To Read Aloud, or Not to Read Aloud: that is the Question

As part of my ongoing design of Gloamhold and its innumerable shadow-drenched, doom-shrouded halls I’ve been thinking deeply about the nuts and bolts of adventure design. Here, I’m not talking about what monsters lurk where or what treasures they might guard. I’ve done that top-level plotting about the dungeon’s various denizens.

Continue reading To Read Aloud, or Not to Read Aloud: that is the Question

The Art of Simple

I’ve thought a lot about complexity (and simplicity) in campaign and adventure design recently. I’ve previously posted about the Paradox of Choice and KISS, but I can’t seem to shake the allure of simplicity.

Continue reading The Art of Simple

Update #2: September’s 30,000 Word Challenge and the Forsaken Demesne

If you’ve been following my blog, you’ll know September is my 30,000-word adventure month, in that my plan is to write a 30,000-word adventure from scratch by the end of the month. Well, I’ve got some exciting news!

Continue reading Update #2: September’s 30,000 Word Challenge and the Forsaken Demesne

Shadowed Keep on the Borderland Retrospective

A couple of years ago, I wrote the Shadowed Keep on the Borderlands as a homage to the Moathouse from T1 The Village of Hommlet (perhaps a perfect low-level adventure). Before I started, I sat down and worked out what I wanted to achieve with the adventure and how I planned to achieve it. These four posts layout my evil scheme: