Download - Adventure-A-Week Module Creation Guide

7/23/2019 Adventure-A-Week Module Creation Guide

1/16

Adventureaweek.com FantasyGroundsmodulecreationguidelines

Version Date UpdatedBy Notes

1

26thMarch

2013

Martin

Blake

Initial

release

2 31stMarch2013 MartinBlake Addedsectionsbased

onforumdiscussions

Thisdocumentprovidesanumberofguidelines/recommendationsonwhatshouldbeincludedina

FantasyGrounds(FG)adventuremodule. ItisspecificallyaimedatcreatingFGmodulesfor

Adventureaweek.com(AaW)scenarios. ThemaingoalofthisdocumentistoaidincreatingFG

modulesthatincludethekeyfeaturesneededtorunagameontheFGVTTandalsotoensurethat

allmoduleshaveauniformfeel evenifdifferentpeoplehaveproducedthem.

ThisdocumentassumesthatthemodulebeingcreatedisforthePathfinderroleplayinggame

rulesetitcanapplyequallyto3.5,exceptthereisno3.5ecreatureparser.

ThemainstepstocreatingFGmodulesare:

1.

Startabrandnewmodulemakingcampaignusethestandard3.5erulesetanddonot

includeanyextensionsinthiscampaign. Itneedstobeensuredthatthemodulewillwork

withthebaseFantasyGroundsinstallation. SelectthePFRPGmodewhenthecampaign

loads.

2. Extractanymapsandartfromthescenarioandplacetheseinthecampaign\images

directorygivethemrelevantnamesasthesewillbethenamesusedbydefaultwithinthe

campaign. Iftherearebattlemaps,applya5footgridtothemapsothisisreadytogoand

theGM

doesnt

have

to

mess

around

during

the

game.

3. Enterthevariousdataneededstoryentries,NPCs(usetheparserseebelow),items,

encounter,etc..

4.

Buildupalayered,linkbasedmenuandsubmenusystemwithlocationstoryentries

containinglinkstomaps,NPCs,encounters,etc.. Usetheimagepushpinstolinkstory

entriestolocationsonthemaps.

5.

DonotlinktolibrarymodulesthatwillnotbeavailabletothebaseFGinstallationuse

copiesofinformationinthenewmodulemakingcampaignitself(ifcopyrightallows)or

createAaWspecificmodulesifneeded.

6.

UsetokensforNPCs/creatureswhereveryoucan. FGcomeswithsomeamazingtopdown

and

pog

tokens

for

animals,

adventurers

and

monsters.

Link

to

these

tokens

if

there

are

appropriatetokens,ifnotusealettertokenforcreatures. AttachthesetotheNPCentriesin

thecampaign.

7.

Createencounterentriesforeachpossibleencounter. IncludetheNPCs(withtheirtokens

alreadyattached)andpreplacethecreaturetokensontherelevantmap. Doingallofthis

willaidtheGMgreatlyininitiatingcombatastheencounterentrywill:putallNPCentrieson

thecombattracker(CT),rollforinitiativefortheNPCs(ifthissettingisenabled)andplace

thetokensonthemapbutkeeptheminitiallyinvisible. Also,includethetotalXPforthe


2/16

encounterasthiswillallowtheGMtodragtheencountertothepartysheettotrackand

distributeXPautomatically.

8. Traps:CreateTrapentriesasNPCsincludeeffectentriestoenableFGautomationbeit

attackeffectsorspells. Addattackeffectstothetrapeffectsection/sandaddanyspell

effectstotheSpellstab. Createanencounterforthetrap,withatokenforplacementon

themap(easyfortheGMtoseewherethetrapis)thentheGMcaneasilyputthetrap

intotheCT,targetplayers,etc.. Oncethetrapisdefeated,theencountercanbedraggedto

theXPsectionofthepartysheettodistributeXP. Seelatersectioninthisdocumentforfull

detailsoncreatingatrap.

9.

CreatetreasureparcelstofacilitatesharingofthelistoflootfoundbythePCS(rightclick>

sharetoshowthetreasureparceltotheplayers)andalsodistributionofcoinsviatheparty

sheet.

10.

Exportthecampaigntoahostdatamodule,includeathumbnailofthescenariofront

page.

11.

Closethemodulemakingcampaignandstartanewmoduletestcampaign. Openyour

newlymademoduleandtestitout. Ifthereisneedforanychanges,gobackintoyour

modulemaking

campaign,

make

changes

there,

export

again

and

test

in

the

module

test

campaign. Doingitthiswaywillhelptoensurethatyourbase,modulemakingcampaignis

clean(nostraydatafromtesting).

12.

Makebackupsofyourmodulemakingcampaignalongthewaymakeazipcopyofthe

campaignfolder. Thiswillallowyoutogobacktopreviousversionsifyouhaveissuesand

willalsoallowyoutokeepyourworkincaseofissues. Irecommendstoringthesebackups

onacloudstorage(e.g.DropBox,orsimilar)soevenifyourcomputercrashes,setsonfire,

laptopisstolen,etc.youwillbeabletogetyourworkback.

ImgoingtousethetwoexamplemoduleswenowhavetoshowwhatwerelookingforA0

convertedbyCJandA1convertedbyKeith. Thanksfordoingtheseconversionspleasedonttake

anycomments

regarding

them

as

negative,

they

are

both

excellent

conversions

and

Im

just

pointing

outafewlittleimprovements.

Storyentrylayout

Ideally,thetoplevelofthestoryentryshouldbeanorderedlistofallofthemainentriesinthe

scenarioitself(takenfromthescenariowebpage/PDF). AnexampleofthisisA1:


3/16

Usenumbers

at

the

beginning

of

each

story

entry

to

order

the

entries.

AlwaysincludeacreditssectionandOGLstatementatthetopofthelist!

Iddebateastowhetherweneedatableofcontentsinthislistthistoplevellistshould

reallybethetableofcontents. Anothercouldbeconfusing.

Ordertheentriesastheyappearinthepublishedscenario.

Withineachentry,includelinkstothepreviousandnextsection. ThismakesiteasyforGMs

tonavigatetootherstoryentrieswithoutgoingbackandforwardsbetweenthetoplevel

list. Heresanexample:


4/16

Then,eachentrytodowithalocationshouldhaveanumberoflinks:maps/images,NPCs,

encounters,treasureparcels,items,etc.todowiththatlocation. Includeboxtexttoread

(dragtothechatwindow)andeverythingneededatthislocationandlinkstootherrelated

items. HereisagoodexamplefromA0theCombatEncounterlinkbringsupthe

KoboldsAttackwindow,justclickthedownarrowbuttonatthebottomtoputthekobolds

onthecombattrackerandthemap,theCombatMaplinksbringsupthemap. Thiswill

really

save

the

GM

lots

of

time

and

keep

the

game

moving

by

allowing

a

quick

transition

to

combat.


5/16

Shortcuts!

ThisissomethingthathasntbeendoneineitheroftheA0orA1modulesunlessIvemissedthem.

Shortcutsarelinksdirectlyonanimage/map,theyaregreatforallowingtheGMtotrackareasof

interestonamapandquicklybringupthestoryentryrelatedtothatlocation. Thesearenotvisible

totheplayersatall,andsoitmakesitpossiblefortheGMtorunmostofadungeoncrawljustoff

theplayersmapwiththeshortcutlinksprovidingtheequivalentoftraditionallocationnumber

references.

Touseshortcutstheyneedtobeenabledoneachmapyouwanttousethemon. Rightclickand

selectLayers>EnableShortcuts. Nowyoucandragstoryentriesontothemapandtheywill

appearasredpushpins. HereisanexampleofoneaddedtotheplayermapinA1andshowingthe

relatedstoryentrythatisdisplayedwhenthepushpinispressed. Note:thetextshownonthe

pushpinisnotnormallyvisible;itisshownwhentheGMhoversthemouseoverthepushpin.


6/16

NPCs

IfcreaturesareusedfromotherOGLmodules(Bestiaries13,forexample)openthatmoduleand

dragtheentriesneededintotheNPCslistinyourmodulemakecampaignthiswillallowyouto

unlocktheNPCandaddtokens,etc.. ItalsomakessurethatalloftheNPCstatsareintheFG

module

and

the

scenario

is

not

relying

on

the

GM

having

other

library

modules

to

display

the

data.

Ifthecreatures/NPCsarecustom,usethecreatureparsertocreateacustommodule:

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15475 Then,openNPCmodule

createdanddragtheNPCsintothecampaign. ThisisabigtimesaverontheGMsside.

AlwayscheckthatanyNPCsimportedfromanothermoduleorviatheparserhavecorrectdatain

theFGNPCwindow.

AlwaysaddatokentotheNPCyouneedtohavetheNPCinthecampaignlistandunlocktheNPC

tobeabletoaddatoken. Attheleastusealettertokenfromthelettertokenmodulebut,ideally,

findasuitabletokeninthenewlyavailabletokenmodulesfromShockbolt. Dontincludetheactual

physicaltokens

in

the

module

export

as

this

is

aviolation

of

their

use

just

leave

them

as

alink

into

thereferencemodule;thisisdoneautomaticallybythesystemwhenyoudragthetokentotheNPC.


7/16

Traps

TrapsshouldbecreatedsimilartoanNPC:

CreateanewNPCentryoftypetrap.

GiveitatokenperhapsaTlettertoken(forTrap).

Enteralloftherequiredinformation.

HeresanexamplefromB1:

ThisshouldbeenteredinFGasfollows:

MainTab:


8/16

SpellTab:

Toaddthespelleffect(EarPiercingScreamspell),makeanewSpellClassandgiveitaCLof4this

istheminimumCLneededtogive2d6sonicdamage(thespelldamageis1d6per2casterlevels).

Enter1inthe1stlevelspellbox(thisenablestheLevel1headingbelow). Then,openthe

communityPFSRDCompletePaizoSpellsmoduleinthelibrary(availablefromhere:

http://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=2197&d=1323069168).

Searchforearpiercingintheallspellsentry:

DragthisspelltotheLevel1heading:


9/16

Thenexpandthespellentrybyclickingonthegreydieiconontherightofthedescriptiontoshow

thedetails:

NoteinitiallythesaveDCis1toolow,soclickthedownarrowafterthesaveentryandmanually

add1tothesavetomakeitDC12. ThedamageandeffecthavebeenparsedbyFantasyGrounds

thiswontalwayshappensoyoumayneedtochangethisyourself.

IftheGMneedstoseefulldetailsofthespell,theycanclickthelinkbuttontotherightofthespell

descriptiontosee:


10/16

Finally,enterprepmodesothatthisspellcanbepreparedandsousablebythetrap. Clickthe

prepcheckboxandthenenablethespellbyclickingthegreyedoutroundcheckboxtotheright

ofthespellname:


11/16

OncethespellispreparedthecircularcheckboxwillbedarkerandyoullseePrepared:1for

level1:

Nowyourefinished,lockthetrap(clickthepadlockiconinthebottomleft)andthespellentrywill

beshownreadytouseincombat:


12/16

Ifyouhadntpreparedthespellthisentrywouldappearempty.

Now,youcanusethetrapspelleffecteasilytargetthePCwhosetsthetrapoff(thetrapneedsto

beintheCTtodothisIllshowthisnext),clickthedieicontocastthespellandthesavewillbe

rolled,thenclickthedamageandeffecticonstoapplythedamageand/ordazeeffectasnecessary.

Nonmagictraps

Theseare

alot

quicker

to

enter

than

spell

effect

traps.

Put

the

attacks/damage

in

the

Effect

and

Effect2sectionjustlikeyouwouldanattack:


13/16

Then,theGMcantargetPCslikehewouldausualNPCattack,doubleclickontheAtk+15entryto

rolltheattackandifithitsdoubleclickonthe1d6+6damageentrytoapplydamagetotargetedPCs.

TrapEncounter

AddingthetrapNPCtoanencounterentryhasanumberofbenefits:

ThetrapcanbeaddedtotheCombatTrackerwiththepressofthedownarrowwhichthen

allowstheGMtoeasilytargetaPCandapplythetrapeffects.

Ifthetokenhasbeenplacedonamapduringencounterdesign,thetokenwillappearonthe

map(hiddenfromtheplayers)sotheGMknowsexactlywherethetrapis.

IfthetrapisdefeatedtheGMcaneasilyapplyXPtothepartybydraggingtheencounter

totheXPsectionofthePartySheet.

CreatingatrapencounterentertheCRandXPofthetrap(XPisbasedoffCRandisdetailedinthe

ExperiencePointAwardtablehere:http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/gamemastering.html


14/16

Placethetraptokenonthemapifneededbydraggingthetokentotherelevantmapthe

placementlistwillshowacheckmark:


15/16

WhentheGMpressestheAddNPCstoCombatTrackerdownarrowthetrapwillappearintheCT

andtheGMcantargetthePC/swhotriggeredthetrap:

Ifthetrapisdefeated,theencounterlinkcanbedraggedtotheXPsectionofthepartysheetto

allowtrackinganddistributionofXPwhentheGMdecides:


16/16