4 Pro Secrets for Designing Better D&D Adventures 

My first time here, 5 seconds in "This guy looks sharp and has a strong intro." 10 seconds in "Yeah, it's pretty good." 20 seconds in "Well, I don't know if I want to subscribe yet, I just got here." 24 seconds in "Yes deathbringer, of course I already subscribed."

Underneath his gruff exterior, Deathbringer is just a simple man who just wants to be loved. And to crush his enemies, see them driven before him, and hear the lamentations of their women.

I would add a fifth thing at least: a reason for the PCs to be involved. Rather than "You all feel the need to get involved" or "We'll do it! - because it is obviously the scenario that the GM wrote for us", it is much better for the PCs to have a very strong reason to be involved. Perhaps they are the only people in the world capable of getting the thing from the place. Perhaps (but don't over-use this) they are forced to go to get the thing from the place. Perhaps getting the thing from the place is central to their personal character motivations for some reason. Just putting up a signpost saying "Danger and treasure this way" isn't enough. The King's daughter is captured? Well, he's got an army, so he'll probably send that to get her. A valuable statue is in a place? Well, it is probably dangerous to try to steal it, and we're already rich. No one has returned from The Place of Danger (TM)? Well, why should we think that we'll be an exception? Besides - trading in salt is more profitable. Why are we doing this, again? Oh - it's just so that the scenario can happen.

Ah, the poor man's Tome of Adventure Design summed up in four high-concept points. Thanks Prof, great vid!

"What are you filthy, armed vagrants doing in my wondrous lair?!" "Dying Guy told us to get the Thing."

If you are considering patronage, the professor has an awesome set of masterclass videos only on patreon that go into depth on gaming and mechanics. Totally awesome and game changing.

Dungeon Craft and Seth Skorkowsky videos drop back-to-back? Merry Middlemas, everyone!

Professor Dungeon Master, your acting wasn't over; it was exactly need!

“....AFTER a short rest”😂😂😂 You’re killin’ me over here Danny!

The Conan 2d20 GM kit has an awesome booklet with a ton of randomizer charts for adventure locations, npcs, macguffins, and more.

I love the way you sneak in the 5th ingredient- "no short rests!" I totally agree!

Sound advice. To add on to this (and in the theme of the title), I would suggest: Goodman Games How to Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck. It is a great compilation of essays by various authors. There is a sample encounter that follows each essay to illustrate the author's point.

Remember Willie Walsh writing for Dungeon Magazine? That guy wrote some amazing Adventures in the late 80's and 90's!

I love how you made a super useful concise video that some other channels would have dragged out for an hour. Much appreciated, and very helpful.

I always say a good adventure and EVERY session needs a strong S.H.I.P! STORY (a basic idea of what the adventure is about) HOOK (a strong intro that grabs the player's attention at the very start) INTERACTION (interesting NPC's and encounters) and PACING! (keep things moving). It's pretty much the same four as the Professor describes.

Incorporating time limits (#3) is something that is great advice, but is tricky to do naturally.

In the interest of feeding the algorithm, allow me to offer a counterargument, or at least an alternate point of view, that will hopefully inspire people to pile on and call me a dummy. Warning: long post. I think your four elements can be used to produce a successful adventure of a certain style of play. However, I take issue with the idea that all of these four are critical (i.e. necessary) to creating a satisfying adventure, and that adventures with these four will always be more satisfying or more successful than those missing one or more. It all depends on what you consider to be successful and satisfying. Forcing all four of these elements into every adventure encourages an adventure style that is linear and plot-driven. It’s a valid way to create an adventure and play the game. In fact, it’s probably the most popular kind of adventure style since the Hickmans’ wrote I6. The problem I have is that people think it’s the only way to create an adventure, or at least the best. I disagree. And I realize my opinion puts me in the minority and goes against the common wisdom of the entire RPG industry for the last 35 years. I prefer a slower, more player-motivated, exploratory, campaign-centric (rather than adventure-centric) open world game. To my mind, adventurers are not heroes by default, they are treasure hunters and explorers of the strange and unusual just for the sake of experiencing the strange and unusual. Time-based plots with objectives assigned by the DM tend to discourage adventures of pure exploration for its own sake (including hexcrawls) or dinking around interacting with interesting things that don’t have anything to do with the Main Objective. I like this dinking around. That’s the game to me. That’s what I find satisfying. Hmm, what does this lever do? Why is there a weird glow coming from the caverns to the left? Can I get the treasure without interacting with the villain at all? Can I play what this faction wants against the other faction to my advantage? I can have a good time playing in a plot-driven adventure, but it’s not my preference. I don’t have a problem picking up an obvious adventure hook and playing ball with what the DM has prepared. But I do start to feel a bit resentful if I sense I’m being pulled in a direction or that there is a correct sequence of scenes that need to be played out in order. It makes me feel like I’m playing against a script. As a DM, I try to resist pushing players one way or the other even if it means they don’t encounter the really cool thing I placed in the west tower. And I really don’t like the 5-room dungeon concept. I want a dungeon that PCs can get lost in. There is very little wonder to five rooms. I don’t care if they miss certain encounters entirely. I’m also not concerned with creating a nicely-paced story graph of narrative exposition with an intro, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. I like that in the fiction I read and movies I watch, but I don’t want it in my role-playing games. I understand most people probably do. Yes, I’m saying I think 50,000,000 Dragonlance fans can be wrong. For me, creating more exploratory, open campaign adventures requires a little bit more work up front, but I think it pays off for what I (and some others) want out of the game. You don’t have to map and populate an entire planet with hundreds of pages of lore. In fact, I’d advocate that new DMs don’t. They should start small and let it develop organically. Start with a small regional map with at least one town with access to trade. Include some (not all) surrounding geographic areas: woods, swamps, plains, cliffs, hills and mountains, etc. Create maybe three different adventuring sites, maybe a multi-level dungeon under some old castle or temple ruins, an “abandoned” tower, a series of tombs. Populate each of these with monsters, traps, puzzles, hazards, mysteries, and treasure. Create random encounter tables both for the locations and the wilderness around them. Create at least three factions in the area all with distinct motivations. These don’t need to be monsters; they could be cults or political forces inside the town. Instead of The Objective, create a rumors table with multiple hooks, some of which might bring them to one of your locations or contact one of the factions. I think your bulletin board idea in your KotB videos is an excellent example of this. Finally, build in a couple external events which will happen within a certain time unless the PCs do something about it. They don’t need to do anything about any of these things, in fact, it’s more interesting if multiple deadlines are occurring simultaneously to make them have to choose which to engage with. With this kind of setup, you can campaign for years, expanding the map as you play. I’ll take this kind of game play over a linear, adventure path any day. Even GDQ.

WOW, the advice in this short clear clip is just so good. It also clearly identifies an error in most of my adventures. No time limit. Thanks much for the info!

This is great! I’m currently running a campaign where the main villain has the ability to reach into the PC’s dreams once they have a tuft of the PC’s hair. Convening eerie messages and cryptic breadcrumbs. It’s working well, I only have to remind myself to do it while the players rest. Thanks for all you do PDM, appreciate all your wisdom.

Dungeon Craft video in purgatory xmas week? A surprise to be sure but a welcome one!

Now that's a video! Totally encapsulated what went wrong with my last session!

One of the best examples of a short rest working in sync with building suspense is the elevator scene before the final fight in the movie Dredd

This is awesome. Love how you made it into simple steps and gave great examples. Of all the D&D advice channels yours is one of the few I have stuck with because you actually provide interesting and useful tips.

You never disappoint prof.

Another master class from the professor!

Awesome miniatures and setting terrain in this video!!! I absolutely love how they are always integrated into the videos!!!

It's funny how painfully obvious and simple it is once it's presented. Thanks for another helpful video. Now, back to the work I was putting off.

I'm putting off my weekly discussion post to watch this video right now!

As always, quick ,concise , highly relevant and entertaining

Well put - i always appreciate your ability to wrap up complex gaming concepts so succinctly!

Mah-Gophan was a famous artificer from ages past who created many powerful artifacts.

It's videos like this one that prompted me to become a patron.

Professor! This is great advice, instruction or refresher. Combine this with "3 NPCs your D&D game needs" and a campaign can write itself. On point.

Having as an objective "getting Liam Neeson's daughter" is creepy in every scenario where Liam Neeson is not directly involved.

4:14 As Elyse Myers once said, "There is nothing less motivating than having enough time."

Did the Professor just call me out to get back to my math homework?!

Very nice... So it's the W questions. Objective being what, location being where, time limit being when, and Villain being who. Given that adding a Why would not be a bad idea. :) I think Lindybeige mentioned that too.

I've been binge watching your videos for two days in a row now. Awesome content and really fun-centric!

I have no nitpicks, which makes it really hard to say something constructive or engaging. Great advice for any adventure-writer. In fact, rather than write this essay to get into grad school, I'll write this adventure for my wife instead. :)

Absolutely fantastic! My friend and I recently started a DND group, whenever I watch your videos like these, it inspired me and makes me want to homebrew my own campaign.

Great advice! Keeping this in mind will help me considerably.

Really excited to tie these 4 elements with Runehammer's LOG method for planning out sessions. Thanks Prof DM!

I DM'd my first game of DnD yesterday for my siblings who visited for christmas, and it went great! I used the simplified rules from your very first dungeoncraft videos to get going fast, and it was a really good idea. They all want more now. The great thing about your videos is that you bring everything down to the basics, and those basics are really incredibly valuable when you are in the field as a new DM. You also taught me not to respect the rules too much, and that really lifts a huge weight off both my shoulders, and my player's shoulders as well, because we don't have to get through hours of tedious rule-studying before getting to the fun stuff.

Great advice, and well boiled down. Switching to an all one-shot format and this has helped focus the scenario writing. Of the 4 elements, villain has been the most difficult, which I didn't anticipate.

Great information and inspiration! Perfect since I'm in the middle of planning a session for my players. Looks like the big bad will need to make an appearance and there might be some flooding dungeons.

Excellent video! I’ve been craving info like this

Saved. Content from Professor DM, DM Lair, and Seth Skorkowsky in one day. It is a good day for tabletop content.

Great video. I made a short adventure where the final boss was really a ghost asking to be freed, and the first contact the players had with him was on a cliff, where he jumped into the ocean. But the players did not know it was a vision, so they thought someone killed himself

Timeless advice, well stated. Thank you, sir.

By far one of your best videos! Once again, you’re making DMing accessible to everyone! Great job. PS, still waiting for your video on managing romances in a campaign ;)

I actually like short rests and wish my players would use them more. It is the long rests that kill the tension. That is why I make them take 3 days instead of 8 hours. That way the players have to be on a break from adventuring to get the long rest stuff, which, thanks to the time limit, they can't always do. Short rests are fine though since it is just a quick breather, some extra hit points, and then continuing on with the quest.

Hail Deathbringer!

I click on the notification, I slap the Like button, then proceed to watch the episode. Glorious as always, top notch video; thank you, Professor. Content like this is both why I want to produce something and why I feel like I can simply refer my people this way. Heck, if ol' Lindy Bones is a fan, then I might as well just sit quietly and take notes. LOL

My four elements for an improv TTRPG session are: premise, destination, consequence, and opposition. It neat to see how those words overlap so cleanly with: objective, location, time limit, and villain.

I really appreciate these structural, concrete aid videos. Thanks Prof!

Great advice! I appreciate your expertise!

Great video, PDM. Thank you. Shared on my campaign page.

Thank you for simply existing in 2020. Much needed.

this is such an excellent video, I really love the section on the time limit! I would say that's the one thing missing from my own game!

Excellent as usual Prof. Thank you!

Last night I ran Unhallowed Ground, one of the scenarios that the Prof. Got published Dungeon Magazine. Great scenario, players loved it. It deserves a re-vamping and republishing to get it out there like Jigsaw, Professor!

Your videos' acted-out examples are excellent and chuckle-worthy :)

Good cornerstones for making great adventures. You can always add more points, like ccol rewards for the players, memorable NPCs, varied scenery and battle scenes and so on. My favorite is when I manage to include some kind of extra challenge during combat. Like, it takes place on a sinking ship, on a very high bridge and so on. The alchemist lab of the villain might have some mechanical or magical machinery that needs to be stopped as well as fighting the villain - so that the PCs have to make choices when taking their actions and so that "their usual battle plan" don't just go off without a hitch.

Thanks for the mental floss. I dm for my son's , daughter , and anywhere from 4 to 7 of thier friends. I feel bad cutting the party down , can't leave kids out. You have it right... I have kids that bring Hero click figures for thier pcs. Last week l had wonder woman black widow and juggernaut, in my last crawl.

This is the video title we were looking for. Well done, Prof!

Hey! You wrote Unhallowed Ground! I have maybe three issues of Dungeon, and I always thought that one was very cool and unique. And it made the cover, so good job!

Great stuff as always. Thanks

Great as always !

Great stuff as usual. Thanks again.

Thanks for the basics refreshers.

The way I had my BBEG be involved with the party before the climax is to reveal that most of their magic items and spells were made/written by him and he'd been able to scry on them ever since they were level one.

Great vid Prof. A great simple core to build on. I've been GM'in years but always great to refresh on the grass roots.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Great content as usual. Thanks PDM

Terrific advice. Through the four filter your adventure shall be viewed. +1 Vest of Perception

Love this thanks for the reminder of what makes an adventure grate.

Definitely using this for planning and retrospectives. Time is a problem in most of our games.

Awesome guide!

Time limits are essential to storytelling, that is why they are essential to RPG’s. I love time limits, without them a whole bunch of verbal nonsense treachery is committed - and when verbal nonsense treachery is committed and time limits are exceeded, Deathbringer is transported through space and TIme to handle the issue in a very violent manner. Please PCs take your Time cause I want to play Deathbringer.

Excellent video, chucked full of very useful information. Much better than similar videos by others.

Is there anywhere people still post homemade 3.5 dnd campaigns and adventures? I have a couple I would like to get feedback on, and I always enjoyed picking up a few new, really inspired adventures.

Very sound advice, Professor. Like you, I believe that Player investment is key to my stories. I like use a reoccurring NPC that in the end is the final Antagonist. While tailoring AD&D, Dungeon Magazine, and other adventures to each scenario. Of course converting them over to 5E when necessary. One that I have used several times is what I refer to as the Familiar Face. Example: You enter the final room in the abandoned castle, it appears to have been converted into a makeshift alter. There's a young woman with long blonde hair dressed in priests robes kneeling at the foot of a coffin. As the party approaches she states, "I'm sorry for all of your losses, I prey that you can have closure." Than she leaves. Player "X" notices the body as their father, who was missing for "?" number of years and thought to be dead. Held firmly in both hands resting upon his chest is object from player "W's" past (Family Heirloom missing during a raid on childhood village). The flowers in the room are from Player "Y's" mothers garden. The Coffin was handcrafted by player "V's" father the day you set out to find adventure. Lastly the candles and sconces are from the church where player "Z" studied before setting out. Through out the adventure the woman shows up in different lactations in simple disguises offering some kind of help, advice, or giving a quest. Big finish. As PC's come to final conflict location everyone is stunned to find out that BBG NPC is someone from all of their past who felt wronged by each of them and has put together a mirror image party for them to fight before they engage her.

Just filled up another page of my DM notebook. Thanks again!

"But it doesn't have to be" is the best advice you can give someone in any creative endevor when they say "I don't know how to create the best thing". Great advice. It just became my new template for session planning!

i just had a thought about the location chart. i was thinking of adding an adjective chart, so instead of just rolling for the lost tomb, lost city, or the evil castle, you can end up with things like the haunted city, the loathsome tomb, or the underground castle. this would expand the creativity and there would be no two sessions that would sound the same using that chart above

Brevity is the soul of wit. Keep it up man

Admittedly, your bonus credit material is basically the point of my games. I love making cool reoccurring villains that my players love to hate: it's the best. Right now, my PCs have an evil party of adventurers they are pursuing/being chased by/competing with (not quite "evil-mirror-squad" but similar enough to act as great foils). The lines between which group actually the antagonists in a given situation get blurry often, but the game is all the better for it!

Shatner's Vest of Acting +1

I think you can always drop 1 of these elements and still have a good adventure. Plenty of D&D adventures don't rely on a time limit, or have a mcguffin. Location seems to be essential (can't have an adventure without being somewhere). I've run plenty of D&D games without a villain though, and they all seem to be fine. It's nice to twirl your mustache and gloat though, so I'm trying to get more villains, and I really love having a group of villains like a coven of hags, or a cult, because then players get to kill a lot of them and feel like they're making progress. Instead of just having a single big bad that always seems to get away conveniently.

Good stuff. Thank you!

Right on. Element 3... Time Limit. This is huge for keeping the players on track and not devising their own quest in the middle of the session you planned for weeks.. or months.

Thanks for sharing today. Short rests are killing my game, so you’ve inspired me to make things a little more intense. Bye bye unnecessary short rests!

Great video 👍

great advice! Thanks!

I've watched every DC that PDM has put out for us and I think this one probably ranks as my favorite. It's pithy, excellent advice that you can start applying right away. Well done!

As a noob DND convert and aspiring dungeon/game master this channel is amazing. Thanks prof

Excellent! Perfect even!

How about: "Get the ham and cheese sandwich on rye from the delicatessen before it closes. Watch out for the 'waitress'." 🥪⏰🙍‍♀️ That has all four elements. 😊 I reckon I could run that as a great adventure!!! 👍😎 So, thanks for another great video, Professor and HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! 🎆✨🎆🍗🍻😃

What about a player vs. player adventure where two teams of adventurers are racing to complete a quest? The DM could run each team on different nights, bringing them together if there's a mutual encounter (possibly pvp combat).

Who needs Matt Mercer when you have a +1 Vest of Overacting! 😃