10 Commandments of Adventure Design

My heart is full and warm with the welcome I received to the TTRPG blogosphere. An innumerable amount of people reached out to wish me luck and offered great advice as I start this journey.

Most importantly, so many votes were cast to pick the adventure I would be working on this upcoming year.

The past couple of weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions.

I kept going back and forth between the Slot Canyon and Underwater Adventure, and once I wrote it all out and posted the blog and poll, I immediately knew which of the two would be the taller task.

I yearned for the Slot Canyon Adventure to win the poll.

I knew exactly what other RPG books to pilfer for inspiration. 

 I knew what random encounter tables I would build. 

 I even had ideas for factions that would spice up your adventures into the dangerous crags. 

I had inspiration for places of respite that had me titillating to start fleshing it out.

But, I also knew that it was not the most challenging, ambitious, or innovative idea of the two presented.

We TTRPG consumers (addicts) don't crave another dungeoncrawl. We want each new purchase to justify its space on our bookshelves. We want something that adds to our understanding of what is possible at our gaming table (virtual or physical).

The closest I can get to that is my Underwater Pointcrawl Adventure. So, it won with 60% of the vote (more if you exclude my vote).

During these two weeks, I have fallen in love with my fate. I have spoken to creators, poured over 81 YouTube videos on pointcrawls, adventure design, and what makes a useful resource at the table.

This blog post began as procrastination from actually producing the first entry to share with you, and now I have spent the last week procrastinating its completion because my mind is enthralled by the opportunity I am affording myself with this project. 

To write and share with you.

So, what is next?

I have never designed an RPG adventure or supplement.

I have read and used some amazing books which were designed with care and attention to detail.

I have consumed so much content by smarter people than me in the RPG space:

• Questing Beast
• Geas Publications
• Dungeon Craft
• Chris McDowell
• JP Coovert
• Sly Flourish
• Map Crow
• Zipperon Disney

They do a great job of praising products and identifying things the product does well, while also pointing out the flaws and missed opportunities by the designers.

I have spent all of January watching endless videos, listening to podcasts, and reading reviews that explore the design principles of my favorite OSR books. I have compiled all that knowledge and distilled it into these 10 Commandments of Adventure Design which I am using as my compass this year. They will tell me if I stray too far from true North.

10 Commandments of Adventure Design

1. Write less. Spark the imagination and then take a step back.
2. Design for the Game Table, not the Coffee Table.
3. Each session should surprise both the GM and players.
4. Create tools that will be used beyond this adventure.
5. Traps and Challenges should be obvious.
6. Items and Magic should prompt creative problem-solving.
7. There's always another secret. Those secrets should have a purpose.
8. Tick Tock Goes the Clock. The world and it's inhabitants wait for no one.
9. Don't create plot. Create environments. Present situations and problems.
10. Marked by the Odd.

Yes, in my quest to understand how I was going to make this adventure the question of system-agnostic vs. baked-in system came up. The original intent was to stat everything for B/X retro-clones (OSE, LotFP, LL, etc...) but then Sam Doebler from Dreaming Dragonslayer reached out and suggested I read his blog on The Deep Blue Beneath (Electric Bastionland).

I was awestruck. All of a sudden an underwater voyage in The Odd World made sense. I backed the Into the Odd Remaster (which you can still order!) and had my PDF just sitting there. I poured over it and knew the Polar Ocean needed to be explored.

So here is an updated pitch on the Underwater Pointcrawl.

Underwater Pointcrawl (inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Sealab 2020, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Origin of the Species, Ultraviolet Grasslands)

• The ocean attracts adventurers and scholars alike, start here as you join a secret society charged with the understanding of the unknown animal kingdom and the trove of Arcana lost at sea.
• Use sea-dwelling animal migration patterns to discover new adventure hubs for scientific anomalies, beware of the people studying at those locations as they can be a friend or foe.
• Deep-sea exploration of trenches and the ocean floor.
• The weirdest animals in the world never see the light, how can you study them and survive?
• Discover underwater civilizations that want to remain unknown to the world above.

Into the Odd evokes a post-apocalyptic, industrial revolution, age of discovery, magic-filled world where secret societies would send out adventurers to solve the mysteries of the oceans and hope to find amazing new nautical Arcana. Submarines & magical algae both have a place here.

I am really excited to start working on outlining the adventure and developing the Custom Starter Packages! That should be ready to go in mid to late February. Once I have the outline I will have a better idea of how I can pace my posts!

Once again, thank you for the warm welcome and for joining me on this journey.