This weekend, a couple of friends traveled halfway across the country for a visit. These friends are the ones who invited my wife and I to play Pathfinders, our first IRL RPG adventure! We play remotely, including our son and daughter, who join us by taking a break from their college lives. One of the friends is my old college roommate, who has been playing RPGs for decades! His wife started GMing our game, and did a fantastic job for her first GMing experience leading the campaign. He took over once the story advanced sufficiently enough where the GM role needed someone with greater GMing ability.

During their visit, we introduced them to Dice Throne, and they quickly became fans of the game. We started with Dice Throne Season One pack of characters, and later played characters from the first pack of Marvel characters (Thor, Loki, Mile Morales, and Scarlet Witch). As we played, we discussed making up other Dice Throne Characters, and how such characters could be used in an RPG session. Put a pin in this for a moment.

Another moment, during a bit of downtime over the weekend, my friend was writing on his laptop. As a curious writer, I asked what he was working on, and he told me he had an idea for an adventure module. This is not his first module to create. He had briefly told me about writing other adventures played with his kids or one of their other RPG groups.

This got me thinking about how modules are created. My RPG experience is very limited. Most of the RPGs I have played have been on the computer or a video game system. I grew up fascinated by D&D, but had never successfully put a campaign together, and joining an existing one was nearly impossible. So, my experience with RPG modules is mostly from this current and recent group playing Pathfinder. What the heck do I know about writing RPG adventures?

I find the challenge of attempting to write one intriguing. For one, it satisfies by dual passions of fiction writing and game design. Also, it is a new form of writing I might like to experience along with a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style of story. If I were to accept this challenge, where would I start? I started with a Google search, which was not too helpful. Each article I researched had basically the same seven or so steps, and did not provide much detail on the elements for designing a module. Setting that all aside, how would I create it based on my experience as a fiction writer, and my experience from our on-going campaign?

When I start writing a new story, I start with an idea. The idea becomes an outline. From the outline, I flesh out more of the details, and begin writing the story. After rounds of edits, the story is ready to share with others. How can a similar approach be translated to  crafting RPG Modules?

To write a module, I would start the same way: with an idea and an outline. The outline needs to highlight key points of the story. I need to provide stepping stones in this story world, leading the players to each of these key points.

Going off on a slight tangent, many years ago, I tried my hand at creating Interactive Fiction (i.e., text adventures) using Inform. This attempt was “Motel California” where you could check out anytime you like, but had trouble leaving due to the player’s missing their car keys, wallet, and luggage. The player explored the motel, and interacted with various crazy visitors who were not entirely helpful. I imagine writing an RPG module similar to creating this text-adventure. Everything (characters, rooms, items, scenarios) needed layers of details which could be revealed when the player completes certain tasks. That seems similar to our Pathfinder game. The players enter a new area, perform a perception check, gain information, and proceeds to interact with the details revealed by the GM.

In a story, the author creates the main character. The story is under the author’s control, because there is control over what the character does. How does the author account for characters beyond their control? How do you write in guardrails to make sure the players stay on task, and don’t do anything too crazy?

During one part of our Pathfinder adventure, one of the player-characters got too aggressive and killed one of the NPCs we confronted before we could get answers out of the guy. Some scenarios, like this one, could be anticipated. The NPC is aggressive and the party defends themselves. When the party defends themselves too well, how can the module provide other ways of conveying the necessary information to advance the story to the next stepping stone? Maybe the NPC left behind a journal or letter providing enough details. If the party torches the place, too, the module may need to prompt the GM to creatively convey certain plot points to the party in order for the story to advance towards plot point. Maybe the village sheriff shares details of the on-going investigation, providing enough clues to progress the story.

With my limited experience of how modules are constructed, I wonder how much of these sorts of details should be included? I think some of this can be handled with enough world building and with game mechanics.

Over the course of our Pathfinder game, the GMs have provided a bit of the behind-the-scenes details of where the party should be before advancing to the next chapter of the story. In some cases, when we did not advance sufficiently enough, the GM would basically send us on a side quest to catch us up, and then loop back to the main storyline. This reminds me of games like Legend of Zelda or Metroid where the player must require a certain item or skill in order to gain access to a specific area. In that side quest, we not only gained enough experience and money to meet the chapter criteria, the GM provided us an opportunity to help solve one of our trickier obstacles needing to be addressed before progressing the story.

Part of me worries about creating a module, but not accounting for a completely rogue party. Is it necessary to account for that? What happens when the players refuse to go down the correct path and wander off elsewhere? What happens if the party declares, “I’ve had it up to here with these Mother Hubbard Snakes on the Mother Hubbard Plains! I’m going to the Big City to make my fortune instead!” The author could make suggestions on what plot points to hit, but if the party refuses to follow the story, I think it is up to the GM to slap them around with a dragon to say, “Are we doing this campaign, or not?” The GM should have enough information to be able to convey important plot points to the party to guide them back on track.

This is one of the challenges I encountered creating Motel California. How much details needed to be provided? I made sure certain hints were available in key locations, like a menu in the motel rooms talking about the restaurant’s specials. For players attempting to order food not on the menu, there was a generic “We are out of X” message. The other thing, and this is like the key point guardrails mentioned above, is that certain scenarios were not revealed until specific criteria were met. That’s the way most of the puzzles worked in that crazy motel. You couldn’t get your car keys from the bottom of the swimming pool because of the hippos in the pool. Since the game did not include combat, the player needed to find marbles to feed the hippos, which Bag of Marbles was an item on a menu in one of the rooms.

The author of a module might not be able to control the party, but it should provide plenty of relevant details to the GM. Even though the GM is not really in control, they are more of an omniscient narrator of the unfolding story. Even when the players do not do enough to get enough details, the module should highlight key details and encourage the GM to do what they can to keep the story headed in the right direction. So, in a way, the GM is like the story’s tour director. If the tourists ignore the scenery and do not pay attention to the guided tour, then they are not going to appreciate the journey as much as they could.

Our local library has a peer writing group to provide feedback for stories. I wonder how to go about play-testing a module. We have been on our Pathfinder adventure for at least a couple years. When I play tested Snipe Hunt, each game lasted anywhere from 30-60 minutes. I would think a beta reader could make sure the setting and props are sufficient enough in the module. In a way, it might need a read through focusing on the key plot points and if they are detailed enough to advance the scenarios in a logical way. As for play testing, it might involve more of what game-mechanics might be required, and if enough skills have been obtained by the group by various points. Earlier points might hint at what skills should be sought prior to an upcoming adventure. For example, assuming the party has advanced to this level of characters, how difficult or easy is the combat scenario? Or, given a more diplomatic scenario, would the characters be able to pick up on these key elements of the conversation? Knowing of certain chunks of the module, and how they might need different hand holding, the compartmentalization of the module might require a coordination effort to test in parallel by multiple beta testers.

I have known various RPG groups, but have never witnessed the end of a long campaign. With my limited knowledge of modules, how are the module’s ending(s) constructed?From what I know of a few groups of modules, they take place in the same fictional world. I doubt anything drastic happens to the fictional worlds at the end. But, I would assume there is the equivalent of a final Big Boss fight and a positive and negative scenario depending on the outcome. Or, is there only a positive outcome provided? If the party is unsuccessful, I would assume all the characters are dead and do not reach that happy ending. If all the characters run away, then they would need to repeat the Big Boss Fight. Is there a choose-your-own-adventure split to multiple outcomes?

One of the other suggestions I saw regarding RPG module creation, people encourage providing maps and pictures. If I were to write a module, I could see myself providing general maps, but I do not know if I would provide artwork. I think the author in me would provide enough details in the descriptions. Or, in some situations, refer to other, established material which does include pictures.

Before I conclude another long-winded blog, if you are interested in constructing RPGs I recommend watching videos from the Dungeon Masterpiece Theater YouTube channel, and another interesting video about the creation of Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild, explaining Nintendo’s Triangle Theory. If you have any other recommendations on creating RPGs or their modules, please share in the comments below. Also, feel free to point, laugh, and mercilessly correct me on any of my wild assumptions above.

Game on, everyone!