What is your idea of a good adventure?
- Thread starter Enoki
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Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
The adventure is tailored to fit the players strengths and weaknesses, and keeps all player fully involved. Any adventure which leaves one or more players sitting on the sidelines is to be avoided at all costs. Bored players are very unhappy players.
The adventure should be challenging with a reasonable degree of risk, and the possibility of getting one's head removed, if appropriate, without being an attempt to "get" the players.
It must include the unexpected. When running Advanced D&D, I was known to include creatures, monsters, and treasures from other editions. In Traveller, that means different aliens (I mine Andre Norton books for those ideas), different creatures, and unusual settings. The underground ruins in Norton's book, Catseye, would be a case in point. Adapting creatures from D&D to Traveller would be another option, especially from some of the older editions.
Include at least one non-player character run by the Game Master to supply guidance to the players when needed.
mike wightman
SOC-14 10K
timerover is spot on.
I would add that it is important to know what the players want to do too. If they want to play Firefly and you give them an active duty Star Trek exploration mission they are unlikely to appreciate it and vice versa.
During the game listen to the players and don't be worried about going off script to play upon their paranoia or introduce a dramatic element
I would add that it is important to know what the players want to do too. If they want to play Firefly and you give them an active duty Star Trek exploration mission they are unlikely to appreciate it and vice versa.
During the game listen to the players and don't be worried about going off script to play upon their paranoia or introduce a dramatic element
That cannot be stressed enough, you must listen to your players before and, most importantly, during your sessions.
I'm sure we've all pitched a campaign idea to our RPG groups, had it eagerly accepted, done all the prep work, vetted all the characters, and started play only to have the players realize the idea wasn't as much fun as they originally thought. If you're lucky you can re-skin the campaign, if you're not lucky you end up binning it.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
Whereas I see the adventure much like a novel, or more briefly as a short story.
First, the players need to adapt to the story or they need to be tailored to it. Their characters shouldn't be the ones driving it from the beginning.
Next, there has to be some goal or quest involved that gives things focus. Without that you have them ambling around aimlessly doing pointless "stuff."
As they move to the goal / object of the quest you the game master's answer to everything is "No!" That is, the players are presented with a challenge at every turn. This doesn't have to be life or death, and in fact, it is probably better most of the time if it isn't.
Examples: The players are broke and need money. The players are stranded on a planet without means to go to the system they need to get to. The local government intervenes (eg., arrests, or otherwise hassles them).
If all they are doing is ambling around without direction they are no better than this guy:
At least in my view the players need to be involved and doing problem solving at every turn. Novels and short stories thrive on conflict and issues. They are boring when there isn't some issue to be resolved.
First, the players need to adapt to the story or they need to be tailored to it. Their characters shouldn't be the ones driving it from the beginning.
Next, there has to be some goal or quest involved that gives things focus. Without that you have them ambling around aimlessly doing pointless "stuff."
As they move to the goal / object of the quest you the game master's answer to everything is "No!" That is, the players are presented with a challenge at every turn. This doesn't have to be life or death, and in fact, it is probably better most of the time if it isn't.
Examples: The players are broke and need money. The players are stranded on a planet without means to go to the system they need to get to. The local government intervenes (eg., arrests, or otherwise hassles them).
If all they are doing is ambling around without direction they are no better than this guy:
At least in my view the players need to be involved and doing problem solving at every turn. Novels and short stories thrive on conflict and issues. They are boring when there isn't some issue to be resolved.
Timerover51
SOC-14 5K
If you already had an answer to your own question, why did you waste my time to post a reply?
I don't think that has to be the case. Of course, you don't want any adventure to be a cakewalk, but a common sense universe and good planning by the PCs may result in occasional bits of smooth sailing without being thwarted at every turn. Too much of that begins to feel like a "GM vs Players" game, rather than a GM setting the stage and running the world fairly to see how the Players get on with the Story.
I look to my players and their characters to provide some level of inspiration. From the players; I want to know what kind of story they are interested in playing. Do they want HiTech, LoTech, Grim & Gritty or Epic Space Opera, etc?
From the characters; I take the starting pieces and the minutia that helps to set the stage for the story/adventure. It may kick off with a random job or helping an old friend (using Contacts the character might have obtained during Char-Gen). I also look at their skills, abilities and equipment to make sure I create a challenge level that fits their status and situation.
Based on the above assessments; characters might start off on the run from local gangs, or delivering corporate mail, to running across a dead body in a Vacc Suit floating in a nearby lake.
Seconds after finding the body, they experience a wide-band communications black out. At first they suspect Imperials, but soon discover Corporate Security teams quickly and quietly moving into the area. Locals are scared away or downed with Stunners as the BlackOut Team does a sweep, obviously looking for the Vacc Suit Guy. The group needs to decide if they take the body and run, leave him/her behind, or turn him over and hope for the best.
This would end up being a gritty adventure pitting the group against a local corporation and possibly imperial agents, both of whom are vying for something (perhaps the body has a data crystal, perhaps the body is still alive and knows something, perhaps the Vacc Suit Guy is actually known by one of the group, he or she might even be the newest member of the group). The story arc would be tend to be more espionage with a healthy dose of various technologies thrown in.
Making strong connections between the story and the players (as well as the characters) has always made from a better game - at least for me. The players seems to be more invested in the stories because they are closely tied to the characters they've created and support the growth of those characters.
Story has always been essential for my group (myself included). If it's not a good story, it doesn't matter anywhere near as much. There should be challenges for both the players and characters. You want to know your players enough to have the story entice them and bolster their participation. You want to know the characters well enough to challenge them and help them grow.
Around all of this you want to create interesting and detailed worlds that capture the imagination and encourage active play.
In an extreme case, the players may be creative and extroverted enough to use character histories as a ready-to-plug-in aspect of any introductory scene.
In other words, truly creative and cooperative players can concoct their characters' backgrounds, such that when the referee says "Here's the starting scenario. Tell me why you think the players are here, and how they got here", they can supply a framework for an adventure in their answers.
I got to see Stan Shinn do this last month with nine players in a classic Traveller game that lasted around 12 hours. Everyone agreed that it was the most fun role-playing experience they'd had in a long time.
As with landings, any one the players can walk away from.
Actually, I agree with Aramis on this: my adventures are very, very rarely stand-alones that will not have some impact on the overall campaign. It may not seem like it to the players at the moment, but it will be linked in some way: introduce major and minor players, inject some part of the overall plot, help the players gain some vital bit of gear they'll need or access to some source of knowledge they'll need to look for later, etc..
I want the adventure to build on the past if possible, and not feel like an episode to some TV series. Since Traveller doesn't have a level-up system I think it is especially important that the adventures help the characters grow in influence, wealth, knowledge, etc.. So players feel like they are growing and not just bouncing around looking for cargo. Part of a larger whole, but not so much that everyone is Luke Skywalker and critical to saving the universe. Maybe Biggs, though.
Actually, I agree with Aramis on this: my adventures are very, very rarely stand-alones that will not have some impact on the overall campaign. It may not seem like it to the players at the moment, but it will be linked in some way: introduce major and minor players, inject some part of the overall plot, help the players gain some vital bit of gear they'll need or access to some source of knowledge they'll need to look for later, etc..
I want the adventure to build on the past if possible, and not feel like an episode to some TV series. Since Traveller doesn't have a level-up system I think it is especially important that the adventures help the characters grow in influence, wealth, knowledge, etc.. So players feel like they are growing and not just bouncing around looking for cargo. Part of a larger whole, but not so much that everyone is Luke Skywalker and critical to saving the universe. Maybe Biggs, though.
An adventure that is at least partly the players idea seems to work nicely.
I always try to leave room for players to go off on their own direction. I tend to create a general framework and a series of possible job, rumors, events. Now, in reality I am using their choices to bring them into a fairly broad series of adventures..loosely linked together by some broader story line...
now some events are going to happen, they are fixed in my plans..but how the players react, act, and prepare for the unexpected can change the outcome of these events...or trigger a whole series of unplanned events.
having a sense of freedom of action, or at least a well maintained illusion, seems to work better with my groups. They feel more involved in the game.
I always try to leave room for players to go off on their own direction. I tend to create a general framework and a series of possible job, rumors, events. Now, in reality I am using their choices to bring them into a fairly broad series of adventures..loosely linked together by some broader story line...
now some events are going to happen, they are fixed in my plans..but how the players react, act, and prepare for the unexpected can change the outcome of these events...or trigger a whole series of unplanned events.
having a sense of freedom of action, or at least a well maintained illusion, seems to work better with my groups. They feel more involved in the game.
Too true: that way they feel from the outset that they have a stake in what's being played, rather than just turning up for the game.
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