Is it easy to design adventures?

I've still got this impression that 3ed isn't like normal rpgs. So does the game lend itself well for GMs to create their own adventures?

Is adventure design similar to other rpgs?

Rat Catcher said:

It's the same as any other rpg. Writing an adventure is probably more cumbersome than say, 4E DnD, but that's just because you are having to do more than drag and monsters into a word document.

As far as writing your own stuff it's really pretty much like an other RPG.

Yeah, I'd say it's very similar to writing adventures for any other version of WFRP, except you get to make up some cool Actions for your NPCs and monsters if you want, and you can make some new Locations to fit, too.

There's some great tips on scenario design in the ToA.

I agree with what has been said. Designing the adventure is about the same.

There are two areas that might be a little tricky at first.

Monsters - Their 'slaughter margin' is very tricky to figure out. A day late anda shilling short suggests that a Wargor is a fearsome foe and that it is a serious threat. I'm sure it is, but I ran it for three other characters (not the ones created for the pre-written adventure). The Troll-slayer used the duel wield action card and nearly killed the Wargor in one hit! It's stuff like that that is much harder to predict in this version (rather than previous versions).

Thus, I highly recommend giving some easier encounters than heavier encounters. Take it slow at first.

Side-Effects - One thing I feel that V3 encourages is the use of Bane/Boon Side-effects. I was working on converting a V2 adventure (Ashes of Middenheim) just to see and they have pretty standard tests smattered throughout the book. Now going back to a day late and a shilling short demo adventure, you have a bunch of extra side-effects that are smattered about in addition to the regular tests. The Storm causes Misfortune dice. The storm also 'forces' a break in the combat (which is interesting). Neither of those are things I would have immediately have thought to include in a 'regular' adventure, if for no other reason that a typical system doesn't encourage it.

If you look at the location cards, a bunch of them offer these Bane/Chaos Star effects. You can use that to whet the apeitite and create your own. What side-effects can happen in a given situation?

Finally, in the demo, they suggest that the first time you see a Wargor you can hit the part with some Stress. Fatigue and Stress are your tools to cause tension in the game. Characters want to travel weeks in the forest? Give them Fatigue throughout the day (which probably recovers during a good sleep). Have chaos artifacts call to them, giving them Stress. I would think about where you want to hit the party with Fatigue or Stress.

Sarim Rune said:

I like the idea of this last part, giving import to actions most rpgs take for granted. A 12 mile trip to a town for example is usually shrugged off in a sentence or three. The fatigue/stress counters offer an easy way of making sure pcs now take the time to plan their journeys in advance.

I had a small epiphany of similar ways to threaten my characters. Stress and fatigue is not a threat in the beginning of an encounter but once it starts to mount it can be quite scary for a character and threaten to overwhelm him. I think this can be a useful alternative to real damage. players might feel superior at first because the enemy does not harm them particularly but perhaps they are greatly outnumbered and they will realize that should they all fall unconcious, death will probably follow quickly after, thus forcing the characters to think about their actions.

Rat Catcher said:

Ohhh... Great idea. The characters have to get to The Fat Halfling Fortified Inn on the Old Dwarf road within a certain number of hours to warn the locals that beastmen are active in the area. Do they rush to the Inn and suffer 3 fatigue by the time they get there (with no chance of respite before the beatmen arrive) - do they get there quickly and suffer 2 fatigue and arrive at the inn and see the beastmen scouts lurking in the woods and have to fight their way through. Or do thay just wander there... and reach the inn as the second wave of beastmen reinforcements are beasy eating the flesh of the inns previous owners....

Duran Elderbar said:

Exactly, very good example