The difference between Background and Introduction
Having realized/decided that the best way to actually get funding and contributors is to create the first issue of Run This... ourselves, the Gang of Five and I are writing adventures. My contribution will be The Redbird Expedition, a 3.5 adventure for levels 3-5. Four of Five is writing up her Pulp-era Crystal Skull adventure (originally run almost two years ago, so, No, it is not based on the Indiana Jones movie) for the Hero System. I don't have word from the other three yet, so I'm sharpening up some pointy sticks to prod them with.
I posted the draft of the Redbird Expedition's background earlier this week. (If you can't see it, that is because I made it "Friends only". If you're interested, send me an email or leave a comment.) Doing so reminded me of a conversation I had with Four of Five about what goes in an adventure's background and what doesn't.
An adventure's background should only contain enough information to bring the ref up to speed as to what events led to the beginning of the adventure. This should be a concise summation of events and decisions that lead to the adventure introduction. It should not contain an extensive history of the antagonists or even the PCs potential allies - save that for a companion article. Additionally, while the background may explain why the antagonist wants something done, it should not cover what will happen in the adventure (although it may suggest heavily). What happens in the adventure is the property of the synopsis.
The adventure introduction should contain the scene that starts the adventure. Ideally this is an action sequence of some sort to get the players directly involved in the plot or, alternatively, that sets them up for something so the plot comes after them. This section should also list some possible alternate story hooks for when the PCs don't follow the expected motivations for whatever reason. About three to five additional hooks will help ensure the widest playability for your adventure.
The adventure synopsis is the brief outline of the adventure, usually broken down by encounter. Each encounter description should be a sentence or three, but not much more and never more than a paragraph. It should very briefly state the essence of each encounter. Details will be in the actual encounter write-up, so don't get bogged down here.
That's what I have on this right now. I may post more later based on feedback and interest.
Later!
I posted the draft of the Redbird Expedition's background earlier this week. (If you can't see it, that is because I made it "Friends only". If you're interested, send me an email or leave a comment.) Doing so reminded me of a conversation I had with Four of Five about what goes in an adventure's background and what doesn't.
An adventure's background should only contain enough information to bring the ref up to speed as to what events led to the beginning of the adventure. This should be a concise summation of events and decisions that lead to the adventure introduction. It should not contain an extensive history of the antagonists or even the PCs potential allies - save that for a companion article. Additionally, while the background may explain why the antagonist wants something done, it should not cover what will happen in the adventure (although it may suggest heavily). What happens in the adventure is the property of the synopsis.
The adventure introduction should contain the scene that starts the adventure. Ideally this is an action sequence of some sort to get the players directly involved in the plot or, alternatively, that sets them up for something so the plot comes after them. This section should also list some possible alternate story hooks for when the PCs don't follow the expected motivations for whatever reason. About three to five additional hooks will help ensure the widest playability for your adventure.
The adventure synopsis is the brief outline of the adventure, usually broken down by encounter. Each encounter description should be a sentence or three, but not much more and never more than a paragraph. It should very briefly state the essence of each encounter. Details will be in the actual encounter write-up, so don't get bogged down here.
That's what I have on this right now. I may post more later based on feedback and interest.
Later!