Adventure Making Checklist

Adventure Building Checklist:

Here are a list of things to fill out about your mission either as you’re writing it, or after you’re finished, to make sure that it is a balance mission and that it makes sense.

What is the PC’s motivation for this mission?

Is it fortune and glory? Does it provide a mcguffin for a greater plot? Is the girlfriend kidnapped?

Deeper than the PC’s motivation, is the PC’s PERSONAL motivation. Why should I complete this mission and not just tell the super police/other superhero team/etc about this. If the world’s going to be destroyed, every other superhero team should be involved as a helper to complete this mission. If my girlfriend is kidnapped, I might want to be there myself.

Ideally this is an easier part, because hopefully the PCs have built superheroes who WANT to go on missions to save innocent people, but see Rule 2: The PCs will always do what you don’t expect. Sometimes the players will just want the police to handle this. If so, you’ve not properly motivated them.

If they need to save people, you need to make sure the people that they care about the potential victim. If Dr Wily kidnapped Mr. Potter from It’s a wonderful life, then PCs will only care if they are interested in monetary reward. Some PCs may think the world is better without Mr. Potter. I’ve had the PCs asked by another hero team to rescue one of their members, but they didn’t like the guy, so they were not interested in the mission at all.

What is the Villain’s motivation for this caper?

Equally important! First of all, is this something the bad guy needs to take care of personally, or can he send minions/sidekicks/etc? Second, why is it so important that he needs to risk his safety and freedom over it?

If he’s crazy, out of control, mind controlled- then fine. If he’s out for wealth, then he’d better be very sure he’ll get away without any trouble, or the payoff needs to be WAY bigger than the risk. If he needs diamonds to save his wife (like Mr. Freeze) then is there a better/easier/ less risky source of diamonds? Is there an alternate power supply?

Along with this- at what point does the villain call it quits? Does he abandon the mission as soon as the PCs are on the case, and play it safe? Does he call it quits as soon as the PCs confront him? Does he quit once it’s clear he’s losing the battle? Or does he fight to the death? Provide a reason WHY he goes to the extreme he’s going to go to.

If he is willing to escape, make sure you think about how he will escape. Teleporting is easy enough, but many PCs build fast characters, or ones who can track. Be ready to make the escape difficult, especially if the PCs are faster than jets or can TK lift cars.

What are the Stakes?

This goes into character motivation, but it’s also important to determine what will happen if the villain succeeds or fails. Will the world explode? Will he have 1 of the 10 artifacts he needs for some plan? Will the world turn purple? If the stakes aren’t high enough, the players may not be interested.

What powers/skills/feats or combination of above will short circuit the entire mission?

Just need to think about it. If the villain is pretending to help the party the whole time, then a PC that mind reads and/or has high sense motive will catch this early. High notice will break disguises. Many super-senses bypass concealment,  or detect powers, which can expose secrets.

Postcognition, object reading, precognition, x-ray vision, ESP-  are a few Investigation breaking powers.

Mind control, emotion control, fascinate- can be a few Social breaking powers.

Concealment (especially all senses), super movements (like phasing)- can break Stealth missions

It’s OK if a power can break the mission (or part of it)- just be aware of it so you’re not surprised later.

Let’s talk about what BREAKING a mission means- by the way. If the party is meant to stealth into some place, then concealment doesn’t break the mission- it accomplishes the mission. By contrast- if the players are meant to negotiate for hostages, and you have a high level of resistance to stop them from breaking in, concealment might mean they can walk right past a thousand soldiers and get the prisoners that way. Can be good, can be bad- but could be considered BREAKING the mission.

How does this impact campaign lore?

An odd question, but one to be considered. Previously used NPCs may have their characters deepened. You may have introduced a new villain or an organization, or you may have attached a name and face to a mayor or president.

If the mission is related to time travel, then you’re setting up your time travel “rules” in this mission- and future missions should keep to the same lore. If the mission is about angels, then you’re establishing angels and possibly heaven/religion, etc. If Zeus shows up, then you’re establish (at least in part) the validity of the greek religion.

Along with this question, ask if you’re altering or contradicting (or validating) previously established lore.

The relationship of the party with NPCs, NPCs with each other, or various power groups with each other are all part of the lore you establish with your missions and should be considered.

How difficult is this mission? What skills are REQUIRED to complete the mission?

A mission might require some skills. For example, if you need to find out who killed the person in Apt 22B, you might require EITHER investigation, OR search, OR postcognition, OR gather information- but if the PCs don’t have any of those skills, will they automatically fail the mission?

Each mission should have at least 2-3 ways to complete it “successfully”. (In quotes, because some paths can be easier, more successful, or more obvious than others). Remember Rule 2: The PCs will not do what you expect. They may not want to storm the castle (or be unable to).

So, let’s say the mission is to rescue the princess from the dragon. Obviously, fighting the dragon is an option. Option 2 may involve stealth and rescuing the princess without alerting the dragon, which may be harder or easier than 1. Option 3 might be discovering that the dragon is afraid of eels, and obtaining an eel to frighten away the dragon- much easier to accomplish, but very non-obvious and might be hard to discover this option even exists. Option 4 might be convincing the dragon to trade the princess for something else. The players may discover new ways you didn’t think of, but at least there are 4 ways to succeed. Option 1 is suited to combat characters, 2 to stealth characters, and 3 to investigative characters, and 4 to social characters- but players might not know option 2 of them are even viable without making some kind of skill rolls. See the GM cruelty scale for how obvious you want to make the options.

What are the PC’s choices during this mission?

Besides succeed or fail, take the mission or don’t take the mission- what are the PC’s actual choices? Multiple ways to solve the mission indicate a choice. Maybe they can choose to side with one of two factions to help solve the mission. The choices should have consequences later (not necessarily bad, but the choices should matter- see how it impacts lore).

If the PCs have no choice but to go along the mission, you’re railroading them. Perhaps offer a moral,  or tactical choice. (Such as solving the mission quickly or taking on extra mission criteria to make it harder). For example: A noble wants you to save his daughter, but will pay extra if the kidnappers are brought alive to him to do with as he sees fit. A moral, as well as a tactical choice, as bringing him live kidnappers changes your approach to the problem.

What is the players REWARD?

Besides power points. Do they get bonus skill points/feats, Fame? Money? A new hideout? There should be some kind of ultimate reward each time, and it need not always be pure mechanical. A new contact/friend is a great one.

Hopefully this will help a GM while creating missions.