flow to finding out what a player would like to do and arranging a spotlight moment. Ultimately, you want the players to get that moment where the game is as real as life.