How Long Should An “Adventure" Be?... 

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I submit that Matt's original placement of the axe trap was not a mistake. He emphasized that the trap could only be set off by creatures of a standard weight or heavier; lighter creatures like gnomes or GOBLINS would not set it off. This makes it clear to me that the trap is a recent addition to the tomb, made by the invading goblins.

I really liked this one. People resurrecting old post or video ideas and giving them their own spin is always a good one.

You've been doing these nature hike video shoots for a bit now, and I just have to say that I *LOVE* this presentation. It suits your general vibe so well.

Yep, I started playing 1E with those short modules. A lot less of a hassle than today's adventure "novels".

Those among us familiar with story structure will recognize the 5 room dungeon as a reskin of the 5 act play. Establish > Rising Action > Complication > Climax > Conclusion And I'll let you in on a secret: Every good story is a fractal of this pattern. Every dungeon, dungeon floor, dungeon area, dungeon room, event... they all follow this pattern in an engaging D&D session. Knowing this, you are now empowered to write your own dungeons, expanding past the first five rooms into 5 areas, 5 floors, 5 dungeons... you get the idea. Go, and create on my friends.

Thanks for this video Bob. A lot of other creators in this space I respect pushed back against Matt's video, and while they had valid points, most of them seemed to miss that Matt was responding to actual commenters in his community. A lot of newer GMs really believed the "default" form of the game are these long, epic stories that take the better part of a year to play, and the WOTC hardcovers and the popular actual play channels weren't exactly disabusing them of this notion. So even if WOTC does publish shorter adventures, they're not doing the best job at directing new GMs towards them. Because I still see people thanking Matt for making that video! But thanks for getting to Matt's actual point and addressing it in the spirit it was intended.

The Delian Tomb was my first try at DMing lol glad to see so many other people used it too 🤣🤣

Those old 32 page modules often packed a lot more than one evening's adventure into them. And because they detailed locations, there was usually not a plot you had to follow (unless it had originally been a tournament module).

I love short dungeons/adventures you can just pop into any existing campaign! Just something that takes a bit off the burden from the DM for a couple of hours! That's also why I created a bunch of free ones to use! Best way to give back to the community

This is why I fell in love with 1 page dungeons. Before I discovered that entire glorious world, I didn't realize I was basically doing that with bloated existing modules, condensing them onto one or two pages myself for way easier management during games.

Killer park. Love the rocks

I recall a game where there was 5 rooms ending with a lack of BBEG or treasure. The "BBEG" was the town that didn't tell us the dungeon was beaten already, treasure taken, because they wanted to sell us stuff to go there that doesn't sell otherwise.... it was my first and only experience with changing alignment over 4 gold.

I think there's also something to be said about those old adventures is how non uniformly they are expected to be ran, while the page count is light, there's a metric crap ton of content that GMs can get out of it, you could spend an incredibly variable amount of time in any given adventure (like for instance, The Isle of Dread, or The Lost City) that's very easy to stretch Into a "big" campaign (note: when I say "easy" i mean by the standards expected by a 1e era DM, which were kinda insane)

Even WotC used the 5-Room Dungeon structure in the 4E DMG for the introductory adventure Kobold Hall! It's just a really solid way of planning an adventure. You can even apply that structure as an overarching guide for a longer adventuring arc. I'm really happy you touched on the rooms not always having to be literal rooms, but different areas of a city or wilderness area.

I am going on adventure today. A five room adventure. I am vacuuming my house. Living Room. Dining Room. Kitchen. Main Bath. Now what is the fifth room? Computer room, Laundry Room, Art Room, or Bedroom. Who will adventure with me? I promise gold, riches, and hidden treasure. Beware the evil felines. Beware the traps (litter box DC Wis 18 or have to clean it.) Beware the sleeping monster. (Wife sleeps late.)

Love this video! Too many people I think become overwhelmed by the reality of trying to run a really long adventure when it’s so easy to have fun playing the game.

Yes they release short adventure anthologys, but the point is that you are still buying a big book of adventures that you may only run one or two of. When modules were the default, you could pick and chose what adventure would fit the style and kind of next adventure for your campaign. Yes I like some of the large adventures, but I have been playing for decades. For someone starting, modules are the way ahead, and yes you can buy them from third party publishers, but when the company that owns the D&D property doesn't support, it it gives new people to the game an unrealistic perspective. This is obviously only my opinion and yes adventures can be researched on line, but new people to the game may not realise this

Cool backdrop for this video, refreshing.

I never really did like the concept of the five room dungeon, but your example makes me reconsider. I'm all for short adventures, but to me 5 rooms is just not enough. Even worse when I see people make 2 or 3 room dungeons like Matt's, and especially so when those 2-5 room dungeons are linear and might as well be one long hallway. Personally I never stopped using Jaquays's method, it just feels right to me. Player agency is always my #1 priority as a DM, because its the #1 thing that irks me when I don't have it as a player. (also R.I.P Jenelle, I only just found out she passed last January while checking how to spell her name)

Great video! I have been trying to use the 5-Room method for a while, but always need more inspiration. Speaking of which, yes I would love a short PDF version of "The Delian Bounty Hunt!" 😁

I like this concept. A five room dungeon can certainly be explored in one night. With my group constantly battling the epic monster of "Schedule Conflicts" a small adventure is just what we need on the rare instances we can coordinate with each other.

Let's Delve into 5 room structure with Bob.

The firstvquestion you need to ask yourself is define adventure.... A whole campaign... as long as it needs to be. B arc.... several meetings.bonus if you can Wrap each arc up as to end a campaign but leave open room for a new arc to begin C mission.... a couple (1-3) missions. Setup (before mission is assigned), Prep, mission itself, wrap up/aftermath. D dungeon/manor/point of interest.... wrap up within same meeting if possible. Or get there and explore next time. E meeting/one shot.... how long does the group have to handle it? 2-4 seems about right. If your running low on time the next room is missed/essential treasure followed by the boss skipping anything else between here and there.

My ideal number of rooms for a dungeon is 5 to 15 rooms per level and two to three levels and/or a sub-level. I prefer dungeons that require multiple trips to explore. Use up resources. Have factions that react to the player’s actions and the other factions. Rewards exploration and gives benefits when the players discover ways to exploit its layout. Have areas that probably won't be discovered.

I constantly feel like it was yesterday that Matt Colville started his youtube series. Time really does fly!

That guard shack encounter sounded fun especially as a plug in for a simple oneshot to run at any level.

How you found such wholesome graffiti is beyond me. I generally "rip" sections out of the big hardback books. Ive us d every giant lair from storm kings thunder one at a time in multiple games.

I wish I had known about this structure decades ago. Even a long form dungeon. Can use this for sessions, and session breaks. A five room is enough if you are into heavy roleplay!

I always found this question was answered with how long does your group play. A 4 hour game with 4 rooms= depending on the group not enough. I can remember in the 80's when i first discovered the game, me and a few friends would do 13 hour sessions lol. My friend Mark's mom would make homemade pizza, and from 3-12 kids would play,. His older bro was the DM. I loved those games!

I've been using this 5 scene foundation to achieve my current goal in DM'ing: Making sure everyone can have a good time, with a complete experience, in 4 hours or less. That way, I have a chance to actually play a TTRPG sometimes when schedules allow for my group to be present.

I have a map of a goblin cave structure that sneaks into the back side of a tomb that I have used a thousand times over the years. The greater tomb structure doesn’t connect to the crypt because the goblins collapsed that bit of tunnel trying to expand their domain. It’s a nice little four-room dungeon that doesn’t use anything but goblins. As long as the PCs don’t try to dig from the other side of the collapsed room, they can shelter in the other part of the tomb while they take out the goblins a few at a time, looking for the the access to the crypt That is assuming they notice that there is air getting into the tomb from the crypt, of course. (Players using torches will notice the flame flickering near the collapsed roof.) I usually use 10-12 goblins and maybe a wolf or two, but depending on which edition you use, you may have to increase that. These are scouts on the edge of a tribe’s territory, so there are no women or children (which should scare the crap out of your players). I’ve wiped a 5th level party using 4 goblins, three wolves and a 3rd level goblin rogue more than once, so this is a pretty tough dungeon. They fight sneaky and they have the home field advantage. If they detect the PCs first, they will send for reinforcements from the tribe, taking half a day to get there. The reinforcements will be the other half of the raiding party, including two more Rogue 3 and a fighter 2/rogue 3 and bring the total of the goblins up to 25 including the five with levels. If you want it really tough, all of the reinforcements will be riding wolves. In my all-goblin campaign, the PCs took over this dungeon to live in, using the tomb to attract adventurers and fighting other tribes to populate it with captured goblins.

"The Dealian Bounty Hunt" needs to be detailed out into a one page adventure. It's a perfect, simple adventure that can be adjusted for any level party by swapping out NPCs and possible encounters with little fuss.

Backed Delve purely out of your description of the structure of that dungeon, because I instantly wanted to run it as a one-shot side story for the group I'm a player in. There's something so pure about a self-contained story like that, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else you've cooked up!

Bob growing his hair back out again. The world is healing.

Love the outdoors shots.

I've used the five room method many times, since the 3e days. It's good.

This video is very apt for what I'm currently doing. I'm building the Goblin Slayer TRPG game system on Foundry VTT. After reading through the rulebook for it. The game is a quest-by-quest system. The rules suggest that each quest should only contain 2-3 battle encounters. The two quest examples they give show only a few rooms to explore and just a few encounters to battle. I believe the feeling is that each quest in the game should wrap up in 1-2 sessions (3-4 hrs). This way the players are making progress. While players may want a huge, levels 1-20 campaign (in some-most cases). This can be done with a quest-by-quest system were the overall story arc is told through a series of smaller quests that eventually tie together.

Love the 5 Room Dungeon. Even when I design mega-dungeons, the 5 Room structure can be expanded to blocks of rooms and it still works great. I'm also a big big fan of dropping short 3rd party adventures into my campaign. Short modules are just so easy to work with, and several have given me larger story arc ideas. Matt Mercer Colville got me into DMing

I love these chilled out videos that break down bigger concepts in easily digestible sections. Thanks homie!

It took my group 2 years to complete Lost Mine of Phandelver. Not that they were slow, but - We are 6 - 5 of us have multiple low-level kids bringing viruses home - 2 of us are monoparental and can only play every other weeks - 2 of us are polyamorous and therefore have a tight schedule so we can''t easily report games to another day in the week. Result: We play an average of one 3-hour session per month including chitchat. A couple of times we didn't play for 3 months. I was supposed to run the Shattered Obelisk after they finished LMoP, but it's just too long. It seems to be a great adventure, but it will likely take us 3-4 years to complete. So I recently decided that I would ditch premade adventure modules and run mini-adventures and personal quests taking a couple of sessions and MAXIMUM 5-6 sessions. I started prepping some adventures and dungeons and will take some of your advices here, thanks :)

I've run the Delian tomb three times with three different groups and each group has approached it differently and it's taken a different turn each time. I absolutely love it. I did make one change; rather than the buy-in opening of going to save the kidnapped child, I begin the story with the players standing on the edge of the barrow plain. I then narrate their motivation as a memory/flashback and then give them the scene. It helps jump-start the adventure, gets the players closer to action, and saves 30 minutes of actual time. Each group approached the adventure differently and each turned out a little differently, but they were all fun. So +1 to short adventures being the best adventures.

This is a great video for beginning and experienced DMs alike. Even with the shameless plugs (I did back Delve). One thing that isn't often talked about in the TTRPG community is being able to complete things. There's a whole world of people out there who get great joy from completing things... and smaller dungeons/goals make that possible.

i fear the day that bob make an involuntarily participation on 'whitch of balir' crossover

I’m digging the cave format - nice touch

Wow, its always cool to see dnd creators shout out to other dnd creators. It really shows the strength of our online community.

I would like to add that Justin Alexander added to this concept with the 5 + 5 room dungeon. Essentially the other 5 rooms are flavor or resting rooms to break up the constant tension and action for a break in and to add flavor and story

The Delian Tomb is what got me back into DnD. I hadn't played since 2e, and was looking for something to do during the pandemic. Matt's video was so straightforward and simple, it made me excited to give it a try.

I love ALL Bob World Builder videos!

I know it might be crazy to some, but I used the "trap first" at the entrance corridor in one of my maps (following the 5 room dungeon system) because "the original builders of the tomb knew exactly where it was the trap and how to avoid it, but with it being forgotten for centuries, the first adventurers to come inside would not know of it. Even the legends talking about the place wouldn't know of the trap. Rearranging the rooms is a great idea. You can even put the boss first if you want and make the party go around in circles wondering what could come next or what did they miss.

Awesome! Thanks Bob! Cool idea to use the 5 room dungeon structure for a non dungeon adventure! I think I'll employ this in a forest adventure. Maybe add a timer element to the story.

I think the D&D books are understood to be a collection of adventures housed under an overarching campaign. Within those books are a dozen or so short adventures. A DM can play them as suggested or excise them to be played in a different campaign. I imagine most of those short adventures are made up of five or six encounters of various kinds.

I host a mini-convention with up to six 4-5 hour one-shots every month. Different GMs. Different Players. Different systems. Different settings. So much fun. I also host a regular biweekly long-running Earthdawn campaign. Long term character and adventure arcs. Deep dive into one setting. So much fun.

Because i both watch an anime, and the video about how long an adventure should be. I have thought. Train. Literally put the campaign on rail and have each adventure at different "stations." I suppose you can do caravan instead but i like trains.

This gave me an idea to essentially create modular set via having decks of cards, one for each Room/Act, that you can draw from to more readily build a dungeon on the fly

We shouldnt take the word "room" in "5 Room Dungeon" so literally. It is more like 5 steps, or 5 parts, or 5 elements. While the first "room" -- the entrance and guardian -- may actually be a single physical "room;" it could just as easily be a series of, say, 3 or 4 interconnected rooms that the guardians can use to try to flank, sneak up on, surprise, or otherwise frustrate the party. Similarly with the other 4 "rooms" in the 5 Room structure. Side note, Im very much looking forward to Delve! I love the stretch goal updates! Thanks Bob!

this is exactly what i needed to help me restructure part of an adventure i’m writing. i’ve feel like i’ve got direction now!

Great episode, Bob. I've been using the 5 Room Method for awhile now on my blog and podcast to create adventure frameworks and locations for several genres. I've gotten a few of my friends interested in it, too. Keep up the good work.

Great video I've been preaching the virtues of the old school 32-page dungeon module for years.

I think there's a huge difference between the 5-room "dungeon," a "decent adventure" and a Campaign. The big books by GW are campaigns not adventures. I think it's okay to have adventures/dungeons that's somewhat longer than just the 5 room dungeon. Angry GM's Silverpine Watch was excellent - I think he took it down during the OSR debackle. Another one I like a lot is Tomb of the Serpent Kings (Free on DriverthruRPG). It's decently long, but it contains a lot of interesting things - really giving that good introduction to dungeon delving. For me, the 5-room dungeons are good little "side quests" in a campaign, but I personally think an introduction dungeon - especially for new players - should have some meat on the bone. At least if you are able to schedule a few sessions.

I can't believe it's been 8 years! 😂

I always enjoy when Bob films using the format

Amazing video and amazing timing on a personal note! I was just thinking last night about pulling up Matt's original video so I can prep some one shots (though it's ALWAYS 2-3 sessions with my group) to give our DM a break whenever needed. Thanks for the updated place to start, 10/10 content as always!

I love how I stated D&D back in '86. I was being forced into GM'ing by my friends (my friends persuaded me) and thus I was "forced" to learn the Players Manual and the DM Guide in the Red Box. It took me 14 days to read it, English being a second language, which I was in the midst of learning. Thus I became really good at English in a short time: D&D made my English better! But that is beside the point. I had "In Search of Adventure". That was a compilation of the modules B1 to B9 and how to string then together in a small campaign. Some modules were short, 3 to 4 pages, some were long, 10 to 15 pages, and I could read them just before we played (and yes, The Keep of The Borderlands latter part: The Caves of Chaos are here). I have used that book for many campaigns and one shots, and I know book played a important part in my GM "career". Without that I may not have played roleplaying games today. Last year I made a dungeon which is very much like The Delian Tomb, without knowing that Matt had made such a dungeon, but still such a dungeon is very easy to make. My dungeon had two traps, one riddle, three encounters with undead, three rooms and a secret door to another room.....very much like Matt's dungeon. ^^

I was listening to this while getting ready for work. Then the Ronald the Rules Lawyer music came on and my brain got confused about who I was listening to for a second.

Before the pandemic I was a public Adventurers League DM at my local gaming store. I have my issues with 5e, and public gaming, but it was some of the most satisfying games I ever ran. Storm Kings Thunder, Curse of Strahd, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Out of the Abyss, Decent into Avernus, and a lot of dungeon levels in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage. I now have a two year old, and I’m not sure when I will ever have a consistent game night ever again, but those were some incredible years. 5 room dungeons maybe my reality for a handful of game nights scattered across the year.

I enjoy all of Bob World Builder videos

For a less linear & more "Old School" inspired take on mini-dungeons, check out "Bite-Sized Dungeons" by Marcia B. (Traverse Fantasy). These are 6 room dungeons that lack an intended order. There's two occupied rooms(one with treasure), a trapped room(which may have treasure), a weird room, & two unoccupied rooms(one may have treasure). Rooms have something obvious, something hidden, & something secret(optional). These dungeons can be standalone or combined with other bite-sized dungeons to make larger dungeons.

Thanks for the shout out to The RPT Newsletter. Johnn Four is a really nice fellow, he's very creative and my archive of his newsletters is my first stop when I think of something new I want to try, I need ideas or I just want to read what others are handling at the table, for some inspiration. He's the co-author of a fantastic app that can track pretty much everything about your campaign world and what goes on in it. And he teaches small courses for people who want to improve their DM skills.

11:30 "But this guy can give them the true location in exchange for something he wants. Climax..." Archer: "Phrasing!" 😂

Thanks for this video. I'm already thinking about how to apply this to structuring an upcoming adventure.

WHAT outdoor video without a train whistle? 😁

I really appreciate this video! I have two sessions that I said to people I would intro them to d&d with or my campaign setting with, and I wanted to get it done with one sitting. Taking a look at the format and the conversation presented absolutely helps me filter my ideas to guarantee it's a one session game for those players.

Even some of the larger "Basic" rated modules from back in Pre-AD&D were only a 32-page module. On the flipside, the "Expert" rated ones, in specific, "Night's Dark Terror" increased in page count to 64 pages. Also, none of the OLD TSR module product was hardcover, at least none of it in my collection. Unless they made some special edition version of which I'm unaware. This also made it easier for us as 12-17 year old kids who DMed games for a group of neighborhood friends to afford them on either the money we earned mowing lawns and doing other tasks, and for those kids who were over 16 and were able to work under a School Work Permit up to 20 hours/week.

Shoutout to your mic. Working hard to filter out background noise and still leaving you at the perfect volume and easily understood. Can hear the wind and the highway, and i think a plane at one point? But they aren't disruptive.

100% agree :3 your videos inspire me so often. Lived the dungeon you designed! So clean!

If there’s a 5e adventure I wanna run, I’ll actually do these steps to make it WAY easier for me: 1- learn the basic structure of the story (point a to b, b to c, c to d1 or d2; that sort of thing) 2- find an old 1, advanced, or 2e module for the setting/just the same story 3- keep all spare encounters from the original book as random encounters or if the players explore more (change the locations if need be, don’t get bogged down but what the 5e book/map says) And 4- if the players are being smart but aren’t following what the book says, screw the book, what they think is the main story lead is now the main story lead

great presentation of 5 room dungeon. love the analysis of delian tomb. nice video, sir!

I've been using variations of this method (not exlusively) ever since I first saw Runehammer's video on it. And I'm glad you bring it back up because it's been a while, and all new people can hear about it. :D

Yes, that sounds cool! Your idea would fit right in with a starter adventure I'm working on for a new group of young people.

I recognised this dungeon from one of my first games as a player! It was good fun. I'm also enjoying these outdoors commentaries.

That small adventure sounds great

Thx for all the videos! Love your work. Inspired me to start making my own videos as well! Much much love.

I stopped doing long term campaigns ages ago. Mainly because a lot of us in the group kept getting new jobs or moving. So I changed to doing a lot of short campaigns that all fit into a bigger thing if it lasts long enough. There's the satisfaction of completing things. If someone leaves then a new person can start and not feel like they have missed anything.

I like to shoot for adventures/dungeons with 9-12 "encounters" which averages about 2 full sessions to get through. That's the sweets spot for me. I don't have to prep a new dungeon EVERY game session, but it also isn't a multi-month slog where all the players forgot what happened 3, 4, 5+ weeks ago IRL. Long enough to feel like a meaty adventure but doesn't ever overstay its welcome!

I love all Bob World Builder videos, kickstarters, and rpg games he plays in. Hope you had a great birthday and weekend. Be sure to keep Delving into rpgs!

I have run my version of the Delian Tomb 3 times now for different groups. Its my go to first adventure for team bonding.

The Essentials Kit is better then the Starter Set. I unfortunately don't have a group to play with:( But I have created 12 different Lvl 1 Characters in case I found a group. A few years ago I was potentially going to be a "Gamemaster" for D&D at my local Library, but no one signed up:( Anyhow; I was planning on a Long Campaign, it would start in "Dragons of Icespire Peak", then afterwards go to "Dragons of Stormwreck Isle", after that would continue to a homebrewed yet another Dragon related adventure, and eventually after everyone gets to Lvl 20+ would end with defeating Tiamat! They survive and defeat her, then the players could describe how/what they do as retired Adventurers afterwards.

Great video! 5-room-dungeon framework is incredible and what you have described is exactly what I do with my games. I apply 5RD not only to the single sessions, but also to the "adventure arcs" and campaign as a whole. Campaign as a whole can be planned as 5-room-dungeon, with each room representing different "arcs" in narrative. And then each arc can fit 5 different episodes, one per room. And I try to make each of the "episodes" in a single session, wich is a 5-room-dungeon in itself. What comes out is essentially a 125 room mega-dungeon! Obviously, it isnt always possible to fit everything that needs to happen per "room" into 1 session. But it still better to have a roadmap. And it works well, because players still get their filling of finishing something, when they finish an arc. Makes wonders for my homebrew campaigns. Allows to actually get shit done.

Said this on Matts video (which he was nice enough to reply to haha). My issue with long adventures is that it is too on the rails. My players even with general planning go off the rails of whatever I planned let alone trying to predict what will happen for like 10+ level adventures. It's practically more work to try to keep people onto the prewritten story beats. Then there's the issue that if players know they're in a premade adventure, there's this inherent feeling for a plot of players that there is no agency. "Well whatever we decide to do won't matter, he's just going to loop it back around the prewritten story". (which is why if I use prewritten stuff I don't usually say it).

Great video! Love the channel =) I actually saw that Matt video (and asked Ye Old Geek about it) and truthfully following Matt's advice changed my group for the best. I had not thought to examine my campaign design but it was holding me and the players back. Our games now are WAY better. Won't look bad . . .

Great video! Hope life is going good man really enjoy your uploads.

Really liking this format of outside videos. Your audio is sounding great. Keep on bulding, Bob World Builder.

Here's a general rule: the more suspense that you can build through meaningful tension, then the more satisfaction you get when it resolves. In a larger dungeon, each room must tell part of the story that builds up this meaning and tension. It's like building a monster -- every feature on a dragon tells some story about it's epic history, presumeably, which makes them more interesting that a bug. Only in this way, can you "realistically" place high-valued items in a dungeon -- otherwise (it must be presumed), the larger backstory must lie somewhere ELSE.

One of the guards should be the wanted criminal's cousin. This is a nice demo for the format of convention play where you only have a four hour time slot. But... you can expand this concept to make a long campaign revolve around each "room" as an entire session of play which will help DMs progress from 32 page modules to the massive 1-20 story arcs that we all dream of running, but so rarely do.

Thanks Bob. Keep on postin'!

Hey been really enjoying your videos since I started DMing again a couple weeks ago. Just backed your book Delve! I’m excited for you and hyped to get to use it one day. I also discovered DCC through your videos and my playgroup just agreed to give it a go! Thanks for your great content 😊

I'd ask Tommy Pickles. He's been on more adventures than I can count.

Don't even play 5e (I'm a BECMI guy), but I will fully admit I like lost mines as an adventure. Nice and short, things are easy to grok for a new DM and its a really fun idea of giving players a home base for future campaigns. Its a lot of the reasons why I like old timey basic adventures, they all give a good starting zone for a new DM to build upon with the advice in the DMG. Keep your Shield Arm Strong Bob!

Loooove this format! Great video.