Writing adventure methods?

Hiya goodmush, I don't think we've crossed paths yet, so welcome to the forums!

I quoted this part of your post to call out two key points: This adventure provides extensive information on locations and NPCs, but very little story content. There is a method to this madness.

This is how I "write" all of my adventure content, whether it be a single session or the macro view of a campaign. I put "write" in quotes because I actually carry most of it around in my head, and just write up any mechanical stuff I need such as stat blocks or found items to distribute.

Writing an adventure in this way allow the DM and players to create the actual story of the game dynamically. I used to create elaborate stories I wanted my players to participate in. I quickly found that my players had their own ideas of how to react to situations and their own stories to tell. These rarely fit into what I had written. After spending hours on story prep, I found myself having to make story up on the fly! I also found that I lacked the prepped resources I needed to keep the session flowing: stat blocks and other mechanical information. The mechanics are much harder to create on the fly (for me anyway).

Locations: Fleshed out locations your PCs can start in or discover provide the DM the context they need to describe situations and places. For example; your adventure starts in a Tavern. Its good to have a description of the Tavern in mind; is it small and rustic, or large and luxurious, etc.? From there, you need to have an idea of the area surrounding the Tavern; its context in the local area. Is it in a vast city? A small farming hamlet? Is it on a river near a boat dock? A lonely building built on a crossroads? From there, you should have some idea of what lies outside the local environs. Say your planned adventure has the PCs going north to investigate a tomb. Perhaps they decide they'd rather head south to find a warmer climate and seek for the long lost sister of one of the PCs (Players will pull this crap, trust me. And if you don't go with it, they'll say you're "railroading" and become less invested in the game). If they decide to head south, you need to have an idea of what is there.

NPCs: There is nothing more valuable to a DM than having several pre-made NPCs. Nothing. NPCs provide a population for your locations. They provide the plot hooks, quest givers, shop owners, street urchins and on and on and on. I have found even just having a list of names for NPCs to be immensely valuable.

Story: I'm making story a bullet point because this seems to be what you are really asking about, and it ties into both Locations and NPCs. Instead of writing a story for your PCs to participate in, you can come up with a story based off your Locations and NPCs, and the PCs can react and participate naturally. If you happen to tie some of this in to a PCs background, so much the better for player immersion and investment! I like to create a story of what is happening in a world, independent of the PCs. These are usually the big events; politics, wars, secret societies with agendas, natural disasters, invasions, etc. Then take your PCs and drop them into all this, tying your ideas into their background ideas, see what floats to the surface, and push on that. Through all of this, have in your head a model of what would be happening if the PCs weren't there. Its very important that you not be attached to these events in a way that blocks the PCs participation in them. If they manage to stop the evil overlord of the invading Orc army through guile and strategic thinking, and thus avoid the epic battle you had planned, don't be upset by their clever success.

I hope some of this helps. I am more than happy to elaborate or clarify if I've confused the issue. Good luck!

Really loved these posts Friar. Extremely helpful for me and my campaigns. I have seen myself do both over the numerous one shots I have built. There are those that I build from the ground up and then get floored (and stuck) when my players decide to do something out of the ordinary. Other times I built the world, the overarching scenario/the trouble in the world, and NPCs and leave it up to the player on how the 'storyline' plays out, these tend to be more enjoyable and memorable. Great posts again and they are really helpful, especially for me, to remember.

Thank you all for responding to my post with really great advice and info. I am looking to start writing adventures for publication in the style I have found.

I do believe story should unfold from the players actions and forcing them down a path is the road to the dark side of GM'ing where there is only fear and hate. Having a robust stable of well thought out locations, NPCs & plot hooks is key to being well prepared for any eventuality the players might come up with. But I digress, let me see if i can explain what I'm after.

In the pathfinder published adventure "The Dragon's Demand" the adventure is layed out in shuch a way the you go from point A1 to A2 then move to whatever other room might be in the map. Only to be given information as the players enter the room, I have seen this in other published modules as well. This method works which is why we see it alot.

On the other side, a while back I picked up a translated copy of a French rpg game called Agone. I really like this system as it is as rules heavy as some of out local rpg game systems (D&D, Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu) But the adventure that came with it was not only layed out differently but the way the information was presented was as well. I tryed to write this off as a formatting design choices but the more I read over it and think about "how" they came up and wrote the story, it didn't fit together right in my head with how I understand adventure writing works.

The adventure is called "King of Spring"



While reading through this it hit me that it is not providing the story one room at a time but in the way of info dumping the whole story on the GM and letting the info be presented to the players as they come to points in which it can be given. Not in box text but through the method the GM chooses.

The adventure is separated into 3 chapters, all of the locations & NPCs are given discriptions and story info in the form of backstory, here is an example...

***
SLIMFROST LAKE
located less than one hour on horseback from Gloomwind, Slimfrost Lake is broad and very deep, its surface, heated by underground springs, only freezes at a shallow depth. It is where baroness Flamen of Melif and her child drowned seven hundred years ago.
Nowadays, only a few Dancers (the source of magic in the game) come in the dead of winter to perform graceful pirouettes and to play with the snowflakes that cover its frozen surface. However, the ghost of Flamen materializes on some winter nights when the snow and the moonbeams join together and give her a semblance of life.
Selent(the bad guy) comes here, at sunset, to prepare himself before taking the life of the baroness.
***

The whole book is like that, never really going into the style of 'location A1 the players find this or get information' the whole adventure is talking directly to the GM and only the GM, giving them everything they need for wherever the players go to. It is this style of writing adventures that has me befuddled. But in writing this down I may have just unlocked what I was looking for, but I am still interested in hearing what everyone else thinks about this type of adventure writing for published modules. Thanks again for the awesome posts and information.