Hi all
Obviously some encounters can't be planned - PCs will be PCs, after all - but for those that can, how do people go about it? Do you have basic types of encounters that you work from? Or templates? Or do you design each encounter from the ground up? How much information do you create for each encounter?
Thanks in advance.
The Angry GM is a great site for theory-crafting. There's a whole section on writing adventures. In particular, you may find these articles interesting:
The articles are long, but I find them pretty useful. Almost all of it is generic, setting-agnostic advice, though most of the examples are D&D-themed.
I use both set pieces and hooks. Everything's in outline form.
Set pieces are fairly detailed. This is for two reasons: one, the more I write, the more I visualize and the more I remember; two, parts of the encounter or the entire encounter itself can be saved and recycled if the party doesn't engage, or table pacing leads me to getting on. Whether the encounter is social or environmental, the information I focus on consists of what players will see or experience, why it's that way, the rewards or consequences the encounter offers, and what will happen if players take certain actions. Every contingency doesn't need to be covered — I just need to have a few reference points for cause-and-effect. Using skill checks as junctures goes a long way if players feel like they're overcoming challenges.
Hooks are brief but still information-rich. Number, species, occupation, motivation, demeanor; names and incentives/rewards if necessary. Most are for cantina-style encounters that resolve quickly but often lead to improvisable work or even lead-ins or supplements to set piece encounters.
Set pieces take 45-90 minutes, while hooks don't go more than 20.
I beat the drum loud and often for more modular encounters because they assist the way I like to run things. I like to have the over arcing story/theme in place and string together my own series of modular encounters. Any that FFG creates that work for me are very helpful.
I build series of types of appropriate modular encounters that in one way or another advance the story/theme. There is no direct path from A to Z, it's more of a story web as opposed to timeline. They pick and choose. I do at times queue up sessions where there is an obvious path they are going to have to follow, but I always leave the 'How to's' for the PCs to decide. So they might have the 'we need to get the slaves freed or rescue prisoner X' handed to them as a mission, but how they do it is entirely up to them. Avoid writing about or answering 'How', leave that to them, just make sure you leave some open avenues for 'How' to be resolved.
Some encounters may stretch over more than one session, but I try to wrap them up in an episodic fashion. Mostly because I like to award xp every session and not have it feel clunky when they receive a chunk of xp, but they're still 'in the dungeon'. I don't get too worried if Obligation isn't rolled every session.
Which leads to Obligation, be mindful of it when designing campaigns and encounters. Incorporate it into your modular encounter(s) design. The nice part I feel of the plug and play nature of modular encounters and doing things episodically, is when you design them mindful of your PCs Obligations and one their Obligations trips, you're seamlessly able to serve up a session tailored to it within your ongoing story. Instead of trying to figure out how to have it be a part of next session. I see a lot of people post about troubles in how to integrate Obligation into their story and I always wonder if the GMs bother to integrate into their campaign designs from the beginning.
During session zero, or even in advance, GMs should tell PCs the kind of campaign theme they want to run. The PCs should think about character ideas and Obligations to let the GM know what they will be needing to think about for their encounter designs. Doing it that way allows for things to occur more generically throughout a campaign I think when the GM can plan in advance, instead of trying to shoehorn PCs backgrounds into the campaign after the fact.
Edited by 2P51Give a listen to the list strikes back episode and the holocron 2.0 episode of the order 66 podcast.