@dreadpiratedan asked me for tips about writing one-shot adventures in the spirit of Pathfinder Society scenarios. There’s a lot that goes into that, so I’m writing up a series of recommendations tonight and over the course of the next week.
I’m also happy to answer other questions and make this more of an ongoing thing, so speak up if you’d like to hear more.
Scope and Length: One of the biggest considerations is how big your adventure is. An organized play scenario is usually a stand-alone story that needs to be done in a modest amount of time. That includes setup, the briefing, the adventure, and the conclusion. Budget your time.
For a Pathfinder Society (aka PFS) scenario, that means roughly a 4–5-hour experience, and that’s a good fit for most groups. If you’re creating a one-shot adventure for a home group with more endurance, maybe go as long as 8–10 hours.
A PFS scenario usually involves about 3–5 significant encounters, sometimes with one of them being optional and easily cut for time. The encounter range is there because roleplaying scenes take time and energy. Account for that.
Also, roleplaying scenes are just wonderful. You can add all the combat you want, but give that one particular player (*cough* me) a chance to shine with some roleplaying, fast-talking, or other creative solutions. Your PCs invested in skill points for a reason, right?
But even more important than getting the length right is getting the scope. What kind of adventure can you tell in the course of an evening? It’s probably not one that drastically changes the campaign setting, but nor are you limited to the PCs running a simple errand.
You’ll probably want to create a villain wily enough to be a legit threat while not so wily that the PCs can’t corner them. That can make a good urban adventure, particularly if you’re comfortable writing up a modest investigation or mystery.
A classic dungeon crawl also works well, but ensure that the PCs have a clear goal and a worthwhile resolution in store. If you know your players, that’s great. If you don’t, your adventure background will need to convey the importance of this plot.
“Go explore this place, I guess” isn’t a compelling one-shot. “Go explore this place and find the MacGuffin rumored to be inside” is…better, but it still needs work. Why is the MacGuffin important? Whose was it? Why us?
“The MacGuffin that will convince the dragon to not eat our village?” We’re getting somewhere, especially because you hint that there’s going to be a cool dragon encounter at the end of the night. There is going to be a dragon encounter, right? Wasn’t before, but there is now!
When you’re considering scope, ask, “What happens if the PCs fail?” In this really simplistic example, the village gets burned to the ground. That’s bad, but it’s approachably bad. It’s “we can solve this” bad. It’s not “this whole country collapses” bad.
Be sure that the failure has enough bite to be interesting but not so much that it cheapens your setting. Just as that nation-crumbling outcome is too extreme, so too is “Well, you die and we wait for new adventurers” too tame. Make me as a player care, even if for just a night.
As another adventure structure aside, “defend the site” concepts make good one-shots, too. Save the town from a zombie invasion. Hold off these looters before they deface this site. These have an easily digested structure and are gratifying to play after a tough work week.
What else goes into scope? Character level. Your 1st-level adventure’s going to have a drastically different feel than an 18th-level adventure—even a one-shot. Those extreme circumstances I warned against? Fine for a high-level adventure.
But between us? High-level adventures are tough. High-level one-shot adventures are really tricky in part because it’s so tough to plan for the shenanigans that elite PCs bring to the table (and how long each combat turn will take). If you're new, stick to low level for now.
Are you making an adventure for your home group? Great, I want you to build in one more piece into the scope/length equation. Build in an early shut-off switch. You want to end the adventure on a high note, and players get tired. Wrap up when you’re ready.
Pushing a story that the players are too tired to appreciate just leaves everyone grouchy. With an optional (and easily cut) encounter or two, you can compress the adventure to skip to the good parts without threatening the story.
That’s a lot to consider, and sometimes the best tact when you’re new to writing adventures is to see what’s been done before. Even reading the product blurbs of some Pathfinder Society scenarios can convey a lot of what’s possible in this format. paizo.com/store/pathfind…
If there's a particular style of adventure you want to read or adapt, let me know. I'm happy to make recommendations.
And of course—shameless plug—I do encourage folks to play Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society. You can learn a lot by experiencing the format firsthand.
And of course—shameless plug—I do encourage folks to play Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society. You can learn a lot by experiencing the format firsthand.
This has been fun. Some of the other topics I'd like to cover are:
— Let the Heroes be Heroes
— Handling Adventure Background
— Considering Contingencies
Plus whatever else you'd like to know about. Pitch some topics.
— Let the Heroes be Heroes
— Handling Adventure Background
— Considering Contingencies
Plus whatever else you'd like to know about. Pitch some topics.
