In addition to tomes and scrolls, the Archive has a complete collection of all living matter, including an infinite shelf of jars of ooze. Some are harmless, some toxic. Some are biological. One ooze, now safely contained in a pocket dimension, is formed of miniature machines that consumed several planets to fuel their reproduction in the wild.
In this series, I am writing an adventure. Last time, I outlined the big-picture plan. Now we are going to make the first section, or day.
I will not give all the details of every design aspect in each post. Instead, I will pick a different part of design to explain each time, starting with Adventure Structure today. In future posts, I will cover monster design, map making, puzzle creation, encounter design, and whatever else I think up.
Adventure Structure
This part of the adventure is intended to fill the introductory session to the module. It is also likely that it will be the first session for some players, and possible it will be someone’s first time DMing. Even if the DM has run games before, the first session of a new game always has lots going on. With that in mind, we should structure this part to be as simple to DM as possible. It should also ease players in gently. Finally, it should set expectations for what the rest of the module will look like.
A day of adventuring needs structure. The combination and nature of encounters and the way they connect together determines how the adventure feels — a maze of different rooms creates a complex-feeling, interconnected adventure, while four consecutive fights will play out like an intense action sequence. As adventure writers, this is one of the more subtle tools we can use to influence the game — if we get it right, no one will notice quite what it does, but it will make every other part fit together better.
A Day’s Work
I normally aim for five encounters in a session: two combats and three either skill or roleplay challenges. This fills the ~3.5 hour slot I use. To make the first session memorable, and motivate players to keep their schedule free for next time, I want this session to have an exciting climax, so it should end with a combat. The adventure will be linear so that the DM knows what to expect next. For the remaining encounters, I will use two skill challenges and one roleplay — I favor fewer purely roleplay encounters as my skill challenges allow creative solutions, but my roleplay encounters cannot so easily morph into skill challenges.
The first four encounters will be ordered to introduce new players to the game. Combat is the best place to start this — it is exciting, and initiative order ensures everyone is involved. The combat should be simple enough that the DM can relax and trust the rules.
I will then move to a skill challenge that can be resolved with some ability checks. This introduces the other way of resolving actions, but also leaves space for creativity. The DM may need to be more adaptable here in order to improvise solutions.
The third encounter will be purely roleplay. This means it can only be solved without a skill check. This introduces players to the idea that their character is more than just a set of mechanics. This opportunity will also give space to deliver some background lore about the dungeon.
Encounter four will be a skill challenge that leads into the final combat. By now players should be familiar with the idea of facing and overcoming an encounter. This will remind them that they are in a dungeon, and will not always have time between encounters to rest.
The Map
At this point, we have a map. I will draw one out in detail later, but for now imagine the five encounters as different rooms, connected in a row by lines. Spending effort drawing a more detailed map at this stage would be ill-conceived, as the necessary features of each room will change as we pick out monsters and challenges.
Oozing with Anticipation
The first monster the players face will be some kind of ooze. Oozes make for good introductory monsters for several reasons: they clearly cannot be reasoned with, so players will understand that they must fight; they have a very low AC, so players will almost always hit; splitting and destroying sub-oozes gives a clear indicator of progress; and they are fairly simple for the DM to run.
They are also very funny — watching a player react to the ooze multiplying when they hit it will often get a laugh from the rest of the table, if not the alarmed player themselves. We are here to have fun, so that exactly what we want.
As this is the first room of the dungeon, I would like to add an explanation for why no one has gone this way yet. A partially-collapsed corridor will work. It also adds a new element to the fight — the battle may begin before everyone makes it through! The PCs must make an Acrobatics check to squeeze through the tunnel. If they fail, the ooze attacks when they reach the other side, and any remaining PCs must use their movement to get through the tunnel, so have fewer options in the first round of combat.
The room itself must be big enough for the encounter to happen. However, against an ooze there are limited strategic elements, so pillars for cover or other interactive features are not important here. I will give a detailed mapping post once I have a few sessions’ worth of rooms to add.
I will also put some treasure here so the players get an early triumph. For now, I will use an abstract value of 4 treasure. As with detailed descriptions and monster states, we can flesh them out later.
Putting the Fun in Fungus
In a plant-based dungeon, no-one should be surprised to face poisonous mushrooms. If they are, this encounter will correct that. The next room is filled with brightly colored mushrooms that release visible spores if disturbed. These spores will deal some damage and inflict the Poisoned condition. I like attaching conditions to this kind of challenge, as they carry more consequences than mere damage, which is easily recovered.
The essential part of this room is not too difficult. The players can try to avoid the mushrooms by climbing or jumping round the outside of the room using Acrobatics or Athletics — the mushrooms grow less heavily there.
For those who want an extra challenge, there is a magic staff in the center of the mushroom patch. To get the treasure, the players must find a way to retrieve it safely. There are enough options (cast Fly or Levitate; set up a tightrope; wade through and take the damage) that every party should be able to come up with something. To ensure this is not too easy, the staff must be more than 30ft from where they can safely stand, preventing the use of Mage Hand.
Adding an optional part (…as if any party will consider treasure “optional”) encourages players to think in terms of risks and rewards. They do not need to get the staff, so could choose to be more cautious. A forward-thinking party might decide to complete the rest of the day, then come back for it on the way out — that is fine! The only goal here is to make the players think and make a choice.
Odd Art
The roleplay encounter will start with a slightly cryptic lore dump that informs the players how to open a door.
The Lore
I will deliver the lore through a collection of artwork. Each display will show a different period of Utumral’s history. First, the people wander in the wilderness, lost. Then, they find a mighty tree, and begin to worship it — this is their god. The third image will show them forming a settlement around the tree. At this point, we do not need to decide if this is a literal or metaphorical representation of their deity binding the nation together, as it is just art. In the fourth image, we can introduce the other element-themed nations as warring enemies wielding elemental powers. The final picture will show the nations as allies rather than enemies, and will give clues for the roleplay challenge.
The Challenge
The corridor ends in a secret door hidden behind an elaborate display cabinet. The mechanisms is be uncharacteristically mechanical, rather than plant-based, as it was a gift from the forges of the fire nation. A three-dimensional relief depicts the nations living in harmony, with the tree in the center, a lake beneath it, and the air nation to one side. A model boat with sails hangs from the tree.
The players must pour water in through a hole in the display to fill the lake, allowing the boat to float. They can then light a fire in a fireplace beneath it, causing convection to turn a mechanism powering a miniature fan. This will create a breeze, causing the boat to sail across the lake and pull on the threat from which it hangs. In turn, this will unlock the mechanism and open the door.
The mechanism is absurdly complicated, which informs my picture of the fire nation: extremely intelligent engineers who despise simple solutions. The water nation were river traders who facilitated trade. The air nation had somehow gained control of the weather. By making all of this visible in the artwork, and by giving a clear description of the hole leading to the lake and the fireplace beneath, the solution to the puzzle should be obvious — this is important for any roleplay encounter, but especially one aimed at new players.
Tangled Roots
The next skill challenge is intended to weaken the party ahead of the final fight. The goal is never to make them lose, so the consequences should do more to scare them than actually threaten them. Whatever damage output this has should be small and avoidable, and not inflict additional conditions.
A passage of tangled, aggressive roots that want to strangle the party fits our need. The PCs can force their way through with Athletics, or squeeze through with Acrobatics. Earlier, there was another challenge where either skill could be used. To avoid creating the sense that they are always interchangeable, I will attach different consequences to each. Failing an Athletics check will inflict more damage, but the PC will pass through. Acrobatics, on the other hand, will inflict less damage, but they must try again to pass through.
I will also add 2 treasure worth of healing supplies if the party recognise the roots as a natural remedy. An obstacle that is also a plant that is also treasure reminds players that there are many ways to interact with the world, and nothing is ever just an obstacle. Not every encounter can be repurposed as loot, but throwing this in from time to time ensures players know the world has more depth than video game object interactions.
Ritual Chamber
And now, at last, the final fight.
This requires a suitably ominous room. Following the plant theme, this will be a circular chamber with seven petrified oak trees around the outside. The players will enter through a doorway that opens through one of them. The six remaining trees will each have a nook, four of which hold skulls. Channels in the floor run from each tree to a central stone alter on which rest a ceremonial dagger, an axe, a silver bowl, and a horn.
Once the players enter, a guardian will emerge from each tree with a skull, and attack. If the guardians knock a PC unconscious, they will drag them to the alter, stab them with the knife, behead them with the axe, collect the blood in the bowl and pour it into a floor groove, the place the head in the corresponding tree before blowing the horn, awakening a new guardian.
This sounds much more threatening than it is — if the battle starts to go poorly, the guardians will turn their attention to their ominous task, and ignore the other PCs, who should be able to kill them before they complete it.
The ominous features and empty tree alcoves should imply what the guardians will try to do. Even if they avoid it, the PCs should remember the threat. As for making the fight memorable, that will require fleshing out some monsters — a task for another day.
If they survive, each item from the alter can be claimed for 1 treasure.
Next Time
Notice how the Ritual Chamber had six trees, plus the one with the doorway the adventures entered through? Before the next session, the friendly scholars will uncover another door behind one of them. And then another. And another. From this nexus point, there are six more days of adventuring ahead of us!