Chapter 4: Creating Adventures

Maps and Adventure Structure

An adventure map can take many forms—from a detailed dungeon map that shows the dimensions and contents of every room to a rough outline of how one encounter might lead to another, depending on the route the characters choose. Whatever form your map takes, it functions as a flowchart since each decision point (a branch in a corridor, a room with multiple exits) leads to new decision points. If the characters leave a room by the north door, you check your map and determine it leads them into the great hall, lined with pillars, where the fire giant king holds court. If they leave by the secret door to the southeast, you check the map and follow the secret tunnel as it winds to the hidden vaults below the great hall.

Sample Maps

9 contains maps you can use for your adventures or as inspiration for your own maps. You can also modify those maps to fit the details of the location you have in mind.

Map Inspiration

The internet is a great place to find adventure maps that have been made available, as well as real-world building floor plans and city maps and other images that can inspire your mapmaking.

Factions

Particularly in larger areas, groups of creatures might compete for resources. When these groups consist of sapient creatures, opportunities abound for the adventurers who enter those areas. Characters might ally with one group or play groups against each other to reduce the threat of the more powerful monsters. For example, in a dungeon inhabited by mind flayers and the grimlocks they rule, the adventurers might try to incite the grimlocks to revolt against the mind flayers.

Bring the NPC leaders of groups to life as described in the "2" section in 2, fleshing out their personalities and goals. Then use those elements to decide how those leaders respond to adventurers.

Step 1: Choose a Difficulty

Three categories describe the range of encounter difficulty:

Step 2: Determine Your XP Budget

Using the XP Budget per Character table, cross-reference the party's level with the desired encounter difficulty. Multiply the number in the table by the number of characters in the party to get your XP budget for the encounter.

Step 3: Spend Your Budget

Every creature has an XP value in its stat block. When you add a creature to your combat encounter, deduct its XP from your XP budget to determine how many XP you have left to spend. Spend as much of your XP budget as you can without going over. It's OK if you have a few unspent XP left over. Examples are given below:

• 1 Bugbear Warrior (200 XP)
• 2 Giant Wasps (100 XP each), for 200 XP total
• 6 Twig Blights (25 XP each), for 150 XP total

• 2 Nothics (450 XP each) and 9 Stirges (25 XP each), for 1,125 XP total
• 1 Wight (700 XP), 1 Warhorse Skeleton (100 XP), and 6 Skeletons (50 XP each), for 1,100 XP total

• 2 Adult Red Dragons (18,000 XP each) and 2 Fire Giants (5,000 XP each), for 46,000 XP total

Many Creatures

The more creatures in an encounter, the higher the risk that a lucky streak on their part could deal more damage to the characters than you expect. If your encounter includes more than two creatures per character, include fragile creatures that can be defeated quickly. This guideline is especially important for characters of level 1 or 2.

Adjustments

A player's absence might warrant removing creatures from an encounter to keep it at the intended difficulty. Also, die rolls and other factors can result in an encounter being easier or harder than intended. You can adjust an encounter on the fly, such as by having creatures flee (making the encounter easier) or adding reinforcements (making the encounter harder).

CR 0 Creatures

Creatures that have a CR of 0, particularly ones that are worth 0 XP, should be used sparingly. If you want to include many CR 0 critters in an encounter, use swarms from the Monster Manual instead.

Number of Stat Blocks

The best combat encounters often pair one kind of creature with another, such as fire giants paired with hell hounds. Be mindful of the number of stat blocks you need to run the encounter. Referencing more than two or three stat blocks for a single encounter can be daunting, particularly if the creatures are complex.

Powerful Creatures

If your combat encounter includes a creature whose CR is higher than the party's level, be aware that such a creature might deal enough damage with a single action to take out one or more characters. For example, an Ogre (CR 2) can kill a level 1 Wizard with a single blow.

Unusual Features

If a monster has a feature that lower-level characters can't easily overcome, consider not adding that monster to an encounter for characters whose level is lower than the monster's Challenge Rating.

Easing Up

It is possible to dial up the urgency to the point that the players feel they don't have time to investigate the interesting details they encounter in the world. When this happens, consider using a helpful NPC to take some of the pressure off. A wise elder might advise them that the situation is not as urgent as they fear, a whimsical Fey being might use magical mischief to force them to slow down, or a kindly Celestial could tell them they're taking the concerns of the mortal world just a bit too seriously.

Create Urgency

Wandering monsters encourage characters to keep moving and to find a safe place to rest. (Sometimes you can create a sense of danger and urgency by rolling dice behind your DM screen, even without an actual encounter!)

Drain Character Resources

By draining the party's Hit Points and spell slots, leaving the adventurers feeling underpowered and vulnerable, random encounters can build tension in an adventure.

Establish Atmosphere

Thematic links among monsters appearing in random encounters create a tone and an atmosphere that define the environment the characters are exploring. For example, an encounter table filled with bats, wraiths, giant spiders, and zombies creates a sense of horror and suggests the possibility of even more terrifying foes.

Provide Assistance

Some random encounters can benefit the characters instead of hindering or harming them. Helpful creatures might give the characters useful information or assistance.

Reinforce Campaign Themes

Random encounters can remind the players of the major themes and conflicts in your campaign. For example, if a war between two nations is a major conflict in your campaign, you might design random encounter tables to reinforce the ever-present threat of that conflict, including encounters with bedraggled troops returning from battle, refugees fleeing invaders, lone messengers riding for the front lines, enemy war parties, and so on.

A Life of Its Own

Sometimes a random encounter that starts off incidental can become important to the story. A random encounter with a wandering ogre might end with the ogre offering to help the characters get where they need to go, or the ogre might have something in a nearby den that is significant to the adventure story—a prisoner, a stolen item, or important information. Or the players might find the ogre's personality delightful, prompting you to make the ogre a more important part of the story.

The First Fork

A mile upstream from the village, a stream flows into the river from a little wood on the river's south side. Characters can tell that this stream is the source of the pollution.

Journey Upstream

Borogrove, a kindly Treant, keeps watch over the wood and meets the characters as they follow the polluted stream. He knows the source of the corruption is inside a cave that the stream spills out of. He gives the characters a magic acorn. If swallowed, the acorn conveys the benefits of a Potion of Healing and the Lesser Restoration spell.

Twig Blights

Just outside the cave, the characters encounter six Twig Blights.

Corrupted Cave

Use the Underdark Warren map in 9 for the corrupted cave. Ignore the secret door and the inner chambers behind it. Close off the tunnels leading off the map to the south, east, and north. The characters enter the cave in the southeast, following the stream. The cave's main features and inhabitants are as follows:

Journey Home

As they leave the wood, the characters encounter Borogrove again. If they used his acorn, he gives them another one. If they purified the source of the stream, he gives them a Staff of Flowers in gratitude.

Exploring the Mine

Use the Mine map in 9. In the weeks since the miners abandoned the place, pests have flourished in the tunnels. Each time the characters enter a distinct area of the mine, roll on the following table.

Sounds of Terror

The first time this encounter occurs, the characters hear eerie clacking and scraping noises echoing in the mine shafts and notice gouges in the walls. The second time, they find the source of those sounds and markings—the Hook Horror. The creature is hungry, but what it really wants is to find its way back to the Underdark. It retreats from a fight that is going badly for it.

Underdark Connection

The tunnel in the southeast corner of the bottom level of the mine is where the miners accidentally connected to an Underdark tunnel. The hook horror entered the mine through a hole in the wall, but the hole closed behind it in a cascade of rubble. If the characters clear away the rubble from the hole, they hear clacking and scraping from the other side. The hook horror hears it too and hurries here to rejoin its kin. As long as the characters stay out of its way, it ignores them as it scrambles back through the hole, never to plague the mine again. Each character then earns a bonus 200 XP.

Kobold Bandits

Along the road, the wagon is surrounded by eight Kobold Warriors (Neutral) who demand that the merchant surrender his goods. In combat, the kobolds shout things like "For the Winged God!" and "Fight to reclaim our home!" If four of them fall in battle, the remaining kobolds try to flee. Any captured kobold explains the situation.

Kobold Supplicants

If the characters continue on their way without pursuing the kobolds, twelve Kobold Warriors (including any survivors of the first encounter) and six Winged Kobolds (all Neutral) approach the wagon. These kobolds humbly ask the adventurers to help them. They promise to return the goods they stole from Nondy if the adventurers drive off the dragon.

Kobold Camp

If the adventurers follow fleeing kobolds, they can find the kobolds' camp on a nearby outcropping. The kobolds there don't fight, though, instead begging the adventurers to help them (as in "Kobold Supplicants" above).

Dragon's Lair

Use the Volcanic Caves map in 9 for the dragon's lair, but close off passages to keep the lair small. Near the entrance, the characters encounter a gang of four Magma Mephits and three Smoke Mephits, drawn to the lair by the magic of the dragon.

In the inner cave, the troublesome Red Dragon Wyrmling rests on its little hoard:

• Crate holding Nondy's stolen goods (worth 400 GP)
• 4,200 CP, 2,000 SP, and 180 GP
• Seven gemstones worth 50 GP each
• Potion of Healing
• Rope of Climbing
• Two Spell Scrolls (Alarm and Comprehend Languages)

If the characters defeat or drive off the dragon, each of them earns a bonus 400 XP.

Stage 1

Melchis hires a ship to carry the party to the Amedio Jungle. Use the map to determine how long the sea voyage takes, depending on where the adventurers begin the trip and figuring that the ship covers about 1½ hexes per day. Near the end of the trip, as the ship crosses Jeklea Bay, it's attacked by a group of Hostile sahuagin, including two Sahuagin Priests, six Sahuagin Warriors, and a Water Elemental. (Assume the ship's crew stays out of the way of these terrifying monsters and lets the characters and Melchis deal with this threat.) Stage 1 ends when Melchis and the characters row a launch ashore.

Stage 2

Melchis leads the characters into the jungle, aiming for the shore of the lake. This stage covers about 180 miles through the dense forest. Each day of the journey, roll once on the following table to determine what the characters encounter on their journey, if anything.

Stage 3

Once the characters reach the edge of the lake, Melchis leads them southwest along the shore until they find the ruin. This stage covers 90 miles through coastal terrain. The second day of the journey, 2 obscures vision and creates 2 (see "2" and "2" in 2). The front rank of the party might fall into a quicksand pit while two Giant Crocodiles attack at the same time. The rest of the journey passes without incident.

The Ruins

For the ruins, use the western half of the ground floor of the Dungeon Hideout map in 9, and ignore the stairs leading to the lower levels. Dwelling in the ruins are six Minotaurs of Baphomet who are Hostile to all intruders. They are spread out around the ruins but come quickly when they hear combat.

The Artifact

The Horns of the Beast—a jagged crown made from the horns of demons and wild animals—rests on a pedestal in the northwest corner of the ruins. Melchis immediately attempts to seize the Artifact and place it on his head. If he does, he is transformed into a Hezrou and tries to kill the characters. A character who dons the Artifact is cursed with 2 (see "2" in 2). The Artifact can't be removed from the character's head until a Remove Curse spell is cast on the character. If the characters defeat Melchis and search him, they find a Bag of Holding containing twelve 5-pound gold trade bars (worth 250 GP each) and a Spell Scroll of Teleportation Circle. The scroll also contains the sigil sequence for a permanent teleportation circle. At the end of the adventure, each character earns a bonus 1,000 XP.

Destroying the Artifact

The Horns of the Beast can be destroyed only by dropping it in the 5, which flows through the Upper Planes (see 5). A character can learn this by casting Identify on the Artifact.

Rude Interruption

After the second dance, the ball is interrupted by a Neutral Evil Hobgoblin Warlord named Varka, who is accompanied by a Hobgoblin Captain and five Hobgoblin Warriors. The hobgoblins are offended by the adventurers' presence and attack them. If the characters defeat the hobgoblins, their Renown Score increases by 2.

Conclusion

After three dances, the Baron of the Boreal Ball appears. If the party's Renown Score is at least 6, he bestows on each character a Charm of the Boreal Ball. This charm (see "2" in 2) allows a character who has it to cast the level 3 version of the Ice Knife spell. Once used, the Charm vanishes. Each character also earns a bonus 1,700 XP.