Writing Adventures for Publication - Initial Planning

Initial Planning when Writing Adventures

In my years of adventure design, I've had a lot of people (beginner designers, experienced designers, and even folk just generally interested) ask me what my steps are for starting the process of writing an RPG adventure. This has forced me to think quite a bit about my process, so I thought I would share these thoughts with you.

There is no doubt that the undertaking of writing an adventure for publication can be a daunting one. It is quite removed from the standard notepad scribbles of planning your home campaign where a majority of the plot and story is either stored in your head or simply ad lib and 'winging it' in the moment.

No, writing an adventure for publication is a very different exercise. For example, you are writing to the masses and not only for a small group of people you know very well. You also need to keep in mind that the Dungeon Master you're writing for isn't inside your head and those few notes on your notepad that trigger the plot and can only be deciphered by your own mind won't be sufficient for a reader to run a successful game at their own table. While with running your own game at home, you have the great flexibility of Head Canon and any plot holes can quickly be covered up without even a bat of the eyelid from your players, but a published adventure doesn't have such luxuries. Plot holes can be the silent killer for published adventures. All of this is quite obvious when a writer sits down to plan and produce an adventure for publication, but it can often feel overwhelming to even start putting the proverbial 'pen to paper' (even to the most experienced of us).

So, here are a few things that I like to do at the beginning of my planning process that helps me get the creative juices flowing, keep the adventure structure and plot intact throughout the weeks or even months of writing ahead, and subdue that feeling that I am in way over my head (imposter syndrome is a real thing that even the likes of Matt Mercer from the hugely successful Critical Role admits he still suffers from).

These are not in any specific order and can be done in any order really... or even skipped. They are just some exercises that I think helps me with my preparation - and hopefully you can find some use from them. Use as much, or as little, of them as you wish.

1. Write a short idea synopsis/overview. This doesn't need to be extensive, just a couple hundred words of what I envision my story/plot to cover, then I list two or three themes that I want flavored through my adventure (bullet-point), and a major antagonist description and their motives (keeping it to under 150 words if possible). Then, what I usually do is print it out and pin it to my wall next to my writing station/laptop (you could even make it your desktop background). The important thing is to have it somewhere that I can readily and easily look at it and refer to at a moments notice - particularly useful for those times when I feel the adventure is running away from me, I'm feeling a little lost with the plot, or I feel that I'm losing the vibe of what I was originally swinging for.
   

2. Create a flowchart. This can be used for a few different things such as focusing on; individual encounters, overarching plot points, NPC relationships, or even locations and how they link together. Different types of adventures might need a different focus for the flowchart. An island exploration adventure might have all the locations and how they are linked physically (in-game), or an event-based adventure might have the flow chart showing different events happening at certain times based on what decisions have been made earlier by the characters. Making these things into a visual medium that clearly shows the flow of things, ho they link together, decisions points that create changes in the flows, and their actors (NPCs and Characters) can be a handy tool to really break the adventure down into bite sized achievable chunks. It can really give you a clear idea on the true scope of the project and a plan to keep the writing project manageable.

Here's an example. Below is a flowchart that I had been working on a few years back for the Rex Draconis RPG adventure series. This is just a small sample from the flowchart, but you will get the idea.

This one focuses on mainly encounters, and from this I can now begin to write entries on each element, with the idea that each becomes its own encounter entry. This simplifies the process to small chunks that I can aim to achieve each time I sit down to write. I generally tend to aim for completing a draft of just one or two encounters every writing session. I keep it small and achievable so not to overwhelm myself with massive writing targets. Of course, there will be a lot that gets added in around these, but it gets the ball rolling and ensures that my structure for the adventure is sound from the beginning.

These are just a couple of my practical techniques that can be used immediately when faced with writing an adventure for publishing, and they work for me. They may not work for everyone, but everyone has their own ways of working that suit their style.

If you're an RPG adventure writer, I'd love to hear about your preparation for published adventure writing in the comments below!