Writing Process
A few years ago I was avidly creating adventures for the excellent Finnish rpg, Praedor. Most of these scenarios I had written years ago for another gaming system, but one called Dream Flower was explicitly written to introduce the players to a campaign. While my group never got around to play that particular adventure, I thought it had some nice themes and a bit of horror. So, few years later I decided to convert it as well, but for Arkham Horror roleplaying game.
I have had a lot to criticise in the way the adventures are written for Arkham Horror, so sharing my own comes with a hefty amount of self-doubt. As it should. My style of writing might not be for all. However I have tried to address the most common problems I have with the official adventures; mainly these mean the story moving forward through NPCs and the number of required rolls with no clear meaning.
My goal for writing the adventure was to learn more about the system. Where to make the rolls, what kind of actions should they be, how could I use the archtypes/wealth levels/personalities, etc. I might not have found a way to incorporate them all but even considering them helps me to understand how I could use them when needed.
More Edits
Since my own group moved to Terra Antarctica before we could tackle this story, I haven’t had the time to playtest this, yet. Luckily I was able to share the WIP file with a few eager GMs at a Facebook Group, and got some valuable comments. HUGE thanks go to one Paul Jones, who GMed the story and shared their experiences.
After the comments from others I have been fixing some issues, hunting typos, etc. Something I practically never do. But since our second group started the Finland 1930-campaign my mind has been consumed by it.
Because of this I decided to publish the Chasing a Dream now. There are still some minor tweaks I would like to make, but they mostly deal with illustrations, etc. The adventure is already fully playable and you can download it through these links:
Chasing a Dream (pdf, background)
Chasing a Dream (pdf, printer friendly)
What’s To Come
For the Chasing the Dream adventure I intend to redraw one of the maps, and will likely add a few more. I like drawing maps and the lack of maps in official adventures has been something that puzzles me. I mean, they don’t all have to be top quality pre-printed full color battlemaps.
In addition to getting back to this adventure, I have three other adventures set in Arkham I’ve been working on. Then there’s the Finland 1930 adventure, and the hefty sourcebook to go along with it. All of them take time (that I don’t exactly have) so I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for them… But they are coming!
In the meantime I would encourage you to write your own stories, additions, etc. for Arkham Horror. Even with my criticism I am awed by the amount of material Edge Studio has been able to produce for the game. Still I would love to see the game (and the communities around it) grow even larger.
Diceblastes 