Adventure (role-playing games)

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An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters^[a] for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made adventure modules. Different types of designs exist, including linear adventures, where players move between scenes in a predetermined order; non-linear adventures, where scenes can go in multiple directions; and solo adventures, which are played alone, without a game group.

An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game which a gamemaster^[a] leads the players and their characters through. Various types of designs exist, including linear adventures, where players need to progress through each predetermined scene in turn; and non-linear adventures, where each situation can lead in multiple directions. The former is more restrictive, but is easier to manage, whereas the latter is more open-ended but more demanding for the gamemaster. A series of adventures played in succession are collectively called a campaign.^[2] Adventures meant to be played alone, without a game group, are called solo adventures.^[3]

Adventures can be created by gamemasters, but are also released by game publishers in the form of modular, supplementary books for role-playing games, sometimes combined with additional game mechanics or background information on the game's setting.^[2][4] Pre-written adventure modules have the advantage of being easier to run for new gamemasters,^[5] especially linear ones.^[2] Still, it is most common for groups to play adventures they have made up themselves, and even when playing published adventures, it is common for alterations to be made.^[6]

Published adventure modules began in 1975 with Dave Arneson's The Temple of the Frog, released for the Dungeons & Dragons setting Blackmoor,^[7] and have since then become commonplace in the role-playing game industry; White Wolf Publishing, a major role-playing game publisher in the 1990s and 2000s, stood out by rarely publishing adventure modules, preferring to let gamemasters construct their own adventures.^[4][8] Solo adventures rose in popularity in 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic preventing people from playing role-playing games together in person.^[3]

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