User:Spazalicious Chaos/Building an Adventure- the Tactical Process

Inspired by Rich Burlew's | Villain Workshop I came to the conclusion that I can write a similar article on adventures. More specifically, this process creates engaging, challenging and completely believable adventures that avoid useless "random dungeon" and "trap in empty room" bullshit that has sadly become mainstay in many gaming industries.

Also in spirit of the parent article, I will be using this process to create an adventure featuring the invasion of Castle Bleak, ruled by Lord Sycronix, an ancient black dragon.

Step 1- Determine Resources
Before doing anything on any adventure, figure out who is in charge and what they have available to use. This will determine greatly how everything that is done in later steps is accomplished. An orc slaver caravan is going to have very different tactics, routes, and opperation than the Emperors Royale Guard escourt service by virtue of resources alone, thus they have to be defined on the following terms-
 * Material: Gold, provisions, and trade goods/raw materials have a huge effect on what can be done on any task. Building a house with a nearby forest and millions of gold is going to be easier compared to building the same house with yourself, your pet wolf, and some glue with toothpicks.
 * Tools and Weapons: Again, what you have will determine how you do things. I say tools AND weapons because a lot of people need to distinguish between the two, despite both are used and differentiated from the former category in that you need them to use and/or get the former. A whole forest in will not help in your house building project if you don't have a saw.
 * Personnel: Who you have is just as important as what you have. Personnel should be rated not just in numbers, but skills and standing within the team as well. And do not ignore interpersonal details- if a group of minions hate their boss, they will nmot follow orders as effectively as a less skilled group that loves their boss.
 * Intangibles: This is where you throw in weird stuff that really helps. This category includes political weight, special powers, unique knowledges/information, and so on.

''Castle Bleak is ruled by Lord Sycronix, who is an ancient black dragon that knows every puddle and shrub in the surrounding swamp, as well as the entire history of the nearby town. Under his employ is a clan of trolls that he has enslaved for eight generations, making him their god in their eyes, as well as a well paid spy network in the nearby town. He has the collective treasure not only of his own exploits, but also the treasure of every troll and hero that has fallen before him. The castle itself is little more than a ruin with a largely intact dungeon below it.''

Step 2- The Goal
Having resources is nothing unless you have a goal. The goal is what the main villain (or oragnaization, or dungeon designer, etc.) wants to accomplish. This could be anything, and it may not even be achievable, but regardless it will probably end up in the following categories-
 * Assault: You want to attack and kill something.
 * Search: You want to find something or gain something.
 * Seige: You want to defend something, either hiding it or making it to hazzardous to approach.
 * Retreat: You want to relocate or travel with minimum complications.
 * Aid: You want to lend support in someone elses project, perferably with maximum returns and minimum losses.

Each of these goals needs to be narrowed down and specified, but each will entail how you approach the following steps. Also, you need to decide at this stage whether the goal is covert or overt. Covert goals are secretive and hidden, and need to have plans that facillitate remaining hidden before, during and after the goal is accomplished. Overt goals are much more direct with no attention paid to whether others notice or not.

Castle Bleak and it's master want to remain hidden from the rest of the world and to stay well defended, thus placing Lord Sycronix in a covert siege situation.

Step 3- Use of Resources
Now that you have a goal, start using your existing resources to accomplish it. You will need a plan of action, one that maximises the effectiveness of your resources while down playing chances for interference. Leave nothing to chance! If you need to kill a nobles son, you will need to do so you are at your strongest, when he is at his weakest, and no one can help him. When you find something that has an "if" in it, turn that if into a kind of "when", which will lead into the next step.

''Lord Sycronix has arranged his trolls along the surface and upper levels of Castle Bleak, with instructions to kill intruders if discovered. His spy net work he can contact magically, and does so at midnight every night to recieve updates on the towns interworkings and also to recieve warning of those who would seek to explore his castle.''

Step 4- Midigating Complications
This is where you kill all "chance happenings" that could interfere with your plans. Quite often this will either be overcoming lack of resources or information or shoring up or eliminating risk and weak points. This is where a lot of preparation comes in- choosing an ambush site and sending the fake notice to lure the victim there, sealing off tunnels and openings that lead into uncharted caverns, posing as tax collectors to earn more coin, bribing all of a princes guards, etc. They say that preparation is 90% of the work, and it is true- if you don't prepare, you will get all kinds of surprises along the way. Make sure that nothing will go wrong.

''Lord Sycronix has spent much time in human form eliminating his castle off the map in history books for the past 100 years. The Castle itself and all of it's treasure is cloaked in concealing magic to prevent it from being tracked or scryed. He also has dominated many of the local wildlife into warning him of intruders not coming from the village, and encouraging said wildlife to eat said intruders. Finally, half of his spies are trained assassins and skilled negoatiators, and will try to decieve overly curious travelers into believing the swamp is empty. Failure of usch deception will result in an assassination attempt.''

Step 5- The Grand Plan
This is the "if nothing goes wrong" scenario, where your plan works flawlessly from start to finish. Take a moment to describe it from start to finish. This also allows you to see hole you might have missed before, such as, "Hey, wait a second... How is the Prince supposed to know to be behind the inn at midnight to get stabbed?!?"

''If Castle Bleak goes according to plan, know one will ever go to it. The curious few will leave town or be killed by mere mortals, eaten by crocodiles, or killed by trolls, with either no one alive to tell the tale or returning with a tale so boring no one else will come looking.''

Step 6- Abort Mission?
You must have a way to stop everything if something goes wrong with the plan, or a plan B, or a Plan GTFO. This requires yet another run of this process, but assuming new complications and no prep time. The goal could remain there or turn into a new goal. Either way, only the foolish dare to fail to take into consideration failure.

''Should Castle Bleak be discovered an compromised, Lord Sycronix has a muck tunnels that he can swim through, which exits at a point 20 miles from his castle. However, openingup this tunnel will cause the dungeon to collapse, the Castle with it, hopefully killing the intruders and leaving his treasure intact for him to dig up.

Enter the Players
Now that you have a fool proof plan and backup plans, your players can now be the fools to proove it is not fool proof. Adventures are supposed to be great epics against incredible odds, and no one, villain or hero, will ever make a plan designed to fail. Thus, by making a scenario that is as impossible to mess with as possible, you have created an challenging adventure that will be talked about for as long as your memories will last.