Quote from: Arminius;869742Returning to something that's bubbled up to my consciousness a number of times in the past, I'm wondering what people would recommend in the area of adventure generators. Just today I was thinking that the ideal generator would be something that broke down narrative threads into their smallest elements of the five W's and one H (explanation if you don't know) and offered mechanics for relating them and spinning off. Crimson Cutlass had a pretty nice set of charts for this, but focused on a fairly specific type of adventure (patron-driven missions in early modern Europe). Not sure how easy it would be to generalize it for something more S&S/fantasy/D&D.

(This is a little different from what might be called lists of seeds or plots, which I think of as more completely structured adventure outlines. I don't know if Eureka's 501 Adventure Plots or Roleplaying Tips 100 Encounters & Plots are really like this, but it's the vibe i get from the title.)

And what do you know, today I stopped into a store and saw Matt Finch's Tome of Adventure Design which seems to match the spec pretty well. But I notice that the first two parts of the book are also available separately as the Design Deskbook Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. Just volume 1 might suit me just fine since I'm not really interested in monster design. Anybody know what else is in the Tome that I'd be missing out on? (And is that publisher legit?)

Then doing some more research I found discussion here about Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide from TSR. And finally I came across a reference to AEG's Ultimate Toolbox and Toolbox. Not sure if one supersedes the other.

Personally, I have no time for static adventure generators, in book form.

I much prefer to put them in table form in a program, then randomly generate 2000 scenarios. That way, I can roll a D20 and D100 to select a scenario and use it as a seed in a campaign.

Thanks, Pundy. As it happens I just ordered Yoon-Suin, and I'll take another look at Crimson Tide (are you referring to the Tag concept used in many/all of SN's games?).

Soltakss--sure, I can see that would save time. I'd be interested in knowing how you develop the structure and content. E.g. do you literally go with who what when where why how? Or some other way of linking the elements?

Just remembered this: http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Plot_Kickers_and_Oracles

Personally, I love them.  I never really use them as intended, but they always give me ideas from which I fold, spindle and mutilate into adventures I want to run.

Quote from: JeremyR;869765I've never really understood the need for those random table adventure seed generators. I can understand ones that that help you come up with a city or location, but usually plots and such that PCs do are often their own idea. Unless your players want to play as someone else's flunkies.

And for dungeon design, I really like the old Central Casting: Dungeons.

They can be useful for on the fly stuff or even for planning. Some DMs really thrive on things like that. One roll could give them ideas for an entire campaign. Or it might take a working further through the system for the spark to ignite.

Its also useful for solo play when you dont want to use something super robust, but super vague like Mythic.

Quote from: soltakss;870624I much prefer to put them in table form in a program, then randomly generate 2000 scenarios. That way, I can roll a D20 and D100 to select a scenario and use it as a seed in a campaign.

Out of curiosity, why do you do it that way instead of just generating individual scenarios on demand as needed?

I do a lot of similar things with software, but I generally either generate single items (mostly for things like random encounters) or smaller batches (e.g., names in batches of 20) for things where I'm likely to reject the first one or two and want another.

True, having done the programming it would be easy to just generate stuff on the fly, but I imagine some benefits of pregeneration are:

--You don't need a computer/tablet at the table. There are a bunch of reasons you might prefer to use a preprinted list.

--You can pre-edit the results so only the good stuff is in your list.

--Going a step farther, you can pre-flesh-out each encounter with stats, names, etc. This is sort of what Black Vulmea describes in a post in his blog.

BTW I found this:
http://www.hyperborea.tv/uploads/4/4/6/6/44662451/asshrandom-adv-gen.pdf

Also, I'm sorry I worded the title of this thread the way I did. No offense to anyone but I was really hoping for specific recommendations and reviews of generators that are available, or techniques that people have used to create their own.

Quote from: nDervish;870715Out of curiosity, why do you do it that way instead of just generating individual scenarios on demand as needed?

I do a lot of similar things with software, but I generally either generate single items (mostly for things like random encounters) or smaller batches (e.g., names in batches of 20) for things where I'm likely to reject the first one or two and want another.

If I have a random generator that involves rolling on 8 tables, or more depending on the results of previous rolls, then it takes me ages to roll up a scenario.
However, if I plug the tables into a pre-written random generator, then it takes me half an hour to set it up and generate a spreadsheet. I can then use that spreadsheet to generate a large number of scenarios. I can turn it into a PDF and view it on a tablet, making it very portable.
It is just better for me.

Quote from: Arminius;870677Soltakss--sure, I can see that would save time. I'd be interested in knowing how you develop the structure and content. E.g. do you literally go with who what when where why how? Or some other way of linking the elements?

I use them to kick off scenarios, so a list of ideas is probably enough for me to use as a scenario seed.

Quote from: Arminius;870677Just remembered this: http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=Plot_Kickers_and_Oracles

That's the kind of end result that I would like. However, having single random results means that I would regenerate lots of times to get one that I liked.

I wonder where the tables behind the plots are.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;869890One reason I like tables like that is they nudge you out of habits and patterns. It is the same reason why I like treasure tables. I am inclined toward certain types of treasure as a GM (I just find certain magic items fun while others I haven't really thought about as much). Using tables encourages me to put things in play I might otherwise ignore. Same with adventure design.

That's the best reason to use them, though sometimes the dice get in a rut too ("Not goblins again!"), but that can be dealt with by a re-roll or just picking one you haven't rolled before.

Quote from: soltakss;870840If I have a random generator that involves rolling on 8 tables, or more depending on the results of previous rolls, then it takes me ages to roll up a scenario.
However, if I plug the tables into a pre-written random generator, then it takes me half an hour to set it up and generate a spreadsheet. I can then use that spreadsheet to generate a large number of scenarios. I can turn it into a PDF and view it on a tablet, making it very portable.
It is just better for me.

Right, I'm with you up to the point of putting it into software.  That's what I do myself and it works great.

It's the pre-rolling it and putting it into a PDF that seems weird to me, but, then, I carry a laptop with me pretty much everywhere, so I can click a button and create as many random scenarios as I want at any time.  If you only carry a tablet and your generator isn't either a tablet app or something accessible online, then I guess that would explain it.

Quote from: nDervish;871029It's the pre-rolling it and putting it into a PDF that seems weird to me, but, then, I carry a laptop with me pretty much everywhere, so I can click a button and create as many random scenarios as I want at any time.  If you only carry a tablet and your generator isn't either a tablet app or something accessible online, then I guess that would explain it.

I generate using Progress 4GL on a laptop, generating an Excel spreadsheet.

My tablet won't run Progress and I don't have an Excel reader installed, so saving as a PDF makes it portable.

Quote from: Elfdart;870978That's the best reason to use them, though sometimes the dice get in a rut too ("Not goblins again!"), but that can be dealt with by a re-roll or just picking one you haven't rolled before.

I think it is always important to remember that with any tool. They are there to help the GM breath life into the world, to give a sense of unpredictability and reality to things. But you shouldn't become enslaved to them. You don't have to use them all the time. You can introduce things because they seem like they ought to happen. Also, updating encounter tables is important to keeping them functional.

Quote from: Arminius;870736Also, I'm sorry I worded the title of this thread the way I did. No offense to anyone but I was really hoping for specific recommendations and reviews of generators that are available, or techniques that people have used to create their own.

One dungeon generator I really enjoyed was "How to Host a Dungeon" It is mostly free, or you can order the deluxe version pretty cheap.

It generates a progressively fleshed out sideview dungeon environ with a gradual history developing that you can use for setting ideas.

http://tonydowler.com/projects/how-to-host-a-dungeon/