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How To Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck
Many years ago, when Goodman Games was first starting out, many sage elders in the industry gave Joseph Goodman advice on what to publish. The most common advice received was: "Don’t publish adventure modules. They don’t sell."
What we have learned since then is that advice is largely true. Poorly written, uninteresting, uninspired adventure modules do not sell.
But the good adventure modules – the exciting ones – that ones that read well and play well at the table – they become treasured memories for us all. They become legends. These adventures are the shared experience that builds our community. We remember our exploits, ask each other how a different group handled that encounter, and lament the secret doors we may have missed. We tell our friends about the climactic finale; we are in turns surprised and devastated and thrilled as we navigate the encounters. And most importantly, if an adventure is fun to play – if the game master and the players both have a blast – then we tell our friends, and they play, and they tell their friends, and that adventure becomes a community builder. It is played thousands and thousands of times. It becomes a legend.
This book is about how to create tabletop RPG adventures that become those legends. This book is about how to write great adventure modules – the ones that gamers can’t stop talking about.
What we have learned since then is that advice is largely true. Poorly written, uninteresting, uninspired adventure modules do not sell.
But the good adventure modules – the exciting ones – that ones that read well and play well at the table – they become treasured memories for us all. They become legends. These adventures are the shared experience that builds our community. We remember our exploits, ask each other how a different group handled that encounter, and lament the secret doors we may have missed. We tell our friends about the climactic finale; we are in turns surprised and devastated and thrilled as we navigate the encounters. And most importantly, if an adventure is fun to play – if the game master and the players both have a blast – then we tell our friends, and they play, and they tell their friends, and that adventure becomes a community builder. It is played thousands and thousands of times. It becomes a legend.
This book is about how to create tabletop RPG adventures that become those legends. This book is about how to write great adventure modules – the ones that gamers can’t stop talking about.
160 pages, ebook
Published January 1, 2017
15 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 19, 2018
Some good advice, but the authors don't seem to follow their own advice. The adventures they included to show their special abilities in adventure design are, with one or two exceptions, bland, uninteresting, boring and stupid.
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September 10, 2021A question I find myself asking a bunch these days about some roleplaying book is "who is this for?"
This book is a collection of short essays on writing RPG adventures, where each essay is paired with some adventure/encounter that supposedly demonstrates the principle discussed in the essay. And the essays have topics like:
* give context only when it matters to the adventure
* tailor parts of the adventure to your players
* use all five senses in description
* how to deal with player character death
Now some of those topics are peculiar to roleplaying, but others are just sort of general writing advice, the sort of advice that, frankly, you can trip over anywhere these days. And even the RPG specific advice seems pretty common. Maybe I'm being curmudgeonly and heartless towards people who are just now starting to think about this topic -- maybe for them a compendium of advice would be authentically useful when they try to write adventures. I will say, though, that the adventures-as-exemplars thing doesn't entirely work -- adventures are such big, complex, full things, that any single one will have many things going on. (This could actually probably be fixed with some designers' notes explaining what they did, why, and what it would be like if they didn't take their own advice.)
(Another possible change to make: the organization of this book is... thin. It might be alphabetical by author rather than, say, broken into topics and the topics are at such different levels of organization, from "how to outline an adventure" to "how to unleash your creativity." Note: you should probably unleash your creativity before outlining and then move on to adding sensory detail to your description. Also, do we need two essays about adding sensory details?)
(Also, while it's nice to see the names of a bunch of old time TSR and D&D folks, I also might edit this to add a summary of what the essay is trying to say. Several of these essays take the long way around to getting to their point. I am not surprised to learn that this book grew out of a convention pamphlet.)
All that complaint to one side, there are some fair ideas here, but I still think you might be better off listening to Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff if you're interested in writing RPG material.
This book is a collection of short essays on writing RPG adventures, where each essay is paired with some adventure/encounter that supposedly demonstrates the principle discussed in the essay. And the essays have topics like:
* give context only when it matters to the adventure
* tailor parts of the adventure to your players
* use all five senses in description
* how to deal with player character death
Now some of those topics are peculiar to roleplaying, but others are just sort of general writing advice, the sort of advice that, frankly, you can trip over anywhere these days. And even the RPG specific advice seems pretty common. Maybe I'm being curmudgeonly and heartless towards people who are just now starting to think about this topic -- maybe for them a compendium of advice would be authentically useful when they try to write adventures. I will say, though, that the adventures-as-exemplars thing doesn't entirely work -- adventures are such big, complex, full things, that any single one will have many things going on. (This could actually probably be fixed with some designers' notes explaining what they did, why, and what it would be like if they didn't take their own advice.)
(Another possible change to make: the organization of this book is... thin. It might be alphabetical by author rather than, say, broken into topics and the topics are at such different levels of organization, from "how to outline an adventure" to "how to unleash your creativity." Note: you should probably unleash your creativity before outlining and then move on to adding sensory detail to your description. Also, do we need two essays about adding sensory details?)
(Also, while it's nice to see the names of a bunch of old time TSR and D&D folks, I also might edit this to add a summary of what the essay is trying to say. Several of these essays take the long way around to getting to their point. I am not surprised to learn that this book grew out of a convention pamphlet.)
All that complaint to one side, there are some fair ideas here, but I still think you might be better off listening to Ken and Robin Talk about Stuff if you're interested in writing RPG material.
November 16, 2023
Kind of contradictory in parts (one article advised against railroading and then the next article blatantly uses railroading) but there are still some useful tips in here. Maybe better suited to newer game masters.
February 11, 2021
Amazing tips for those who want to homebrew a dnd campaign
September 30, 2017
I've run a few campaigns in my time, but I've never put much of what I came up with down on paper. Some monster stats, maps, of course, and some brief reminders of treasure, but the rest of it stayed in my head--I just wasn't sure how to go about putting it into writing. So when I found How to Write Adventures Modules That Don't Suck on Kickstarter, I knew it was something I wanted to get my hands on. Because if getting advice from industry veterans wouldn't make the process clearer, nothing would.
Needless to say, the Kickstarter was successful, the book is now in print, and I'm relieved to say my money was well-spent. In just 156 pages, this book covers topics ranging from atmosphere, to playtesting, to level balancing, to making old monsters/encounters fresh, to proper formatting, and more. It's a tremendous resource for anyone looking to write their own adventures in a more marketable format, and I can't wait to start putting some of this advice into practice. It's largely D&D-centric, but the principles can be adjusted to nearly any game system. Highly recommended to any DM, GM, storyteller, or judge, no matter your choice of RPG.
Needless to say, the Kickstarter was successful, the book is now in print, and I'm relieved to say my money was well-spent. In just 156 pages, this book covers topics ranging from atmosphere, to playtesting, to level balancing, to making old monsters/encounters fresh, to proper formatting, and more. It's a tremendous resource for anyone looking to write their own adventures in a more marketable format, and I can't wait to start putting some of this advice into practice. It's largely D&D-centric, but the principles can be adjusted to nearly any game system. Highly recommended to any DM, GM, storyteller, or judge, no matter your choice of RPG.
August 7, 2021
How to Write... is a multi-author compilation of RPG advice from writers with many years, collectively I'd guess centuries, of experience in the TTRPG industry.
I wanted to give this fun little book 3.5 stars, but since that's not an option on Goodreads, I had to choose to round up or down. In the end, it just didn't have enough juicy bits, great suggestions, head-slapping "Why didn't I think of that?!?!" moments to warrant five stars, and the quality of the entries varied considerably, for another half-point deduction. I rounded it down because of a few other quibbling problems - some formatting errors and the like - dropped it a little more.
Nonetheless, this is a fun, recommended read for GMs and RPG writers looking for solid advice on improving their games. You'll find yourself taking notes!
I wanted to give this fun little book 3.5 stars, but since that's not an option on Goodreads, I had to choose to round up or down. In the end, it just didn't have enough juicy bits, great suggestions, head-slapping "Why didn't I think of that?!?!" moments to warrant five stars, and the quality of the entries varied considerably, for another half-point deduction. I rounded it down because of a few other quibbling problems - some formatting errors and the like - dropped it a little more.
Nonetheless, this is a fun, recommended read for GMs and RPG writers looking for solid advice on improving their games. You'll find yourself taking notes!
October 31, 2017
This book, in addition to offering a wealth of insight and wisdom, is a pleasure to read. By the end I was ready to buy up a (imaginary) second volume as soon as it appears. There are many sage voices to be heard on the topic in addition to those heard in HTWAMTDS, so let's hope!
The missing fifth star is due to the very uneven proofreading I found impossible to ignore while reading it. The errors were so numerous in some articles that I wondered if they had been proofread at all. This obviously distracts from the content a lot and went way past a threshold where I'd let a first printing slide.
The missing fifth star is due to the very uneven proofreading I found impossible to ignore while reading it. The errors were so numerous in some articles that I wondered if they had been proofread at all. This obviously distracts from the content a lot and went way past a threshold where I'd let a first printing slide.
June 1, 2023
This book is delightful. It is a collection of articles about adventure design by some of the best of the old school gamers, and is filled with great advice about how to write modules that--wait for it--don't suck. I skipped a few of the articles because I either already do what was suggested, or it just wasn't relevant, but overall I read this like college text book: highlighting, taking notes, underlining. Some great advice in here. Goodman Games is quickly becoming my favorite game company. I the words of the youths, I like their drip.
July 8, 2017
An excellent collection of essays on the topic of what makes a good RPG adventure module, and how to create good adventures. Very nostalgia-inducing for me, especially accompanied by the essays reflecting on great modules of the past and what made them great (that went out to Kickstarter backers). Worth a read for anyone who wants to design great modules!
April 10, 2018
When it comes to narrative design and writing for tabletop role-playing games, I can say that this book has been the most useful and insightful resource I've been able to have a copy of. Awesome insights written by great designers who write as if they're really making an effort to translate their ideas and help the reader!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews