Preparing an Adventure
Pathfinder Core Rulebook (Second Edition), page 486
An adventure is a self-contained collection of story elements, characters, and settings that become the basis for the story you and the other players tell. Think of the adventure as an outline for your own story. You’ll have major beats you want to include, some consistent characters, and themes you want to convey, but all sorts of things can change during the process of turning the outline into a completed story.
You might use a published adventure from Paizo or another company, or you might construct your own adventure as you prepare for your game sessions.
In this section
- Published Adventures Prewritten adventures include background information and nonplayer characters needed for the story, plus all the locations, maps, and monster groups necessary for both exploration and encounters.
- Creating Adventures Building your own adventure is much more challenging than using a published one, but it lets you express yourself, be even more creative, and tailor the game directly to the players and their characters.
- Building Encounters The most common type of encounter is a combat encounter, where the PCs face other creatures.