Create the DM Background Sheet

Ok, we are at the home strech now. All the data we setup earlier needs to be turned into our adventure.

We will make 2 documents. The first document is the DM background sheet, detailed here. The second document is optional. You can flesh out individual encounters using the forms in the DnD Adventure Cookbook that you printed out earlier.

This is the part where the random stuff ends. You need to flesh out the adventure material to suit your players, campaign, personal style, etc......

Theme: Espionage. - lets say the players are going to be hired (easy to setup the hiring process on the fly) by a group of farmers/villagers. They are going to infiltrate and clean out a local 'haunted' tomb, before the farmers expand their fields out to that area. People have disappeared in the area before, and its general reputation is a negative one.

Goals: Explore New Area. - self explanatory - it fits in perfectly with the theme above.

Story Hooks_Maguffins: Hero Offended. - again, this works well. Before the players encounter the villagers and get hired, they are beset by the Nocturnal Predators listed below (Skeletons). This can happen while camping on a road side. Or maybe they are all traveling in a caravan together for free, in exchange for their services as guards.

General Setting: Exotic Distant Land. - after this initial play session (these are new characters), have them develop into their player background details as to why they are traveling to the Frontier Lands.

Specific Settings: Lost City and Classic Dungeon. - we went with the tomb instead - the characters are going into the only underground level of the tomb, which is a single tomb with a single entrance, set on a hilltop.

Allies and Neturals: Tragic Fellow Hero. - lets create a fellow in the village who is the sole survivor of a previous expedition to clear out the tombs. This former party never made it inside the tomb, because they were beset by skeleton guards and wiped out (surprise attack).

Master Villain: The Corruptor. - the Cleric who leads the other goblins (who run the tomb) is the Master Villain. Lets also put in a reference to a superior somewhere in the tomb. This person is the one who tells the goblin what to do. Makes it easy to handle a real future master villain, without worrying about it right now.

Minor Villains: The Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret and The Childhood Friend with a Dark Secret. - that must mean the computer really wanted the Childhood friend. Lets say a friend of the party, who is the go-between for the Master Villain (to be named later) and the Goblin Cleric. The dark secret - he has been cursed at some point in his life, and is being forced to obey the Master Villain in some sort of unwilling manner.

Plots: The Accumulation of Elements. - we will skip this one
Climaxes: Prevented Deed. - when the characters first encounter the Goblin Leader, he will be in the middle of a ceremony to sacrifice the daughter of the village mayor. Make sure to incorporate the fact she is missing in the initial village encounter.

Monster Encounters: Nocturnal Predator. - the skeletons who will attack the party before they enter the village

Character Encounters: Old Friend at the Wrong Time. - skip that

Traps and Deathtraps: Tomb Deathtraps. - the random dungeon we created earlier had some traps in it - we can flesh them out using the Netbook of Traps or something similar - print it out and browse it before the group gets to your house

Special Conditions: Coping with a Curse. - we will skip this one
Red Herrings: Artifact That Doesn't Work. - we will skip this one
Omens and Prophecies: Innocent Fulfills Prophecy. - skipping
Moral Quandaries: The Honor Quandary. - skipping
Chases: Water. - skipping
Secret Weakness: Holy Symbol. - there is a pendant on a wooden staff in the room with the Goblin Leader. If the players knock down the pendant from the staff, the Goblin cleric will lose all spellcasting abilities.

Cruel Tricks and Complications: Wanted by the Law. - skipping

Create the Adventure Encounter Outline

Now that we have fleshed out the elements of the adventure, you need to setup your 6 encounters (well, I personally recommend around 6 encounters per session, but an adventure can easily span multiple sessions). I usually just Outline the 6 encounters, using printed copies of the forms from the DM Design Kit. My 6 encounters will be:

1. Ambush - the characters are ambushed by 6 skeletons, while they are on guard duty for a caravan they are traveling with...
2. Village Role-Playing Encounter - the characters leave the caravan when they reach the village the caravan was bound for..... they encounter the Village Mayor, at the local inn, talking about his missing daughter, the local tomb, the inability to clear the tomb, and the chest of gold rumored to be inside the tomb. Also, they can meet a fellow hero who has been to the tomb before (but not inside), and can provide the characters with the path there
3. Trek to the Tomb - a short encounter, can be used by the DM as a break point to strech his/her legs
4. Enter the Tomb - the characters will enter the tomb, and start to explore. Maybe a skeleton or gobin encounter will take place at some point here
5. Major Tomb Exploration - the characters, as they explore the tomb, uncover a couple of pieces of information. The goblins are organized and led by a cleric / worshipper of an evil god, and the skeletons obey the goblins & work in concert with them
6. Final Encounter - the characters enter the room where the ritual sacrifice is going to take place. An epic battle happens. After the battle, the characters learn more about the Master Villain, question the childhood friend with the dark secret (who dies at some point, after you feel the characters have learned enough), and collect some treasure.

This took me about 20-30 minutes to come up with all of this stuff. Total so far of about 1 hr 45 minutes of time has been spent on this adventure. By the time we finish the Adventure Encounter Sheets, we will probably be at 2:30 of time spent total. This sheet is primarily an outline - a series of notes that I will use to reference during the adventure.