Adventure Creation Handbook now on Kindle
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Just a quick note today letting everyone know that The Adventure Creation Handbook is now available for the Kindle.
Obviously, I wasn’t able to include the worksheets and the whole book is stripped down to the text information. I did list the worksheet and checklist questions at the end of the Kindle version and anyone who purchases a Kindle copy will be able to download a free PDF copy of the “Adventure Creation Worksheet” from the rpgGM.com website.
Just in case the above link doesn’t work, here’s the actual page address:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Adventure-Creation-Handbook-ebook/dp/B007898QYI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329168270&sr=1-1
Top 11 for 2011
I can’t believe the end of the year is on us already. It’s been a good year for me and I hope for you, too.
Here’s the eleven most popular posts this year:
- Character Questionnaire: Just what the name says–it’s a character questionnaire to help GMs and players alike flesh out important characters. This has been the number one favorite page since Evil Machinations began in 2009.
- “Where are we again?” Creating Unique Fantasy Cities and Towns: List of on-line resources that can help you create cities and towns for your game world.
- February Blog Carnival: Worldbuilding: Check out the comments of this post for great links to blog articles about worldbuilding. This was the introductory post for when I hosted the RPG Bloggers blog carnival in February of this year.
- Building Better NPCs III: Character Webs: What are character webs and how can you use them to help bring your NPCs to life. Also a perennial favorite post.
- X Marks the Spot: 11 Map Making Tutorials: Another list of on-line resources, this one on making great maps for your game.
- And *Then* What Happened?: Using Adventure Seeds/Hooks/Starts/Ideas: Ever come across an adventure seed you really wanted to use, but you couldn’t figure out how to turn it into a full adventure? This post is the first in a series that can help.
- Creating the Adventure Outline: Using Adventure Seeds/Hooks/Starts/Ideas, pt. 9: Another post in the above series, this one on how to develop you idea into game outline or flowchart to make running that adventure a little easier.
- Handling Problem Players: A list of web resources with great ideas on how to handle problem players.
- Finding Events: Using Adventure Seeds/Hooks/Starts/Ideas, pt. 8: How to come up with the encounters and challenges that make up an adventure.
- Campaign Worksheet: The campaign worksheet I use when creating a new campaign.
- Beyond ‘Fred’: Russian Names for Characters: A list of Russian names for PCs and NPCs.
There they are: the top eleven posts for 2011. Thanks to all my readers–you’re the reason I’m still here and looking forward to a great 2012.
18 Adventure Archetypes
In The Adventure Creation Handbook, I talk about using adventure archetypes as a way to help you develop plot details. Below are 18 adventure archetypes, along with the plot elements each one generally needs to be successful.
Archetype |
Needs |
| Babysitting | Someone or something to watch over, someone trying to capture what’s being baby sat, a map of the “sitee’s” location |
| Escort | Thing or person to escort, place to escort them from, place to escort them to, map of route, something or someone trying to prevent them from getting there. |
| Raid | Place to raid, item(s) to obtain in raid, guards, map of location, defensive measures/traps. |
| Kidnapping | Someone to kidnap, guards, traps, and other defensive measures to prevent kidnapping, reason for kidnapping the victim, Location to bring victim to once kidnapped. |
| Exploration | Unknown area to explore, random encounter tables, perhaps reason for exploring |
| Rescue | Someone to rescue, a place to rescue them from, defensive measures to prevent rescue, reason why rescuee was taken |
| Robbery | Place to rob, item to obtain (can be specific item or general type of item, such as “valuable”), defensive measures to prevent theft. |
| Bounty Hunt | Person(s) to hunt, bounty reward, person or organization that wants huntee found |
| Breakout/Escape | Jail, defenses to prevent escape, person to break out (if not the PCs themselves), reason why prisonner(s) is/are being held, locations of other prisoners, location of target in prison. |
| Assassination | Person to assassinate, location of victim, person who wants assassination done, reason for assassination |
| Hijacking | Vehicle(s) to be hijacked, driver(s) and passengers of vehicles, person who wants the hijacking done, reason for hijacking, hijacker’s demands, location to take vehicle(s) to. |
| Bug Hunt | Critter to hunt, reward for successful hunt, location of critter, any defenses critter may have built |
| Smuggling | Item or person to smuggle, authorities looking for same, authority checkpoints and personnel to carry out inspections, vehicle to smuggle with, location to take cargo to. |
| Salvage | Wreck in hard-to-reach location, map where wreck is located, treasure to salvage, possibly rumors of treasure’s existence, possibly other group(s) also trying to salvage treasure. |
| Scam | Marks (people to scam), a plan, possibly assistants |
| Spying | Information to gain, plan to get same, people/location to get it from, people who want the information |
| Tournament | Events to compete, other competitors, location of tournament, reward(s) for winners |
Related Articles
Adventure Creation Handbook Now Available
Want to write your own adventures?
You can learn to write good adventures and The Adventure Creation Handbook will show you how. Maybe you’re searching for an original idea. Or maybe you’ve just looking for a way to take that exciting climatic battle you see in your head and put it into a form your players will enjoy. Wherever you are in the adventure creation process, this book will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating an adventure for any genre, any game system.
Overcome creativity blocks and dry spells. The Adventure Creation Handbook describes several methods of coming up with adventure ideas your players and you will enjoy.
Customize plots for your group and your game. By using your players and their wants as a starting point, this method allows you make adventures your players will want to play.
Integrate adventures into your campaign. This method integrates the adventures into your game system and campaign world from the very beginning. No trying to shoe-horn or retrofit ideas that don’t really fit.
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What’s included:
- A step-by-step method for creation adventures that covers
- Generating the original idea
- Translating that idea into a series of events by asking and answering questions
- Putting the events in a meaningful order that’s flexible enough to take player whim into account
- Developing incentives to entice your players to go on the adventure
- Getting it all down on paper (or in the computer) so you don’t forget anything important
- Suggestions for running your newly written adventure
- A worksheet to help you put your ideas in order
- A checklist so you don’t miss any steps
- Printer-friendly black & white design. No heavily colored pages to eat toner.
In addition, when you purchase The Adventure Creation Handbook, you receive these free bonuses:
- Life time updates. You’ll receive a free copy of this book every time it’s updated or revised. No need to go searching for errata or buying the next version, just to have up-to-date information.
- An example of adventure creation using this method, illustrating each step.
- A booklet of GMing tips from my blog Evil Machinations.
- 90-day unconditional money-back guarantee. No questions asked.
What’s it cost? $7 for the next 30 days. That’s a special launch price. After August 15, 2011, the price will go up to $10.
Adventure Creation Handbook Launches July 15th
This page was the announcement that went out just before the book was actually released. To purchase The Adventure Creation Handbook, please go to
Want to write your own adventures?
You can learn to write good adventures and The Adventure Creation Handbook will show you how. Maybe you’re searching for an original idea. Or maybe you’ve just looking for a way to take that exciting climatic battle you see in your head and put it into a form your players will enjoy. Wherever you are in the adventure creation process, this book will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating an adventure for any genre, any game system.
Overcome creativity blocks and dry spells. The Adventure Creation Handbook describes several methods of coming up with adventure ideas your players and you will enjoy.
Customize plots for your group and your game. By using your players and their wants as a starting point, this method allows you make adventures your players will want to play.
Integrate adventures into your campaign. This method integrates the adventures into your game system and campaign world from the very beginning. No trying to shoe-horn or retrofit ideas that don’t really fit.
What’s included:
- A step-by-step method for creation adventures that covers
- Generating the original idea
- Translating that idea into a series of events by asking and answering questions
- Putting the events in a meaningful order that’s flexible enough to take player whim into account
- Developing incentives to entice your players to go on the adventure
- Getting it all down on paper (or in the computer) so you don’t forget anything important
- Suggestions for running your newly written adventure
- A worksheet to help you put your ideas in order
- A checklist so you don’t miss any steps
- Printer-friendly black & white design. No heavily colored pages to eat toner.
In addition, when you purchase The Adventure Creation Handbook, you receive these free bonuses:
- Life time updates. You’ll receive a free copy of this book every time it’s updated or revised. No need to go searching for errata or buying the next version, just to have up-to-date information.
- An example of adventure creation using this method, illustrating each step.
- A booklet of GMing tips from my blog Evil Machinations.
- 90-day unconditional money-back guarantee. No questions asked.
What’s it cost? $7 for the first 30 days. That’s a special launch price. After August 15, 2011, the price will go up to $10.
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Want to write your own adventures?
You can learn to write good adventures and The Adventure Creation Handbook will show you how.
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