<h1 style="text-align: right"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 16px">by [[Larry Moore]]</span></h1><div><div>The following article provides a layout for building
adventure modules. My goal is to provide a standard
for adventure writing. This is useful for the Online
Gaming project we are attempting to get started.
Additionally if we have several Referees’ running the
same adventure, with a standard layout they can easily
pick up where the other left off. Of course standards
help write the adventure themselves. A good start to
adventure writing has been provided by Brian Conway
in his article tilted Creative Refereeing, #7-p13. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>NOTE:</b> The following section entitled “COVER” is
optional. I included it to make the module complete
from cover to cover. With my own writing sometimes I
get bogged down finding just-the-right cover image to
spending too much time writing the teaser text. The
most important part is the adventure itself which
begins at “REFEREE BRIEFING REPORT”.</div><div><br /></div><h2>COVER</h2><div><div>This is the cover page of the adventure. It contains the following information including an image picturing an scene form the adventure.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Adventure Number</b></div><div>I use the following conventions; SFAD-Cxx or SFKH-Cxx. Refer to the following table.</div><div><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="35%"><tbody><tr><td>Acronym </td><td>Description </td></tr><tr><td> SF</td><td>Star Frontiers </td></tr><tr><td> AD</td><td>Alpha Dawn </td></tr><tr><td> KH</td><td>Knight Hawks </td></tr><tr><td> C</td><td>Contributed </td></tr><tr><td> xx</td><td>Module Number </td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>Example; SFAD-C03 would be the third contributed module using the Alpha Dawn rules. If a module uses both AD and KH rules simple use the SFKH acronym and state in the introduction; “This module uses the Alpha Dawn Expanded Game Rules in addition to the Knight Hawks Campaign Book Expansion Rules.”</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Gaming system name</b></div><div>Once you have the adventure number simply type out the game system that will be used. </div><div>“Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Adventure” </div><div>“Star Frontiers Knight Hawks Adventure”</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Name of the adventure</b></div><div>The adventure name should be succinct, something catchy and relative to the story line.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Table of contents</b></div><div>A table of contents (TOC) will be listed along with credits to the author, editor and artists.</div></div><div><br /></div><h2>REFEREE BRIEFING REPORT</h2><div>This is the Referee's introduction to the adventure. It contains topics such as;</div><div><ul><li>How to use this module</li><li>Number of players and skills required</li><li>Adventure overview and plot synopsis</li><li>Campaign Adjustment (optional)</li></ul></div><div><i>Campaign Adjustments</i> - If this is a continuing adventure module from an existing campaign this section covers details if the PC's have taken part in previous adventures or they are starting the campaign from this point.</div><div><br /></div><div><h2>ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA, DELTA, EPSILON SECTIONS</h2><div>These sections start with an introduction to the players and begin the encounters they will face. Each section is designed to provide a single-nights gaming session, about 3-4 hours of playtime and has the following layout. (In the example below I will use Alpha)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>1. Session Introduction</b></div><div>This is always section 1 of the session, for easy identification by Referee's. This section is a recap of the previous session and an introduction to the current session. </div><div><ul><li>Alpha 1.0 Introduction</li></ul></div><div><b>2. Encounters</b></div><div>This is always section 2 of the session, for easy identification by Referees. Sessions can have many events/encounters designed to eventually lead to session's main event. Each event/encounter is numbered as a subsection of section 2. For example: Alpha 2.1, Alpha 2.2, etc. Events normally lack mapped encounter areas, but may have images, sections to read aloud, or handouts.They are often of one of the following event types: encounter, role-playing, problem-solving, or skill challenge.</div><div><ul><li>Alpha 2.0 Encounter</li><li>Alpha 2.1 Encounter</li><li>Alpha 2.2 Encounter<br />(and so on)</li></ul></div><div><b>3. Main Event</b></div><div>Always section 3 for easy identification. This is either a keyed map area location or simply a main encounter/event of the sessions. Each keyed map area is found as subsections of section 3. For example, a corridor on a map for Gamma session might be labeled with a "6" to be described in Gamma 3.6.</div><div><ul><li>Alpha 3.0 Main event</li></ul></div><div><b>4. Session Wrap-up</b></div><div>Always section 4 for easy identification. This is usually a final role-playing event or sometimes just a moment to rest the characters. Sometimes it is just a boxed section of text to read aloud. It always includes experience awards, along with any other things awarded to the character for their efforts.</div><div><ul><li>Alpha 4.0 Session wrap-up </li></ul></div><div>Next I'll use Beta since the Alpha section is complete, then Gamma, Epsilon and so on until the module is complete. Example;</div><div><ul><li>Beta 1.0 Introduction</li><li>Beta 2.0 Encounter</li><li>Beta 2.1 Encounter</li><li>Beta 2.2 Encounter</li><li>Beta 2.3 Encounter</li><li>Beta 2.4 Encounter</li><li>Beta 3.0 Main event</li><li>Beta 4.0 Session wrap-up</li></ul><h2>REFEREE'S BACKGROUND MATERIAL</h2><div>This section is dedicated to the Referee and may contain one or more of the following topics;</div><div><ul><li>Abbreviations</li><li>Season and movement</li><li>Maps</li><li>Player character equipment *</li><li>NPC stats and tables</li><li>Random encounter tables</li><li>System brief *</li><li>Alien creature update report *</li><li>New rules</li></ul></div><div>* Depending on the adventure these items may appear in the Player's Background Report.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><h2>PLAYER'S BACKGROUND REPORT</h2><div>This section is dedicated to the Players and may contain one or more of the following topics;</div><div><ul><li>Handouts</li><li>Briefing Reports (Background information)</li><li>Maps (Only maps that characters would have before the adventure starts)</li><li>Pregenerated Player Characters</li><li>New Equipment</li></ul></div><h2>FUTURE ADVENTURES</h2><div>This section gives ideas for plot hooks and future adventures the Player’s may encounter down the road.</div><div><br /></div><h2>BACK COVER</h2><div><b>Teaser text and Image</b></div><div>The teaser text should appear on the last page of the book, something to draw in the reader but does not give too much detail away. It should also have a picture representing a scene in the adventure.</div><div>Sometimes the back cover is a crop of the front page image zoomed in. Tips on Writing Modules</div><div>I use a piece of graph paper or blank sheet and write a simple introduction. Under the text I draw a box and fill in the first main event (Alpha 3.0). The next box is the second main event (Beta 3.0); the following box is the third main event (Gamma 3.0) and so on. I connect the boxes with lines, off to the side I write down encounter ideas that lead to the main event. Sometimes I use a random encounter.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><img src="/files/u22/adventurelayouts.png" alt="Adventure Layouts" width="550" height="670" /></div><div><br /></div><div><hr /></div>