2 Rules for Scenario Design

I’m using the term ‘scenario’ because I think this applies many adventure styles - politics, investigations, exploration, and dungeon crawls. I’d been thinking on using a set of paradigms to guide my scenario preparation for a while, a few months back I wrote some and they have significantly increased the quality of my game prep. So I’ve written up my 2 general rules for scenario design, which form my broad strokes prep framework.

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I’m a novice adventure designer and I enjoyed reading about these principles. Thanks for writing it up in a blog post! I feel like the W’s are a classic for a reason. I appreciate that each point was provided with follow up “why” and that I like the inclusion of “when” in the list. I also like the suggestion that different Ws will become more or less important depending on the type of adventure.

The ABCDs are something I will probably spend a lot more time mulling over and figuring out whether I will adopt them for my own personal use. And before i go further into quibbling territory, I should say that I agree that they make a good check list. I guess I’m interested in hearing how much other readers prioritize these concepts when designing.

For example, I feel like Believability is quite low on my active priority list when I am designing. For me this is sort a sliding scale that will depend on both the game setting and my audience that i have to trust my gut for. I give it a little less thought than “will this adventure offend anyone”. I think both of the above are important, but I think if I prioritize during design phase I may not produce a very interesting result. Its possible that this letter of the alphabet is much more important when designing for specific types of adventures: say running investigations.

The other letter that I would like to discuss is Density. I agree that I prefer a more dense scenario compared with one where not a lot of is happening. But maybe dungeon and hex crawl density is debated so frequently online and because it entirely depends on how a particular game system interacts with adventure design. I know certain groups may roll on an “overload encounter die” or similar mechanic after every significant player action and I suspect these groups are much less likely to be critical of empty rooms over groups who use those mechanics more sparingly.

While the original post advances the idea that 15 tight rooms are better than 30 mediocre ones, I’ve also heard arguments for leaving about a 1/3rd of rooms empty. So I’d probably keep those same 15 “good” rooms and spread them over a 23 room dungeon to let it breath.

I enjoyed reading this blog post! Its given me a lot to consider.

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HAY, those 2 rules are secretly 9 rules! WINKY FACE.

I like this framework, would be useful when creating a “bible”; which is something I do… but poorly.

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Believability is one that I definitely feel is a personal thing for me. It’s also as you are alluding to very context dependent! You mention investigations… I run a lot of investigations haha. So that’s probably why this is high on my list.

Density is an interesting one, I had a similar comment come up on reddit. I think an empty room can be a good room, and that’s kind of the point here. If an empty room is a good room, it doesn’t count against density!

I like your points :slight_smile:

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Shhhhhhh don’t tell anyone. I hope you find it useful!

Here is how I interpret your five W:s. Is this correct, in when it comes to in what order you prep?

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This is pretty much dead on for me! You can approach it other ways but this is my ‘flow’ so to speak :slight_smile:

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Great article. Density is such a powerful concept and your simple advice on squeezing is excellent. Thanks for sharing!

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I’m just happy folks are finding it useful! The response to this article has been pretty good so I might write more of this sort of thing!

Hey Rickard, would you mind if I shared this graphic? With accreditation and all that, plus a link to your socials/blog?

Sure, use it however you want. No need to credit me. :slight_smile: