Quote:
Originally Posted by kmunoz
The standard adventure template assumes a non-fixed, genericized location or locations: it's more about plot than place.
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The first part is not entirely true, but the second part is. The adventure template looks at any given location in two ways. One is generic (a bar, a remote outpost in space); the other is specific (Throg's Orcish Bar and Grill, Space Patrol Forward Base #392).
This is part of what enables plot to take precedence over place. The generic description sets out the essential requirements if the GM needs to adapt the adventure to his campaign. Non-humans don't exist in this particular game world? Fall back on the generic description, maybe letting the GM slot in a native barbaric culture. Different outer space law-enforcement mechanisms? Fall back on the generic description, letting the GM fill in a military organization or self-policing asteroid miners' cooperative.
So, then, where does this leave DF adventures? Well, yes, a dead-simple adventure which consists
solely of killing things and taking their stuff is, in terms of SJ Games outlines, probably a location rather than an adventure. However, although DF adventures should be
mostly Kill-Things-Take-Stuff, they don't have to be
all KTTS. For example, even in a single dungeon complex, adventurers may have a rudimentary plot to follow in the form of "coupon collecting" (say, gathering a number of magical gems to unlock the door to the final treasure vault), puzzle-solving (figuring out the riddles of the andro- and gynosphinxes), and social activity (interrogating prisoners for important information or bluffing guards).