Adventure Design 101: The Setting
With a plot and a villain in mind, it’s time to consider the other elements that make the adventure. Setting can be a vital element, yet in my experience it’s often given short shrift — and not just by novice gamemasters. I used to fall into the same trap. I would spend a great deal of my preparation time working out the plot, detailing the villain, NPCs, even minor encounters — but I wouldn’t pay much mind to the setting. My adventures would occur in a cave, or an abandoned mine, or a lost city, or the palace, or the ancient wizard’s dungeon. Appropriate locations, but generic.
If your plot and characters are good, you can run a memorable game this way nevertheless. My players certainly seemed to have fun, on the whole, and so did I. But once I started putting my settings to work for me, my group and I saw a difference. So will you.
Now I make it a point to build at least one memorable location into every adventure. I prefer to have at least one every session, although I’ll admit there are still times when that doesn’t happen, for one reason or another.
Categories: Adventure Design 101 | Comments (3)
