Paulo Gomes (Order #24480303)

Adventure Template

Credits
Author, Designer, Editor, Layout, and Cover Design:
Luke Hart
Artwork: Adobe Stock
Contacting the Author
Please reach out to me anytime!
Email: luke@thedmlair.com
Twitter & Instagram: @TheDMLair
My Discord Server: https://discord.gg/Msat4NB
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The DM Lair YouTube Channel - Check out my
weekly YouTube videos for practical information and
resources that game masters can use at their tables.
The DM Lair Website - Looking for free 5e adventures
and other game masters resources, such as NPCs,
magic items, puzzles, and traps, to use in your games?
Look no further!
My Discord Server - Join a growing community of
game masters committed to helping each other run
awesome games.
Legal Stuff
RPG Adventure Template, Copyright © 2020,
Luke Hart, The DM Lair, LLC
Foreword
Many game masters (GMs) enjoy creating their own
worlds and adventures that take place in those worlds.
This basic template was designed as a starting point
for GMs to create their own adventures.
This is a streamlined template with the basic
components of an adventure that all game masters
should consider. Is there more to building an exciting
adventure than just filling out a basic template? Of
course there is. But this will get you started.
And that’s really all this humble template is intended
to do.
The journey of becoming an awesome game master
is often a long one, full of both successes and
failures, and much learning. I do not presume to be
able to encapsulate in this template every possible
consideration a GM might wish to make during
adventure creation.
Again, this is just a starting point.
It’s also the template I’ve used for years to create my
own homebrew adventures. And so I present it to you
for use as a springboard to create amazing adventures
that your players will recount for years to come.
(Was that a little over the top? I feel like it may have
been. Whatever. Just go makes some adventures
already.)
How to Use This Template
Each section contains italicized instructions for game
masters to consider as they create their adventure.
In addition to this PDF file, I’ve included an editable
MS Word document in the file pack for you. If you
don’t have MS Word, you can just copy and paste
the content from this PDF into the word processing
program you use.
Finally, if you’d like some examples of adventures
created using this template, I have lots of free
adventures available over on my site, thedmlair.com.
I hope you find this template useful!

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Paulo Gomes (Order #24480303)
 Adventure Template

Creatures
List out the creatures, including monsters, that will be featured in this adventure. For handy reference, I like
to include the page number of the core rulebook from which it comes and the creature’s challenge rating (CR)
and experience point (XP) value. An example is given below.

» Efreeti (MM 145, CR 11, 7200 XP)

Game Master Notes

Here I make some basic notes for myself about the adventure. Below are three things I always like to keep
track of.

» Note for how many characters and of what level the adventure was designed for.
» Note how many short/long rests are expected, if your game system contains mechanics like this.
» Note how many treasure rolls from which treasure horde tables are contained in the adventure.

Storyline
Give a brief overview of the situation the PCs will encounter in this adventure. Describe the major premise,
who the villain is, what they are up to, what the stakes are – those sorts of things.

Locations
List the main locations the characters are likely to find themselves during this adventure and give brief
descriptions of them.

Name. Details

NPCs
List the main NPCs the characters are likely to encounter in this adventure, including villains, and give brief
descriptions of them.

Name. Details

Random Encounters
Build out a handful of random encounters you can use. You might have a random encounter take place if the
characters try to use more long rests than are expected, are in the middle of raiding a compound and take a
long rest, or even on short rests.

Inciting Action
Describe the inciting action, or adventure hook, that introduces the adventure to the characters and motivates
them to go on it.

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Paulo Gomes (Order #24480303)
 Adventure Template

Adventure Details
Build out the details of your adventure. Include things like descriptions of dungeons or enemy fortifications;
descriptions of rooms; encounters the characters will come across; treasure they may find; traps and secret
doors – all the cool stuff that makes up the meat of an adventure.

Resolution
Describe what happens once the characters have completed the adventure successfully (or unsuccessfully).
Do they receive a reward from an NPC? Does their favor with a faction increase? Stuff like that.

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Paulo Gomes (Order #24480303)