Short module for download

[Milke]

Hey, everyone. I put together a short adventure. I call them bonus quests. Because the idea is that in the Paizo APs, they generally expect a certain party level at the start of each new book. So, level 4 for book two, level 7 for book three, etc.
As you know, sometimes the players "miss" stuff, and are shy of the level expectations. So I made a few of these. Each one takes probably one night or less to make it through, and gives about half a level's worth of xp. I mostly made them for level 3 (to get the party to the expected level of 4 for book two in an AP), level 6, and so on.

This one is called Zombie Uprising. It is a short dungeon crawl that can be dropped in nearly any urban setting.

It's easier to spot obvious errors in other people's work. Harder to proofread when I'm the one who just put it together. So, if there's anything glaring, you can let me know politely, and I can try to make it better. (I used Trenloe's parser for this one!)
Oh. Note: This adventure does not have player characters loaded into it. You'll have to provide your own.
Edit: It's for Pathfinder.

[Andraax]

What ruleset is this for?

[Milke]

Sorry. Pathfinder.

[LordEntrails]

I'm not a guru, and I'm not a PF guy so take my feedback in perspective. I have done a couple of modules, one of which I published on the DMsG and I've been using FG for a little over a year now.

First, kudos for creating and distributing something for everyone to use. Thanks :)

Feedback:
- At the bottom of the story entries, place a Next / Previous link to the next or previous story entry. It helps people navigate without having to open the Story list.
- I would break the sewer areas (A, B, C, D) into separate story entries and then place links to these story entries on the map rather than placing links to each encounter (since encounters have no text to go with them) on the map. Your story entries would then each have a link to the encounter, the map and any treasure parcels.
- The treasure in areas C & D should be in treasure parcels. You'll need to add or create all of the items as items in the item list (one more "item" anyone?) and then you can drag them to the parcel and then the players can add them to their character sheets from the party inventory.

[Talyn]

- At the bottom of the story entries, place a Next / Previous link to the next or previous story entry. It helps people navigate without having to open the Story list.


Not to be controversial, but has anyone taken a poll on this or anything? Maybe I'm just weird but I tend to keep my Story window open if I'm doing stuff with the, you know, Story. Rather than clicking Next then winding up with 20 windows open.

Either way, since I'm about to do a few scenarios, y'all feel free to chime in on this somewhere. :)

[LordEntrails]

Not to be controversial, but has anyone taken a poll on this or anything? Maybe I'm just weird but I tend to keep my Story window open if I'm doing stuff with the, you know, Story. Rather than clicking Next then winding up with 20 windows open.

Either way, since I'm about to do a few scenarios, y'all feel free to chime in on this somewhere. :)
No poll I know of. I use the story list myself, but this is from feedback I got on my Balance Disturbed module. Besides, adding the links are easy, and it adds functionality that people can use if they want to, but they don't have to. So, I added them figuring it adds functionality that can be used if someone wants to, but they don't have to.

[damned]

I almost always use Next/prev - sometimes I just use Next if things are very linear.
As far as pins on maps go I will pin both the Story and the Encounter. I name my entries like:

Story: 001 Dark Entrance
Story: 002 Antechamber
...

Map: Region
Map: Level 1
..

Image: 001 Solemn Statues
Image: 002 Collapsed Ceiling
...

Enc: 001 Goblin Speak
Enc: 002 Stone Golem
...

A room might then have 2 or 3 or even 4 pins in it and you can see them easily by hovering over them.
Coloured pins would be good....

[LordEntrails]

...
Coloured pins would be good....
I assume you voted on this then :)
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=81597
(Not that I don't have faith in you, but, never hurts to promote :)

[damned]

I assume you voted on this then :)
https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=81597
(Not that I don't have faith in you, but, never hurts to promote :)

I had and sometimes it lets me vote again - so I did so... again.

[Milke]

Great feedback, guys. Thanks for taking your time out to look over my work. I will go back and see if I can tweak the presentation using your feedback, and I'll keep it in mind on my next projects.
I figure what I can do is like LordEntrails said.. I can add some links that people can either use or not use. If I add a next button, no one has to use it if they don't want to, but it's there for their convenience if they want. Good call. I currently have encounter links in the Story folder, as well as have the encounters pinned to the map, so there's two places to get them. But I can see where I could break each room up into a story entry (A, B, C, D) instead of one story entry listing each room. I appreciate it.

The one I'm working on now is not a side quest, but a level 20 adventure involving an interplanetary gate, and a lich living in a disappearing fortress (inspired a bit by Krull).

P.S.
I don't currently have Hero Lab. Is there a place I can snag 4 basic 1st level PC xmls to include as sample characters in my adventures if people want/need them? Also to help when I'm playing around with FG functionality. I'm sure I still don't know everything this program can do, even after hours of Youtube tutorials.

[Andraax]

Not to say to *not* put in "Prev / Next", but I doubt *I* would ever use them. When I make my own modules, I just pin everything to the map, and navigate through story entries by using the pins on the map. My players would *never* follow a story line directly - the more I try to nudge them that way, the more they go "squirrel!" and go sideways... So, I don't even bother to plan out which direction they might go...

I do, however, put link to other maps on each map (in a corner somewhere) instead...

[Milke]

I didn't pin story entries to the map, because I didn't want to have multiple pins in the room (since they, as of yet, can't be made different colors. They're all red or green). So I left the story entries and their room descriptions, etc, in the story entry box. I usually just put a pin with the encounter in the room, plus any stuff like parcels or what have you.
If I could have maybe a blue pin for a story entry, I would put one in each room, or even the hallways, with story boxes to put in the chat log. I do like the idea, though, of putting a pin for another map on your map. For instance, next to a stairwell that leads to the second floor, put a pin with the map for the second floor on the first floor's stairway.

[Talyn]

I don't currently have Hero Lab. Is there a place I can snag 4 basic 1st level PC xmls to include as sample characters in my adventures if people want/need them?

There's always PCGen (https://pcgen.org/) which is free, and there are methods to import PCGen characters into Fantasy Grounds. A search on the forums (or specifically look in the Pathfinder and Pathfinder Society forums, that's where they are) will come up with threads on how to do that.

Also in the PFS forums there's a thread (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?16900-Files-Pregen-Player-Characters-(FG-format)) where users have uploaded the Pathfinder Iconic pregenerated characters in Fantasy Grounds XML so you can use those right away after importing them to your campaign.

[Milke]

Thanks for the links, Talyn. With some pre-gens, it will save me tons of time building from scratch, and it will help me playtest adventures too.

[Andraax]

I didn't pin story entries to the map, because I didn't want to have multiple pins in the room (since they, as of yet, can't be made different colors. They're all red or green). So I left the story entries and their room descriptions, etc, in the story entry box. I usually just put a pin with the encounter in the room, plus any stuff like parcels or what have you.
If I could have maybe a blue pin for a story entry, I would put one in each room, or even the hallways, with story boxes to put in the chat log. I do like the idea, though, of putting a pin for another map on your map. For instance, next to a stairwell that leads to the second floor, put a pin with the map for the second floor on the first floor's stairway.

I only pin story entries to the map (or other map links). If there is associated encounter(s) or parcel(s), I put links to those in the story entry. The only exception is a simple trap. If it doesn't need a story entry to describe, I'll just pin the trap itself to the map.

[Milke]

Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Pin the story entry, and put the encounter inside of it, so I can open it and get the room description, story text, and have the encounter right there. I did it sort of backwards, I guess.

[LordEntrails]

I only pin story entries to the map (or other map links). If there is associated encounter(s) or parcel(s), I put links to those in the story entry. The only exception is a simple trap. If it doesn't need a story entry to describe, I'll just pin the trap itself to the map.
This is how I do it as well. This way when I follow the map, I click on the pin, it opens up the story entry. From that story entry you get the DM overview, the description to read to the players, DM info such as tactics, what-ifs, etc, and links to the encounter from there.

[lesliev]

I also prefer a map with pins for navigation when running a game. But in my modules, I also put next/prev links and any other links that might come in handy. If a barkeep is going to be mentioning the smithy, I put in a link to the smithy.

It would be nice if a ctrl-click would open a link and close the current story entry, so you could navigate via links without being overrun by windows.

[LordEntrails]

...
It would be nice if a ctrl-click would open a link and close the current story entry, so you could navigate via links without being overrun by windows.
If you haven't already, add the suggestion here: https://2app.idea.informer.com

[Zacchaeus]

It ultimately comes down to personal preference of course but I use maps to run the game (where this is possible of course). Therefore it is essential that each room or area of a map has a pin to a story entry. Within that story entry will be links to images, encounters, treasure parcels, NPCs and anything else that is needed. I don't see a need for multicoloured pins since only one pin is required to that story entry and everything else is linked to that story entry including traps (for which I will create an NPC in an encounter) and links to the chapter in which the story appears as well as to an overall index of chapters for the adventure. I don't necessarily always link to the next and previous story entries unless it is more than likely that those are going to be useful.
Of course some of this depends on the adventure size; if it is small then there may not be more than one chapter and less links might be needed.

[Milke]

I'm really glad I posted that short adventure now. This way I can see a much more efficient way of doing future adventures. Did anyone have an opinion on the actual adventure itself? A short one-nighter fighting zombies? Hard to go wrong with that, I think.

[damned]

Milke run it at FG Con and you will get good/useful feedback :)

[rob2e]

Not to say to *not* put in "Prev / Next", but I doubt *I* would ever use them. When I make my own modules, I just pin everything to the map, and navigate through story entries by using the pins on the map. My players would *never* follow a story line directly - the more I try to nudge them that way, the more they go "squirrel!" and go sideways... So, I don't even bother to plan out which direction they might go...

I do, however, put link to other maps on each map (in a corner somewhere) instead...

What do you do with story elements that don't involve a map?

[damned]

What do you do with story elements that don't involve a map?

I like to create a Mud Map for free form adventures....

[Andraax]

What do you do with story elements that don't involve a map?

They stay in the Stories window.

[LordEntrails]

What do you do with story elements that don't involve a map?

I think what damned is referring to is a mind map. (?) Never heard of a Mud Map... Is that a chart of interconnected objects/ideas/events?

But how does the story entry relate to the adventure? Is it a reference piece of info that other stories will link to? Is it a sequential thing that the story list will have in a numbered series? All story entries are related to something, so whatever it is that relates to this story entry should have a link to it.

Not all adventures are map based, but all adventures have a web of interconnections. Whatever those connections are, those are how your things are linked together. That's part of what makes FG so great. I can link images/maps with stories, NPC, encounters, parcels, or other stories. It's up to the author to build that web of connections in a logical, intuitive way.