Tips for Creating Great Quests

Creating great quests is as easy as 1-2-3!

Think of an adventure that will be interesting to the players and challenging for the Heroes. You can get some great ideas by looking at existing quests, like those in The Return of the Witch Lord Quest Pack.

Write a short paragraph to explain the adventure.

Mark the map with the monsters, furniture and traps that are in the dungeon.

Some great design hints and tips:

Short & Intense - It is a running joke in D&D that you never find a bathroom in a dungeon, so no PCs or monsters have ever relieved themselves. There aren't any bathrooms because exploring a bathroom does not make for an exciting adventure. But, by the same token, many dungeons contain broom closets, storage cellars and even empty rooms. After combat, exploration takes up the most play time. Unfortunately most RPG sessions are long and boring with nothing much being accomplished because they include so many empty and uninteresting rooms.

Make every room interesting and worth the time it takes to explore it.

Make adventures short and intense, not long and boring.

Keep in mind that to explore a HeroQuest room takes approximately 15 minutes of real-world play time.

No Free Lunches - Never give any treasure to the PCs, be it magic or mundane, without them earning it. Give treasure only as reward for solving puzzles or defeating monsters. Make the reward fit the accomplishment. Give more treasure for cleaver puzzle solutions and innovative PC combat tactics. Give less for dull, unimaginative play. Always have the PC's foe using against them in combat any magic treasure they may gain.

A room containing a really tough monster should also contain some kind of healing treasure.

Furniture and monsters should be set in a dungeon with the player's position to the board in mind.

Do not place traps at corridor intersections and corners. Design the dungeon so that diagonal movement is not necessary.

The dungeon designer should have complete control over the treasures and monsters found in their dungeons. Always design a dungeon so that the search deck is not required.

Tell me about the techniques you use to create quests! Mitchel