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Description

"Games give you a chance to excel, and if you're playing in good company you don't even mind if you lose because you had the enjoyment of the company during the course of the game.“
— Gary Gygax

This month, we challenge you to write a One-Shot RPG adventure! Your world is full of infinite adventures just waiting to be written; characters to save, treasures to discover, injustices to right! For this challenge, create a short, one-shot RPG adventure from just one of these quests. As always, your adventure can be in any genre or setting, with any sort of objectives or locales to explore. It can also be in any RPG system you choose! You'll need to use the plot template to write this one! There are no special rules in this challenge, although it might be a good idea to include some battle maps and read-aloud excerpts for your GM!

You can also use Adventure April as a Camp NaNoWriMo goal! Check out our blog post for more goal ideas.

Standard League Winner
Emily Armstrong

Premier League Winner
RiverFang

Prizes

Thanks to our wonderful partners in this challenge, Roll20:

All participants: 6 months of Roll20 Pro for participants and a copy of Burn Bryte (worth over 100$!).

Winners: a whopping $500 in Marketplace credit and 2 years of Roll20 Pro subscription (that's $700 worth of prizes!).

In addition, all participants will receive the challenge participation badge. The winners will receive an extra shiny badge, have their article featured, and will be shouted out on the weekly World Anvil update stream. Winners also receive a live article read on the World Anvil Community Livestream by Janet and Dimitris!

Premier League Features
Every week following the winners announcement, a Premier League entrant who made the shortlist will be featured on World Anvil at the beginning of the week!

The Brief

It's time to sharpen your blades, and gather the party - we're going on an adventure... Your adventure, to be precise! We've partnered with Roll20 to challenge YOU to create a fantastic one-shot quest in your world! To take part, all you'll need is a World Anvil account (they're free!). Then, create a new plot template article in your world to write your article. There is no special rules for this challenge, although we recommend some monsters (with stat blocks), alouds for the GM, and maybe battle maps! You can use any TTRPG system you like, or keep it system neutral. Remember, your one-shot adventure will just be one article, so use headers and read-aloud quotes to create divisions. One-shots are designed to be a single, short session, so make sure your adventure is quick and self-contained. If you're looking for more inspiration, make sure to check out the resources section!

What to include in your article

Story

Story is the most important place to start with when crafting your one-shot - after all, a one-shot is an interactive story in your world! It's helpful to think player-first when you're crafting your stories, and have a clear goal you want the players to strive for. This creates a clear resolution for your oneshot (rather than leaving it open ended), and keeps things short.

Some story ideas

Here are just a few story ideas to get your started for your one-shot! The players are...

...on a rescue mission for an NPC?

...stranded survivors, trying to reach safety?

...solving a murder?

...searching for (or stealing) a lost artifact?

...investigating a strange occurance?

Hooks and Stakes

Remember to consider how you're going to hook your players into the story line. There's a bit more buy in with one-shots than with open-world adventures, but the plot hook has to be really clear, or your players will miss it. And while you're at it, why not throw in some stakes, too? It might be as simple as life-or-death, as dramatic as the destruction of a town, or as pressing as a rising political coup. But it has to be clear what may happen to the players, or those around them, if they fail.

Challenges

A story without conflict is no story at all! What trials will your party face on the way? The specifics of challenges are strongly related to your genre, locations and story-type; but in general, try to mix it up between combat, social encounters, puzzles and exploration. You'll probably want to create some interesting monsters and NPCs for these, too!

The Setting

One-shots are a great excuse to create some juicy locations! For combat, pick places which will offer interesting challenges (maybe the floor is lava) and tactical advantages ("I have the high ground!"). For all locations, but especially social scenes and exploration, create spaces which dig into your genre and mood: grim-dark cyberpunk bars, taverns glistening with magical light, or a unicorn grove fluttering with fairies. Make it your own! You don't need a tonne of details here - flavour is the most important thing.

The Climax

This is the culmination of your adventure, and often the last barrier standing between the party and success! It's traditional to fight the big bad, in which case, introduce some interesting swarms or mooks, or other battlefield conditions, to make the fight memorable. But your climax doesn't have to be combat - you might have a dance off, play chess with death, or have an epic rap battle! And that's the key - whatever it is, it should feel epic!

The Rules

How to Enter

Firstly, all competitors will need a World Anvil account (don’t worry, it’s free!) to get started. Once you’ve logged in and created your first world, you’re ready to enter the competition. Write your entry using the Plot template on World Anvil. Once you've finished your entry and are ready to submit, make sure that your article is not a draft (i.e. published) and public (not private) and then click the button on the right-hand side to submit it to the challenge.

Adjudication Criteria and Process

A shortlist of the top twenty entries (as ranked by community likes - ten from each league) will be compiled by the Master of Games. The Judges will choose the winner. The winner will be announced by the World Anvil Team on Saturday 21st of May on a World Anvil community stream. Entries will be judged on a number of criteria, including originality, presentation, and thoroughness.

Timeline	Event
April 2nd - April 30th	Competition is opened and closed (both on livestream)!
April 30th - May 5th	Sharing period, give feedback, make minor edits.
May 7th - May 21st	Adjudication and Judging
May 21st	Winner Announcement Date!

Other Rules

Articles for Submission must use the Plot Template
Articles must be submitted before the closing time to be eligible (please note the challenge will close during a World Anvil livestream)
Articles will be taken from a shortlist of likes, the top ten from each league will be judged by the Master of Games or a guest judge.
You will be able to submit your article only if it is public!
Only one article may be submitted per person (this does not mean one article per world, in cases where multiple authors work on a single world).
Articles will have a 5 day-long period after the deadline to make small edits, share, and get feedback from the community. This period will end when the shortlist is compiled. The purpose of this deadline is to let people focus on writing and sharing separately.
Articles can be no longer than 3000 words in length!
Word Count will be counted by copying all words present in the article's body and sidebar into a word counter. The Timeline will also be added in the word counter. BBCode does not impact word count, attached articles do not impact word count, and will also not be considered during adjudication.
As always, World Anvil claims no ownership over your original work.

For any further questions or clarifications about this challenge, message the Community Team (@Community Team) on the World Anvil Discord!

Social media sharing

Because community likes are an important metric in the competition, competitors may wish to share their entries on social media to garner more interest from the community.
Posts tagged with #AdventureApril which mention @WorldAnvil may be shared by World Anvil's official social media accounts!

Leagues

There are two leagues that will be independently judged, the Regular and the Premier League. The Premier League consists of all the authors who have previously won a World Anvil competition. Winning a competition in the Regular league will promote you to the Premier League for future challenges.

Looking for inspiration or seeking some ideas? Make sure to stop by the World Anvil Discord for worldbuilding conversation and inspiration!

by Vek

Adventure April 2022