Alpha Dawn - Star Frontiersman

or small as you want to make them. An entire
adventure could take place in a single building, or it
could require the characters to travel halfway
around a planet.
The settings you select should have a purpose in the
adventure. The players should be able to complete
some part of their objective at each place. For
example, when searching for someone lost in the
wilderness, searchers can find important clues at the
spot where the lost person was last seen, at the site
of an old campfire, at a spot where they find a dead
beast with a trail of blood leading away, etc. At each
setting, players can discover the direction the
person traveled, how long ago he was there and
what has happened to him.
When designing a setting, you should try to answer
these questions:
• What is the setting's purpose? When during the
adventure will the characters arrive there? What
information are the characters supposed to find
there?
• What does the setting look like? What are the most
important features: where are trees and streams,
doors and furniture?
• What types of creatures, characters and events will
the characters meet there? Are there any
important plants or weather conditions, alarms or
robots? These are not necessarily challenges to the
players. They can be used to identify the area.
• Are there any other important features about this
setting? Does it limit movement in some way or
hide things from sight? Does it have obstacles the
characters must overcome?
As you decide on each setting, write it down,
including all special information about the setting.
3
Events
Once you have chosen the theme and settings
for an adventure, you must design the
adventure itself. An adventure is divided into several
smaller challenges that the players must overcome.
Each of the challenges must be placed in a specific
setting.
When designing an adventure, first determine what
events or challenges you want. Each event should
provide an obstacle to overcome, a lesson to be
learned or an opportunity to gain something that will
aid the characters in reaching their goal. Events
should always be exciting or provide a puzzle that
the players must overcome with their wits. Follow
each of these four steps when designing events.
• Decide what purpose the event will fulfill. Is it an
obstacle to fight or overcome? A puzzle to solve? A
chance to gain something helpful? Or an event just
to add excitement?
• Determine all the elements needed in the event.
Will the player characters encounter NPCs,
creatures, robots, foul weather, physical obstacles
or security systems?
• Decide how NPCs, creatures or robots will react to
the player characters, and what actions they will
take.
Random Events. Sometimes, referees may want to
set up encounters or events that occur randomly,
instead of being pre-planned. Usually, random
encounters are tied to die rolls that are made at
certain time intervals or when characters enter an
area. For example, the referee could decide the
characters have a 20% chance of being attacked by
wild animals every night they spend in the
mountains, or a 30% chance of meeting a criminal
in a seedy part of town.
Random events should be created when the
adventure is designed. If you have only one random
event, you can simply give it a percentage chance of
happening. If you have more than one random
event, you can arrange them on a table and assign
a percentage chance that one will happen. Then, if
there is a random event, you roll a second time to
see which specific event happens. If you have more
than one event, you can let each one happen only
once, or let an event happen whenever it is rolled
up.
EXAMPLE: A referee wants to set up random
encounters for characters that are searching for a
missing caravan in a region with thick forests. He
decides the chance for a random event is 20% every
five hours. If the searchers have an encounter, he
rolls 1 d10 on the Random Events table he made up.
Die
Roll Event
1-2 Attacked by 5 flying shriekers
3-4 Heavy rainstorm, the searchers must stop
moving
5-6 Attacked by 2 tree-cats
7-8 Ground-monkeys steal a piece of equipment
9-0 Searchers meet forest nomads
Arranging Events. Once you have designed your
events you must determine their order in the
adventure. The events should lead step by-step to
the goal. However, the order does not have to be
strict and unbreakable. Players may be able to reach
their goal using several different paths through the
events. Some events may not lead anywhere, and
players will need to return to an earlier encounter to
find the right path.
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