{{Short description|Playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game}} {{about|the role-playing game term|the 2001 role-playing game from White Wolf Publishing|Adventure!}} [[File:Soldiers escape to magical world through role-playing game 111015-A-IX584-551 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Polyhedral dice on the reference paperwork for a role-playing game adventure]] {{RPG}}
An '''adventure''' is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game. These can be constructed by gamemasters{{efn|The role of the person leading the game is variously called the "gamemaster", "storyteller", or "dungeon master" in different role-playing games.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/shedding-light-on-world-of-darkness-vampire-rpg |title=Shedding light on World of Darkness, the gothic-punk universe of RPG Vampire: The Masquerade |author=Allison, Peter Ray |date=2020-02-06 |website=Dicebreaker |publisher=Gamer Network |access-date=2020-09-04 |archive-date=2020-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200713191637/https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/feature/shedding-light-on-world-of-darkness-vampire-rpg |url-status=live }}</ref>|name=storyteller}} for their players, and are also released by game publishers as pre-made standalone '''adventure modules''', as part of other supplements, or in magazines. 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.
==Overview== An adventure is a playable scenario in a tabletop role-playing game which a gamemaster{{efn|name=storyteller}} 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.<ref name="cb glossary">{{cite magazine |title=Glossaire |language=French |trans-title=Glossary |magazine=Casus Belli Hors Série |issue=25, ''Manuel Pratique du Jeu de Rôle'' |page=6 |publisher=Excelsior Publications |date=May 1999}}</ref> Adventures meant to be played alone, without a game group, are called solo adventures.<ref name="solo">{{cite web |url=https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/news/new-solo-adventure-released-for-call-of-cthulhu/ |title=New Solo Adventure Released for Call of Cthulhu |date=2020 |website=Tabletop Gaming |publisher=Warners Group Publications |access-date=2020-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201124141042/https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/news/new-solo-adventure-released-for-call-of-cthulhu/ |archive-date=2020-11-24 |url-status=live}}</ref>
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.<ref name="cb glossary"/><ref name="realms of fantasy 2000-08">{{cite magazine |last=Baker |first=Eric T. |date=August 2000 |title=Games |magazine=Realms of Fantasy |issue=6 |pages=74–79 |publisher=Sovereign Media |url=https://archive.org/details/RealmsOfFantasyV06n06200008.SovereignMediadtsg0318/page/n73/mode/2up}}</ref> Pre-written adventure modules have the advantage of being easier to run for new gamemasters,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.polygon.com/deals/21294556/dnd-how-to-play-dungeons-dragons-5e-guide-spells-dice-character-sheets-dm |title=A beginner's guide to playing Dungeons and Dragons |author=Heller, Emily |date=2019-02-21 |website=Polygon |publisher=Vox Media |access-date=2020-12-19 |archive-date=2020-12-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201215060801/https://www.polygon.com/deals/21294556/dnd-how-to-play-dungeons-dragons-5e-guide-spells-dice-character-sheets-dm |url-status=live }}</ref> especially linear ones.<ref name="cb glossary"/> 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Beatie |first=Scott |date=2007-10-01 |title=Voicing the Shadow—Rule-playing and Roleplaying in Wraith: The Oblivion |journal=Law, Culture and the Humanities |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=477–492 |doi=10.1177/1743872107081432}}</ref>
==History== Published adventure modules began in 1975 with Dave Arneson's ''The Temple of the Frog'', released for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' setting Blackmoor,<ref>{{cite book |author=Appelcline, Shannon |title=Designers & Dragons: The '70s |publisher=Evil Hat Productions |pages=19–20 |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-61317-075-5 |edition=2nd}}</ref> 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.<ref name="realms of fantasy 2000-08"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Appelcline |first=Shannon |year=2014 |title=Designers & Dragons: The '90s |edition=2nd |publisher=Evil Hat Productions |page=19 |isbn=978-1-613170-84-7}}</ref> 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.<ref name="solo"/>
==See also== * Expansion pack
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Role-playing game adventures Category:Role-playing game terminology