The following is basically what I posted in a thread on EN World called Help me save my game:
I like to write my own adventures. And I like them to be playable in one or two sessions. At the moment this means that the bandit lair has but six rooms. There’s traps, there are prisoners, there’s a secret passage, there’s a trap, the thieves are a very intelligent bunch. It kept the players busy for two times three hours, requires little memorization as it all fits on a single sheet of paper, and allows you to improvise the reactions of the enemies. I usually have a bullet list of four to six things the enemies like to do, to improve my improvisation.
In short:
1. Write it yourself.
2. Use a very small number of rooms but intelligent enemies.
3. Prepare small lists of nasty enemy reactions.
4. Try to finish the adventure in one or two sessions.
In the example with the bandit lair, the players were beaten back after killing a third of the thieves, fled into the woods and made camp. The thieves sneaked up on them, struck down the only fighter and captured them all. (Having intelligent enemies also means that they’re not going to let players die: They want ransom, information, etc.) After freeing themselves, circling back, sneaking back through the back-entrance, killing some more, and chasing the leader (who made a successful escape via the secret passage), one of the NPCs that accompanied them turns out to be a traitor, releases the prisoners made, and turns on the players. More mayhem ensues. It was great. And it had only six rooms and nine thieves.
Source Material: The Kappa Scourge (PDF)
#RPG #advice
(Please contact me if you want to remove your comment.)
⁂
Good advice, Alex 😄
– GreyWulf 2007-01-10 16:48 UTC