So using my 1-Level Adventure template I came up with an entire campaign in 22 game sessions. The outline is deliberately vague, wouldn’t want to let any secrets loose that players might see. And there’s three blank spots that I might fill, or I may have those authored by players. I have ideas both ways. Either way they transition the game from one phase into the next. Here’s what I’m thinking.

START – Character creation and introductory ‘bonding’ battle
1 – Hunt for the map
2 – Quest for the vault
3 – To find the vault key
4 – Into the vault
5 – Delivery of the vault prize
6 – Character #1 background story adventure
7 –
8 –
9 – Character #2 background story adventure
10 –
11 – Rebellion: the people rise
12 – Character #3 background story adventure
13 – To save a sovereign
14 – Rebellion becomes war
15 – Character #4 background adventure
16 – Lake of blood
17 – Clouds of blood
18 – Character #5 background adventure
19 – Vale of blood
20 – Battle of the sun
END – The final conflict and campaign wrap-up

I’d run this in my Baenrahl setting if I could run it. But that leads to a whole other set of problems. Principle amongst these is that I live in Grand Rapids, on the west side of Michigan, and everyone I know that games lives on the east side of Michigan. Effectively a 3-hour drive away.

So I’d need five players, but who? I have thoughts on this as well. I could use my usual group; Denis, Doug, Joel, Kevin, and Tasha. That would bring with it ease, familiarity, and all the usual shenanigans that plague our game sessions and old campaigns. I could run it for our kids; Tasha, Kirra, Eric, Tyler, and Zachary. That would be new and cool, but comes with a whole new set of organizational problems. Or I could try and find new players here in the Grand Rapids area, an intimidating idea.

Finding a new group would be a mildly intimidating affair, full of strangers with playing styles I’m not familiar with or possibly comfortable about. It would more than likely involve a weeding out process that could take quite a while to find a group that I enjoyed. On the other hand, I’d meet some people out here and potentially create some new friends and provide a social outlet for the lady and I.

Gaming with the kids means finding a place to game. I’m not fool enough to think they’d come out here once a month. And scheduling around school, jobs, and social lives with a group that spans 16-20 years old just sounds intimidating. I wouldn’t even consider going to the boys house, despite the nice size basement, the whole ex- thing is too weird and to potentially volatile. Kirra and Eric have an apartment, but I don’t know if they have a table. Lots of problems with that idea, but it would be cool if I could pull it off. Maybe I could work something over the internet, which I really don’t want to do if I’m doing this.

My old group. Could I get them to come here once a month? Probably not. I don’t want to play at Kevin’s, there just isn’t the room. And as I mentioned I want to do this at a table, like in the olden days. Denis has less room than Kevin. Joel is another hour out past everyone else, but I guess that’d be a possibility. Doug has a big basement and I seem to recall him clearing room for gaming down there, is that still the case? I don’t know. Would he host once a month? If I travelled the game would have to move to Saturday’s, would that work for everyone? If I go out to that side of the state what do I do with my dog? So many questions and no answers.

Ah well, it’s something to think about. It may never happen.

Later.

A teacher asks her class, ‘If there are 5 birds sitting on a fence and you shoot one of them, how many will be left?’

She calls on little Ralphy.

He replies, ‘None, they will all fly away with the first gunshot.’

The teacher replies, ‘The correct answer is 4, but I like your thinking.’

Then little Ralphy says, ‘I have a question for YOU. There are 3 women sitting on a bench having ice cream:

One is delicately licking the sides of the triple scoop of ice cream. The second is gobbling down the top and sucking the cone. The third is biting off the top of the ice cream. Which one is married?’

The teacher, blushing a great deal, replied, ‘Well, I suppose the one that’s gobbled down the top and sucked the cone.’

To which Little Ralphy replied, ‘The correct answer is ‘the one with the wedding ring on,’ but I like your thinking.’

I was talking to Tasha about gaming. She was making noises about wanting to write an adventure, but not knowing the rules and not wanting to learn those rules. Basically, she wants to write a story and have me run it. Pretty much what we all want, someone else to run the games we want to play in. I think she should do it. Give it a try. But then I think everyone in my old group should give the Game Master’s seat a try. Sit for a session in the high seat of power. Toy with the fates of others for a short while. Doug and Joel and I have all taken turns at it, though Joel perhaps not as often as he talks about it. Running games is not easy. I’d like to see what sort of things Kevin would come up with to entertain us. Or what Denis would do given the power to set the path of the tale. And I’m sure that whatever my love, Tasha, would come up with would be heavily story oriented.

All of this got me thinking of a way to simplify the preparation, ease the job of he-who-runs, make the job more pleasurable and less taxing. Here’s one idea I came up with. I’m calling it, The 1-Level Adventure Template. It’s based on a couple of premises.

1. ) A character should “level up” after having 13.333 encounters with a challenge rating equivalent to their current level. I read this in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, I think it was. (This works for Dungeons & Dragons 3e, but I’m not sure if it remains true in 4e.)
2.) Players should always have options, being forced into something isn’t fun for them.
3.) Success should make things easier.

Here’s the basic skeleton of the template:

The 1-Level Adventure Template

The players come upon an obstacle to their progress, be it a monster, a trap, or a puzzle. At this point they have two choices; retreat or confront the obstacle. If the players retreat, well, I guess they find something else to do, maybe become farmers or shop keepers. If the players confront the obstacle, then one of two things happen; either they are successful or they fail. In either case, they move forward.

Successfully passing each obstacle shortens the path to the final challenge. Failing leads to a longer, more difficult path to the final challenge, but still leads there. At the completion of this adventure the player will have enough Experience Points to increase their character 1 level.

START and FINISH points are descriptive locations rather than Challenge Rating locations. Green arrows are successes. Red arrows are failures.

A challenge should occupy each of the lettered squares. As I mentioned above, this need not be a monster. Traps, Puzzles, anything that has a CR will do. It need only be something the players must strive against. Within the template should reside the following challenges.

1 x CL+2 – A single challenge that is 2CR greater than the players level. This will be your “boss battle,” I suggest placing it in box F.

2 x CL+1 – Two challenges that are 1CR greater than the players level. We’ll call these “lieutenants”. I suggest placing one of these in box C and the other in box J. This gives the players the opportunity to evade the second lieutenant by being successful. I feel they should always have to face one lieutenant and the boss, but give them a chance to evade the other lieutenant with a bit of success.

7 x CL – Seven challenges that are level appropriate to the players.

CL is character level. In total there are 10 encounters with a total Challenge Rating of 14, i.e. one level. A successful party can circumvent 4 challenges, sure it reduces the total encounters and grants them a level anyway, but it also lessons any treasure, magic, or other rewards they might have amassed. I think it’s a fair trade.

Fill the arrows around the boxes with description and story. Create a reason for each arrow to lead where it does. This template can be a dungeon crawl, a hike across the country side, or any other string of encounters you can imagine. Give it a try and let me know if it really works.

Later.