Storytelling Collective

All of the paths include the same core lessons, but vary in additional lessons unique to the path.

Core lessons for all paths include:

• Picking your adventure premise
• Outlining and mindmapping your adventure
• Creating villains and NPCs
• Establishing setting and locale
• Incorporating player choices and avoiding "railroading"
• Designing, editing, and playtesting your adventure
• Marketing your adventure and participating in the #ttRPG community
• ... and more!
  
  

In the Chaosium path, additional lessons and resources include:

• Understanding the community content programs for Miskatonic Repository and Jonstown Compendium
• Accessing creator resources for Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest
• Creating handouts for your adventure
• ... and other considerations unique to developing for these game systems

In the D&D DMs Guild path, additional lessons and resources include:

• Understanding and using the D&D Style Guide
• Publishing tips for DMs Guild
• Emulating the D&D trade dress in your layout design
• ... and other considerations unique to developing for D&D community content programs
  
  

In the General path, additional lessons and resources include:

• Exploring themes and motifs
• Designing your own game system
• ... and other considerations about writing for your favorite game systems
  
  

Here's a sample schedule and workshop overview from the General path

Lesson unlock dates vary slightly in each path

Part 1: Ideation and Organization

The first week of lessons will help you solidify your idea and learn about some basic game and narrative design theory, such as exploring themes and determining the main "conflict" in your adventure. Then, we'll give you some time to write your introduction section (with guidance!) before we move into the next stage.

✅ By the end of this section, you'll have your adventure idea selected and will have created an outline/mindmap to start fleshing out. 

Part 2: Crafting an Adventure

This is when you'll write the bulk of your adventure. The lessons during this week continue to delve into some theory that will inform your decisions, and we'll give you lots of time to write each section of your adventure with suggested (but optional!) word count milestones. 

✅ By the end of this section, you'll have your adventure drafted.

Part 3: Playtesting, Editing, and Design

We'll share the basics of playtesting and some activities to self-playtest (given the time restraints of the workshop, we know that conducting full playtests can be difficult, although hopefully knowing ahead of time when this lesson opens will give you some time to coordinate one if you'd like!). We'll also share tips for editing, and then start the layout and production steps.

✅ By the end of this section, you'll have your self-edited and self-playtested adventure in layout and ready for polishing in part 4.

Part 4: Polishing, Marketing, and Publishing

This last part is all about polishing up your adventure and spending this final week making changes to your adventure. We also share some marketing and promotion tips for you to peruse when you need a break from sprucing up your adventure. 

✅ By the end of this section, you'll have a finished adventure and will have completed the workshop! 🎉