All adventures that writers submit are automatically uploaded for others to play. A writer can write any adventure however they see fit, but it’s highly encouraged to try to get the length of the adventure as close to four hours, without going over.
You cannot use plot or story content that has already been published in another source. All of your story content must be original, and by uploading an adventure, you are stating that, to the best of your knowledge, the content that you are using has not been published any where else before.
The writer determines the title of their adventure, but there is an alphanumeric designation that the writer needs to assign to each adventure:
XXX-XX-XX
The first set is the three-letter abbreviation of the adventure’s main location. (These are also used as characters’ homeland selections):
Absalom: ABS
Andoran: AND
Brevoy: BRE
Cheliax: CHE
The Darklands: DAR
Druma: DRU
Five Kings Mountains: FKM
Galt: GAL
Geb: GEB
Hold of Belkzen: BEL
Irrisen: IRR
Isger: ISG
Jalmeray: JAL
Katapesh: KAT
Kyonin: KYO
Lastwall: LAS
Lands of the Linnorm Kings: LLK
Mana Wastes: MAN
Mediogalti Island: MED
Mendev: MEN
Molthune: MOL
Mwangi Expanse: MWA
Nex: NEX
Nidal: NID
Nirmathas: NIR
Numeria: NUM
Osirion: OSI
Qadira: QAD
Rahadoum: RAH
Razmiran: RAZ
Realm of the Mammoth Lords: RML
River Kingdoms: RIV
Sargava: SAR
The Shackles: SHA
The Sodden Lands: SOD
Steaming Sea: SEA
Taldor: TAL
Thuvia: THU
Ustalav: UST
Varisia: VAR
The Worldwound: WOR
The second set is the sequential numbering of the adventure. The first adventure published for a particular location would be 01. The second would be 02, and so forth. Each location would have its own numbering system, so TAL-01-05 would be a different adventure than ABS-01-05.
When you are ready to publish your adventure, you just take the next number that is available for that location.
The third set is the CR of the adventure. To determine the CR of the adventure, you use the normal rules under the Gamemastering section of the Core Rulebook for determining the CR of each encounter. Use the Experience Point Awards table to determine not only the CR of each encounter in your adventure, but also the experience point reward for the encounter.
The overall CR of the adventure is the average (rounded down, of course) of the CRs of the experience-gaining encounters in the adventure. For example, an adventure that has the following experience-gaining encounters would work out this way:
CR 6 + CR 4 + CR 2 + CR 7 = CR 4 (4.75 rounded down)
Characters get experience only for the encounters that they complete – including encounters that they are able to find creative solutions for, or encounters that they are able to talk their way out of. If the characters completely avoid an encounter altogether, they do not get the experience for that encounter. The total amount of experience for each encounter is divided among the characters that participated and were alive at the beginning of that encounter.
The same basic equation goes for treasure as well. Treasure can come in many different forms, from coins, to gems and jewels, to equipment. It’s much harder to get the treasure value to equal what you want it to equal than it is for experience and CRs, so it’s encouraged to err on the side of caution with awarding treasure in your adventure. It’s encouraged to make up any shortcomings in treasure with rewards on the chronicle sheet. Treasure, just like experience, is also divided among the characters that participated and were alive at the beginning of that encounter.
But, treasure is an honest reward that characters earn. Using the Treasure Values per Encounter table in the Gamemastering section of the Core Rulebook, that’s a good guideline on how much treasure to award the characters in each encounter. But, if you are unsure, round down, and make it up with rewards on the chronicle sheet.
Story arcs, trilogies, and sagas are definitely encouraged.
But, don’t fall in love with your adventures. This site is designed to allow constructive suggestions about writing and running adventures between members. You don’t necessarily have to follow the suggestions of other members, but if you don’t, be prepared to defend your methods and thinking. You have to be open to that, and it is okay to go back and retool adventures that you previously published.
And, since this is a crowd supported community, once you upload your adventures, you are giving permission for other writers to further your story line. Maybe you thought that your adventure ended in a neat and tidy finale. But, someone may continue your storyline in sequels of your adventure. You have to be open to that, as well.
Serious Writing Rules and Suggestions:
As you write your adventure, be cognizant of flow, punctuation, and thought process. Make it visually readable by using natural paragraph breaks. And, never assume that the characters and players will think the same way you do.
On the Resources page, there is an example template you can use to write your adventure, including a blank chronicle sheet at the end. For items that are inside brackets ([]), that text is supposed to be changed. All other text is formatted for optimal use. But, it is very important that the legal information on page two is included in your adventure, and that it is not altered in any way.
Besides leaving the legal information intact as it is, though, you can get as creative as you want with the formatting, fonts, cover art, and chronicle sheet at the end. Templates for those are simple offered, in case you want to spend more time on writing the adventure, rather than having to format it.
Some experience in using word processors is necessary, and being able to add charts, graphs, maps, and images to your adventure is highly encouraged – both for ease of use, but also to make your adventure more visually appealing. It is also highly encouraged that you use existing Paizo products in your adventure – like flip mats and map packs. That way, you can simply reference the material, and maybe insert a screenshot, without having to engineer a entire map yourself. It also makes it more professional looking, and easy on the part of the GMs that are going to be running your adventure. To help towards this, Paizo has their Community Use Package full of logos and images that are supposed to be used.
Feel free to store images and files in the Repository on this website. There is plenty of space.
But, how do I get my adventures on this website for players to play?
Terminology is kind of important here.
You first need to be promoted to “Author” on this website. To do that, just follow whatever link WordPress gives you when you try to submit something here, or post a message anywhere that you would like to be an “Author”. Someone will see it and promote you automatically.
Then, once your adventure is ready to go in its final form, you have to attach it to the Repository page by adding it as a “Media”. That’s just a storage location on this website that you are going to point your post to.
Your adventure is going to be a “Post”. So, once you have access to do so, you are going to “Write” a new “Post” and link your adventure by adding it from the Repository. It’s fully visual and WYSIWYG. So, set it up anyway that you want. Just make sure to put the title and number of your adventure in the title of the post, and to add your adventure as a link to the body of the post. Hit the “Publish” button, and that’s it! You uploaded your adventure for others to play!
How do I know I’m doing it correctly?
If it looks like this, you are on the right path:
But, don’t worry. If you mess it up, you can always fix it.
Living Pathfinder 