BUILDING BLOCKS

When it comes to making a scenario, what is that you actually make it
out of? What are the bricks that make the wall, the things that the
player spends 90% of his time and effort on?

In a "traditional" scenario, it's the dungeon. The player wanders
through these places, usually doing a lot of fighting or solving the odd
puzzle, and eventually finds or does something that allows him to
advance in the scenario.

However, the advent of the "modern" scenario has brought the sequence
into focus as an equally important building block. Where a dungeon is
essentially a place for the party to explore, the sequence is a chain of
events that the party participates in.

It's important to note that "traditional" and "modern" here do not
necessarily mean that one design style is better than the other, nor
that "traditional" scenarios are old hat. Shyguy's well-received
Adventurer's Club series is much more recent than many "modern"
scenarios, and are still primarily dungeon-based "traditional"
adventures. I use the terms simply to differentiate in style.

Dungeons, and scenarios that rely heavily on them, are primarily
player-driven. They sit there, waiting for the party to come and try to
conquer them. Everything in a dungeon is linked by location. A dungeon
is usually one place where you can find many different things, and where
many different things can happen.

Sequences are primarily event-driven. While the party may have a large
role in the unfolding events, this isn't necessary. Once the scenario
reaches a certain point, things start happening, whether the player is
ready or not. Sequences are not bound by location - they can happen
within a town, over several dungeons, within the mind of a character, or
even on several different continents. They are, however, bound by
subject. Everything that happens must be related to everything else -
while in a dungeon the player can encounter a large number of completely
different things - they only have to be physically near each other.

When you find a ruined castle full of undead and have to kill the
vampire that leads them, that's a dungeon. When you get to the vampire
and he leads you on a merry chase through the crumbling ramparts, that's
a sequence.

While both dungeons and sequences need to be a part of the central story
and be justified by it, both also go beyond that. They are meant to be
enjoyable in of themselves, and usually go much longer than they need to
in order to convey the story beat in question. If the story is the
skeleton of a scenario, the dungeons and sequences are the meat. They
need to be fairly substantial, and they need to be tasty.

How do you make them good? This is a huge question I could never hope to
answer completely, no matter how many articles I wrote on the subject.
The best advice I can give is to make sure they are fun, and make sure
they fit well within the scenario. If all of your dungeons and sequences
do this, you can't go far wrong.

Which is better to use? Who knows? To a large degree it comes down to
individual preference. Terror's Martyr's scenarios are usually made
exclusively from sequences, while Brett Bixler tends to rely heavily on
dungeons. In Falling Stars, the assault on the Big Bad is done through a
long, tough dungeon gauntlet. In Spears (slith side in particular), it's
done as a long sequence. Both scenarios are highly regarded.

Of course, no one says you can't use both. Spears uses mostly sequences
in the main plotline, while side quests and subplots are built with
dungeons. In my scenario Revenge, I used dungeons in the real world and
sequences in the dream world.

So ultimately, like so many things, it's all up to you. Whatever you
would most enjoy to play is probably the best choice.

- The Creator