In a recent conversation on google+, Jason Pitre asked how many non-player factions we thought should be present in an RPG campaign. There were several different suggestions that included small numbers (say, 4) and larger numbers (0-4 to start, then at least one per dungeon or adventure after that). My …
Ben Robbins had what looks like a very good sandbox campaign, and a remarkable way of managing PCs available at any given time. This post describes how I think I’ll go about giving it a try, because it sounds like it’ll work very well for me, given the difficulties I’ve had in maintaining a steady group of players online… and the design requirements for any particular session are relatively small compared to my normal campaign design mechanisms. I’m looking for players and possibly co-GMs.
I recently posted a description in a comment to a blog post of how I handle experience and level gains that I thought I should include on my own site. In considering how to write it, I realized it might be worth exploring a few other models of character development …
So far, these articles have focused on definitions and theory. This article shows how they can used together to actually craft something. Summary of Steps Develop the setting, so the campaigns have a place to happen. Develop campaigns, so the player characters have long-term goals and to provide a general …
The number three seems to have a strong cognitive effect. Hearing something three times can help someone remember it, we usually need at least three observations to predict a pattern, and we seem to be able to easily remember about three things about a subject. Listing sets of three is …
This process owes its genesis to ideas I had while reading Justin Alexander’s Node-Based Scenario Design essay. This essay formalized processes I had been applying and helped focus my mind on them… and led to me to some abstractions I hadn’t considered before. An adventure, a scenario, can ultimately be …
I’ve been looking through some older D&D materials. I know I’ve seen something in at least one of them about non-linear adventure design, but haven’t been able to put my hands (or eyes) on the one I want. I remember a section in a book that talks about trying to …
As part of my research for these articles, I’ve been reviewing published guidelines for adventure design. In the last couple days I have reviewed DMG 3.5, DMG II, Green Ronin’s Advanced Gamemaster’s Guide, and the Pathfinder GameMastery Guide. They have all had much the same advice for developing adventures: devise …
This is a quick addendum to my last post, particularly the section on scope levels. I wrote how scope levels describe how broad an impact or influence entities can have. However, I didn’t write about how big I expect game elements of each scope level to be in play. This …
This article is a follow-up to my earlier Campaign Setting Design article. It expands somewhat on the idea of entities (there called ‘features’; I have formalized the structures somewhat). I will be providing some greater description of the techniques I use to develop settings and scenarios. In order to do …