In previous posts I’ve mentioned a game I’m planning for my kids, and sang the praises of the Dungeons and Dragons Insider Compendium. Today we’ll combine the two.

I’m planning on using a collection of insects and related creatures in their first adventure. So I logged onto the Compendium and started doing some searches. Here’s a partial list of terms I searched for: spider, ant, beetle, stirge, worm, scarab, scorpion, wasp, bee, huge. For most of the searches I did ‘name only’ and set my level range to from 1 – 10, though in reality I focused my attention on creatures up to level 5.

Based on those searches I came up with this list of potential foes:

Fire Beetle (Lvl 1 Brute)
Stirge (Lvl 1 Lurker)
Stormclaw Scorpion (Lvl 1 Soldier)
Centipede Swarm (Lvl 2 Brute)
Blood Scarab (Lvl 3 Lurker)
Feyborn Ant Swarm (Lvl 3 Elite Skirmisher)
Stirge* (Lvl 3 Lurker)
Dire Stirge* (Lvl 5 Lurker)
Deathjump Spider (Lvl 4 Skirmisher)
Centipede Scuttler (Lvl 4 Skirmisher)
Carrion Crawler* (Lvl 4)
Giant Ant (Lvl 4 SKirmisher)
Stonetrap Scarab (Lvl 5 Soldier)
Tangler Beetle (Lvl 5 Controller)
Death Boar Level (6 Elite Brute)

You may note a couple oddities on the list. The items with an * are non-standard versions of published creatures, most of them coming from RPGA sources. I’m not sure I’ll use it, but seeing a Carrion Crawler set up at 4th level certainly will make me consider it.

And the Death Boar is definately not an insect, but I want to use a Huge Spider in the adventure, so I tried to find the lowest level huge creature to help me create a spider suitable for a low level adventure.

Overall I’ve got a nice collection of creatures to choose from. Not that I’ll use all of them, but it gives me a great base selection. Scarabs and scorpions make me thing about desert adventures, but I think I’ll use the scarabs and simply call them beetles, though I’ll probably skip the scorpions for now.

As I said, I’m planning this adventure for my kids, so our party will probably be a little short handed. Because of this I’d like to see a few more creatures in the level 1-3 range, so I’ll creat a few modified versions of spiders and ants, as well as that huge spider at level 4 or 5 to use in the final encounter.

When I create my final encounter list, and those custom critters I’ll post them here for your enjoyment and comments.

DM Briefing Room provides a look into some of my personal ideas on game design.

While the picture above certainly resembles a map, and in the end it may become one, but it doesn’t have to. Whether for plot, or for mapping, I like using simple flow charts to plan out my game.

I created this chart for an adventure I’m planning for my kids. The area they’ll be exploring consists of natural caverns and tunnels occupied by an assorment of bugs, giant bugs, and related creatures.

I’m not worried about the exact direction or path of the tunnels between the caverns, so I don’t have to create an exact map. Because I want to add some random encounters I may decide to note the length of each tunnel, or perhaps just mark certain segments as predetermined locations for random encounters. The latter might make them a little less random, though I’ll probably build in the chance that no encounter actually occurs a percentage of the time. Of course I can also increase and decrease the chances of random encounters based on how well the party is handling the planned encounters.

On my chart, the different exit choices will represent simple choices between left and right tunnel branches. I’m using circles to represent encounter locations, and I could just scribble a semi-random shape on a battlemat during play, but I think dungeon tiles would impress the kids more, so I’ll probably lay out some dungeon tilesin advance and sketch each room on an index card so I’ll remember which tiles I want to use.

I also use a similar charting method when drawing out more traditional dungeon maps. In that case each circle would represent a major encounter, and while there might be other rooms and areas in the final dungeon map, this type of chart would help me keep in mind which areas I want linked, and in what order encounters should occur. In a more elaborate dungeon there would be more paths that lead to the location of the climatic encounter for the dungeon.

The intention is not to force the party on a specific path through the adventure, but to make sure that the party doesn’t move straight from the low level kobolds to a high level dragon without getting a chance to gain a level or two. This could also make sure the party gets the chance to discover some clues about the nature of the climatic encounter before they arrive at it, such as finding a coffin full or dirt if the warrior they’re expecting to battle is actually a vampire.

This kind of charting can also serve as a plot brainstorm as well either for a single adventure, or an entire campaign, though the actions of players might mean that you have to add links in unexpected places.

Do you use flow charts when planning your maps and adventures? I’d love to hear some of your examples in the comment section.