The Fastest Way to Design an Epic RPG Adventure - GM Tips
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- Опубликовано: 30 апр 2020
- Designing adventures.. how best do you do it? We show you our awesome fast method that we use to design adventures and you can too, no matter the tabletop role-playing system whether it is DnD, Starfinder or a system like Blades in the Dark.
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Gronk is glad he found you. You have good wisdom for bards to tell great stories about adventure. Gronk will come back again.
Welcome aboard!
Gronk seems to like food
In education, we call this method “Backwards Design.” Start by looking at what you want your class to accomplish (test, project, lesson outcome, etc.). Let the unit fill in the material needed to accomplish these goals, and there you go... great way for planning anything. I think it’s great that you are showing how to use this in designing an adventure... good advice. Thanks!
No wonder everyone in my class got pregnant before they were legal
It always amazes me how you can pull something better than most movies out of your ass in less than 10 minutes. Everything you say is pretty much gold. Thanks for that.
*out of his brain
@@TheSuperQuail I know what I said.
Great tips, I remember reading somewhere that writing is like foggy mountains, you see the highpoints but everywhere in between is found along the way.
This is so true
I love this analogy
You got that right...
I would say 'Pegasi Colony'. Bats are the closest thing to Pegasi that exist in real life(Flying Mammals), and if my research is correct, groups of them are called Colonies.
Guy, you have an incredible ability to "generate" adventure ideas. My new challenge is to, when you start explaining how to create an adventure, pause it and try to create my own, but I'll be darned if your isn't more interesting! Love the videos, this one was especially good!
I am sure you are being too critical of your own work! We often think others stores are better because we 'are going on the journey of discovering their story as they tell us' so it is exciting, whereas our own stories seem dull - because we know the answer already. Have faith!
@@HowtobeaGreatGM i have to agree. I have a few friends who write stories, one of them a profesional book writer, and they all always say that they have a feeling that nothing is happening in their stories, because they start with scheming the plot like this in just a short time then spend days and weeks doing "mundane" stuff like writing sentences and searching for right words and they are so stuck on these details they forget about the bigger picture and about the fact that readers (in this case players) have no idea what's happening next.
Anyway, my point is that as long as there is at least a little logical thread, even a "stupid" adventure may be fun. Because sometimes you just need to send your players on a silly quest to obtain some stupid item just for fun amd giggles
I love that you released this video the SAME DAY I did this. I am a new DM, only ran a handful of games and this was the first Adventure of my first real "campaign" (no idea how long it'll last). I had the idea of a mad scientist's lab ("high" tech... notable as this is in our variation of the Forgotten Realms to give you a context for tech level). The final encounter was a homebrew monster I made on the fly. A "Barbed Copper Dragon", I literally smashed a Barbed Devil and Young Copper Dragon together.
Against a group of 4 level 5s. OOPS!
Now they did win and no one died (partly because I made the monster fight tactically until 1/2 HP then as HP dropped it went berserk due to the mutations) and they all said it was a memorable misadventure. One player was a long-time DM in 3.5/Pathfinder and another is one of my main D&D group's DMs (we alternate Wednesday games between him and another). SO either they were being kind or I knocked it out of the park.
I'm going with the former. :P
Druid and not strong enough should not be in the same sentence.
Ugh this video couldn't have come at a better time for me. I love you man. My boyfriend and I have been going insane in quarantine together. Maybe fighting in DnD with some friends online will keep us from fighting each other irl LOL
Thanks, Adventure planning has always been something I struggle with
The audio sounds amazing!
I really love your channel. I've been playing on and off for decades. DMing as well. I have never organized the method of creating adventures or stories into clear and concise verbiage. Well done. Very well done.
I've been following your channel for quite some time now and I must say it: THANK YOU!
Every video you make has insipired me to become a better player and, most importantly, a better GM.
I was planning a campaign for a different ttrpg and this helps me immensely starting from the start and end then build, this helps so much thank you
Always insightful videos. Always looking through your catalogue for things I've missed.
Start from the end - so simple and such a great method.
Amazing, that's some top tier brainstorming.
I'm excitedly starting a 5e campaign this weekend and you are an awesome resource.
I work backwards for my campaign sessions too. It helps to know where you want to end.
I'm loving this new format, it's quick, practical and full of information. Don't get me wrong! I also loved the older ones, with all those expert people that vaguely resemble you (tho I'm certain it's the light system that was tricking my eyes...)!
I never thought of starting at the finale and making my way back. This has actually sped up my adventure design quite a bit!
That's glorious advice, my friend.
You're wisdom is always appreciated.
I doubt my friends will ever get back together to game again.. but I like to hold hope that some day I'll hold a game with somebody.
I feel your pain mate. My group is also spread all over the country and many an old friendship has broken ...
@@murgel2006 yeah that's how it goes, man.
People (other than me) have lives.
And they all spread to the 4 winds eventually.
Hold on tight to the best ones and don't let them go while you can.
@@murgel2006 That's pretty much why I don't want to start up playing World of Warcraft again. As crippling of an addiction as it is... I just don't have any of my friends on there anymore, so it's not the same.
If you have access to discord and a headset, you should look into on-line game play. I personally will be looking into dm'ing a cyberpunk 2020 adventure sometime in the next few weeks. If you're interested, let me know.
I'm a recent subscriber -- catching up on all your great content. This reminds me of the Amazon 'working backwards' technique for planning a product, where you start with a structured press release. Good stuff, man! And I'll definitely use it, as well as checking out World Anvil.
This is awesome! Knowing where to start is the biggest battle for me. Now, when I'm preparing a session/adventure I can decide on an endpoint and work backwards to where the last session ended! The 'Pegasus Stud' really got me as well. However, the stylized characters and goblins in the video are just real enough looking to fall right in the uncanny valley for me.
Damn.... that's the best piece of advice I've seen so far on this topic, thanks. I've been looking for guides, watching hours of critical role, reading modules and manuals. This is what I needed for my campaiign, and it's so simple, thank you!
Thank you for this video. I was looking for a good guide/good tips on creating an adventure and this one seems very helpful!
I've been unknowingly doing this for the past 2 years. Now that you explained the process, it makes sense why I sometimes find myself struggling to figure out what to even put in front of the players, while other times I flesh out the idea for the next 5 sessions in under 60 minutes.
Great tips! Quick and efficient 👌
My problem with starting by the end is that - at least for me - adventures should have multiple possible endings.
Want to write an adventure? Start by creating a problem. The solutions? Oh, you don't need those - the players should come up with them.
I adore the style in this video
Amazing! I never created my adventures that way. Thanks for sharing this Video :)
You give the most awesome advice on being better GM. Thank you so much.
Thanks this helped me with my video game
Thank you for your wisdom good sir!
Really good stuff!
"You meet in a tavern..." ok a bit bor- "that is in the process of collapsing because a wyvern is spewing fire from the sky"
Always a good start.
So it basically goes like this:
1. Choose your Big Bad Guy and what your end game is with it.
2. Work backwards by plot points until you reach the very beginning of the adventure.
3. Pretty much fill out everything else in between the plot points. NPCs, smaller plot points that leads to bigger plot points, etc.
4. And of course making sure the pacing is good or at least feasible.
Tight production!
7:35 That is an awesome looking goblin.
Interesting method, i could see some value in it. However in my experience, if i put any party in a position to cliff-climb odds are someone rolls a one, and falling damage is pretty brutal to low level characters... (even with a chance to catch a ledge) especially if they are getting attacked while climbing. I've never really found a good method for balancing the DC's in a way that it is feasible for everyone in the party. I know a good number of my rogue-type characters would take one look at a hole-riddled cliff climb and try to convince the party they aren't getting paid enough for that! :)
Thank you Sir
good vid thx
Backwards planning. YES!!!
That's good depending on your players. It is obviously very railroad cause it doesn't matter what the PCs do the outcome will always be the ending scene. I personally prefer campaigns that are procedural and the players choices matter.
Another great video, Guy. This is not my preferred method of designing an adventure but I've seen it work successfully. One major question, however... what if your players decide to go a different route? Do you make all roads lead to the same "final scene"?
Flerd! 👌
Love your content and absolutely envy your skills (both in GMing and Performing).
But in this case I have a few questions:
Why would you presuppose the players intentions.? What if they decide to side with the Goblins to capture and domesticate the Pegas...ai. What if the Druid is a hypocrite and actually wants to make a profit whereas the Goblins actually wann free the ..horses..(perhaps feeding a horse carcass to a Gorgon now and then) Riding Gorgons and RAIDING a nobles treasury anyway sounds WAY more cool than riding those winged-horses-with-an-uncertain-plural.
Where I'm getting at is: why aren't a few points like: Gorgons, Worshiped by Goblins, Winged Horses, Herded by Druid, Cliffs and Aerial Confrontations enough? Why not leave it malleable and up to the players to push it forward or even twist it the way they like rather than predetermining who's good who's bad and who's pretty? Cheers!
An excellent video. Solid advice and the real funny thing was that I have recently planned an adventure with a giant cliff and flying creatures and nasties that attack during the climb and all because I wanted a big fight in the air. Ok, not on pegasi and not against a wyvern but still quite a similar idea.
Am I allowed to steal your idea with the gem trade disrupting goblin king?
You absolutely are allowed to take anything you like from the video if it will help improve your games!
when you have to keep scrubbing through a video to find the actual video
"...the necromantic goblin king... Why is he necromantic? No, not necromantic..." I've done that more than once.
To me this sounds like “woo woo, hop aboard the DM express.” Do you find that this approach railroads your players? If not, can you provide examples? Great concept, just hard to get over the idea of railroading my players into a predetermined epic scene. What if they don’t choose to help? What if they want to help but they want to try and bait the wyvern into attacking them on the ground? How hard do you hold to your end scene and do you feel like your players are screwing things up if they don’t go the way you expected?
I think the best way to avoid rail roading is to just focus on creating sources of conflicts and let the players decide how to resolve the conflicts. Thats where good improv skills come into play if players try to resolve things in a way you didnt expect. With a strong final conflict in mind (wyvern trying to kill the party specifically), then it gets easier i think to be flexible with how the party handles things
I think the idea here is that starting with an ending scene lets you build a path to that scene rather quickly. A path doesn't become railroading unless the DM refuses to let players off of the path. And, if you'll notice, in the course of laying out the path, Guy determined who all the characters are, what they want and what their plans are. With the information needed to run the path, he also has the information needed to build a new path if the players step off of the first one.
Do you have a link to the likable NPCs you could throw into the description? Thanks!
Hey Guy, toward the end of the video you mention padding out the adventure. I’m having trouble doing this in an exciting way. Any tips? Perhaps a future video?
That's a great idea! I've added it to the list. :)
Great timing, starting up Pathfinder 2 this week!
Curious, is this plot layout doable for episodic sessions? (Seemingly) contained smaller stories with no relation, or should I still be dropping in bigger hints the entire time for a big finale? I ask because I'm taking turns GMing with another person at the table.
This works on the 'adventure' scale and on the 'campaign' scale. If you want a bigger narrative by all means drop in a hint here or there, but I'd make sure you're in alignment with your fellow GM's as to what that bigger story is!
@@HowtobeaGreatGM I appreciate the reply! I'll see what they come up and give it a shot. Thanks a bunch! (^o^)
Don't forget the little pegasi colts.
I'll be using those tips to create a huge storyline, with the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, where PJs will fight Nicol Bolas at the end (I know that he was canonically defeated in MtG lore, but heck, I'll be the GM, nothing has to follow any already established canon, right ?)
Hey what program you recomend to play online with my group? so far we been playing mostly with audio ( discord) but is not the same
Fastest way to end up with a railroad adventure.
That doesn't mean it's not fun to play. ;) I'll rather play a good railroad than a bad impro-adventure. :P
You came very close to the final battle of my campain wich my group will get too. But yeah I started with that ending too and it became a very long campain with multiple partys and old storys wich will lead to an end where they need to use some relic magical stones that will summon old elemental guardians. During the final battle the bad guy will use an undead dragon and so they will get help by a chruch they already helped in form of blessed Pegasoi. So yes my ending seams to be very close.
My husband plays D'n'D online with his mates. I like character and story creating but not really up for playing or GMing. I like watching Viva La Dirt League and Joe Manginello though 👍
It all seems way too hard to get in to and my husband's not that in to teaching me 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
I have a campaign I'm working on involving rat people infesting an Artificer's basement, the leader is a wild magic sorcerer. When she realizes the group has casters, she's going to make the room into a wild magic zone. Any ideas how I can flesh out the middle a bit?
How do you design those awesome 3D characters?
Lets go
Okay so this is great information, wonderful way to plot an adventure, blah blah...
But seriously though, do Pegasi nest? I've never wondered this before and now it plagues my existence.
I particularly enjoyed this video. As a game designer (and instructor) one of the many design patterns I use is from Simon Sinek called the Golden Circle (ruclips.net/video/IPYeCltXpxw/видео.html) it talks about starting with your motivation first (your WHY), and then you How and What, which is the inverse of most people's approach to most things. His examples are alway business related. Your starting with the ending and working backwards is a perfect example of this design pattern in RPG adventure design. Even your battling a Wyvern on Pegasus' example explores the WHY > HOW > WHAT pattern. Keep making great videos.
If the Druid can Wild Shape into a bird, then she is at least Level 8. If that is a "lowly acolyte", then I am wondering why her Circle can't simply kill a single Wyvern and some mere Goblins.
Nice video, who does the art on it?
I do all of the art on it using a combination of Photoshop and Daz3D
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Good work
This is how to put the players on rails without any possible really impacting decision because you create the beggining, ending and everything in between. Are you providing a living world full of adventure or telling a story?
On the surface this does appear to be you as the GM telling the players a story. There is no adventure without a plan - the plan of the villain usually. So we need to have these plans available so the PCs can wander in whatever direction they want to and still have satisfying adventures where they make the story. You are providing events. If the PCs are attacked, and choose not to follow the druid, but instead head to the next town - that is their choice. That is where you story goes. However, if they do choose to follow the druid we need a plan on what events would then happen. Only once we understand the fundamentals of creating good adventures can we truly sandbox the world. These videos form a basis of knowledge freeing you as the GM to run a game however you choose. I hope that helps?
@@HowtobeaGreatGM It helps indeed, thanks. I like to make my worlds more on the sandbox side. I plan a calendar of events and find ways to engage and inform the players about those events. The plan is to use these adventure creation methods to create adventures that the players may encounter during their persuit to solve the various issues in the workd. Because sometimes the players make unexpected decisions and we gotta be prepared with those adventures. The problem is that we cannot expect everything the players may do and that it demands a lot of work and preparation. But I think that the world feels more real and that its more rewarding this way.
Not playing to find out what happens?
Agree. In my more than 20 years of rping I have also tried this technique a long back ago and this is the fastest way to build a railroad adventure or a book, but not an actual game in which everything changes and you are surprised as well as a GM.
Now my question is: how do I make this little adventure take less than 4 sessions?
Cut out the first fight, start the PCs in a burnt husk of the tavern. Slap them with a quick rp, then cliff side battle, then rp with the Pegasus, then battle wyrven. Rule of thumb: rp is 15 to 30 minutes, puzzles are 30 to 45 minutes, battles are 1 hour.
What @jthomas6080 said. The taverns destruction would be an opening sentence. "You all sit in the tavern. Suddenly it explodes." The goblins on the cliff are all minions with 1hp so that combat should be quick. Finally, the wyvern could be damaged already from another area that it was attacking as well.
Hey, I love your channel and have watched it for years then left. I just cam back and it looks like your quality has decreased since 2018.
Thank you for your honesty. What do you think has decreased since 2018?
Hey guys, can someone help me find a channel that discusses RPGs in a more mechanical sense unlike of Guy's narrative and character-driven videos? Stats, classes and skill trees and such? It would be much appreciated.
Nerdarchy, XPtoLevel3, Taking20, Runesmith - all great content creators for technical stuff.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Thanks!
I generally like your videos and sometimes find them helpful. I am a subscriber. However, this design was not very helpful. I am frustrated with videos that say they are going to give tips and then really only do a railroaded dungeon crawl. Anyone can do that. The DMs guide for 3.5 has a random chart generator for this. What I think people are looking for is making an interesting and dynamic adventure that is more than combat after combat after combat. That is where the difficulty is. In all fairness, anyone can write an adventure that is 1) get hired; 2) go fight goblins; 3) find some ponies; 4) go fight a wyvern.
Agreed. When one starts designing from the "final scene" you're already well on your way to railroading things.. and of course it's a battle... not a fan.
All good till you realise dnd wyverns don't have a breath weapon :P
Did you see the Stat-sheet? It says 'Fire-breath'. Don't fall into the trap of assuming the sentence in the DMG which says: You are free to change anything presented in these books... :p
Honestly sounds more like a movie or book, not a tabletop adventure. At least not one that the players have much agency in. Notice that he keeps using the words "[they/players] WILL". Speaking as if you know what the players are going to do is a bad idea.
I don't see player choice in this adventure at all. They HAVE to help the druid. They HAVE to follow her. There's literally no other way up the cliff (your words). They HAVE to befriend the pegasi, and then they HAVE to fight the wyvern.
At what point did say they HAVE to help the druid? If the party does not help the druid, and leaves the town, the entire adventure is shelved for another day. If they don't want to climb the cliff, they can go for the 30 mile hike around the side of it, during which time the pegasus herd will be eaten. They do not have to befriend the pegasi. And to be honest, once they are this invested, if they don't fight the wyvern you have a particular dull series of events. If they befriend the Wyvern, or go and try to stop the Goblin king, that's awesome to. The point is GM's who don't plan for adventures and just 'let the parties roam' might have great open worlds but rather mundane adventures. By adding this method to your tool box, when your party starts to follow a thread, you can now build the adventure in such a way that it is fun.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM Then why all the work if it is going to be shelved? And why think of them as a dull series of events that can´t be re-imagined into something completely different?
If you are not re-inventing your game with each session, you are following a script. When you embrace chaos, the game will surprise you as a GM as well. RPGs doesn't need to follow the classic story structure of Hollywood, rpgs can break all the boundaries and tell the stories in nonstandard ways, that's the beauty of it. No need for a big climax.
And if you think that the stories that will come out from chaos won't have any meaning or value, I recommend you to read the One thousand and one nights, the one translated by Joseph Charles Mardrus. It has lots of examples of storytelling that breaks what we are used to regarding introduction-development-climax-etc. and nonetheless, that doesn't makes them less entertaining, beautiful, inspiring and surprising.
I see RPGs more like an alchemy magical concoction. You add some events, places, npcs, motivations, etc. and finally, you add the PCs to that mixture. You revolve everything and let yourself be surprised with what will come out.
Guy, please.
The 3D models look awful and like deviant art porn. Stop
This is the joy of art and being human. We are each entitled to our own opinions.
@@HowtobeaGreatGM I'd love to know what you used to make them :)