Make your own TTRPG adventure!

ADVENTURE! is a new guide from Skeleton Code Machine covering everything you need to make your first (or next) TTRPG adventure. Available for pre-order now!

You can get ADVENTURE! Make Your own TTRPG Adventure in the shop! Pre-orders have closed, so it is Print + PDF bundle now.

Written by the author of the ENNIE-nominated Skeleton Code Machine, ADVENTURE! covers the essential TTRPG adventure-making elements such as hooks, encounters, and NPCs.

I could do that!

My childhood copies of Ed Emberley’s drawing books.

Remember the Ed Emberley drawing books? I do.

Each book would start with just simple shapes — triangles, squares, a few straight lines. I’d follow the first few steps and it wouldn’t look like much, but as I followed along a picture would form. Before I knew it, I’d have drawn a lion, sea monster, or spaceship.¹

As he wrote in Ed Emberley’s Drawing Book of Animals, “If you can draw these shapes, letters, numbers and things, you will be able to draw all the animals in this book.”

Mr. Emberley said that he likes it when kids look at his drawing books and say, “I could do that!”²

Make your own adventure

ADVENTURE! from Skeleton Code Machine

That was my goal with the new Adventure! Make Your Own TTRPG Adventure guide from Skeleton Code Machine: break the large and complex task of writing a TTRPG adventure into it’s component parts — circles, rectangles, and a few squiggly lines — and show others how to turn those pieces into something larger.³

Whether it is your first or next adventure, I wanted something that was approachable, hands-on, and gives you the boost needed to create something new.

With art by Evlyn Moreau, the guide covers adventure hooks, rumors, encounters, room descriptions, monsters, and more. And like Make Your Own One-Page Roleplaying Game, each chapter ends with exercises to try what you’ve learned. Complete all the exercises and you’ll go from blank sheet of paper to playable adventure ready to share with others.

Pre-orders are open now

Limited-time pre-order bundle!

Pre-orders have closed!

You can get the Adventure Print + PDF bundle at the Exeunt Press shop!

Pre-orders are open now for the Adventure! Pre-Order Bundle including:

• Adventure! print edition (A5, approx. 84 pages)

• Adventure! digital edition (PDF)

• Plus the pre-order bundle extras:

  • Invitation to a Dark Masquerade in print (A4, one-page trifold)

  • Invitation to a Dark Masquerade digital (PDF)

  • Hammer of a Killing Crown (PDF, 32 pages)

  • A Pale Ground Covering All (PDF, 24 pages)

  • Skeleton Code Machine sticker

This is a limited-time bundle that will not be available after the pre-order period closes. The adventure extras will not be included with the print copy in the future.

Fulfillment plan

Front & Back Covers

Adventure! Make Your Own TTRPG Adventure is written. Layout is complete, and I’ve already approved the test prints. They look great, and you can see a sneak peak in the video above.

I will place the print order the week of March 24. It usually takes 2 - 4 weeks to receive the books after the order has been sent. After I’ve received the books, fulfillment will begin for both US and international orders. You will receive a tracking number when your items ship.⁴

International shipping is available to Canada, the UK, EU, and now Australia!

Inside ADVENTURE! from Skeleton Code Machine

This is the largest project I’ve completed and I’m extremely proud of it.⁵

I can’t wait to get it into your hands so you can open it up and say, “I could do that!”

— E.P. 💀

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Skeleton Code Machine is a production of Exeunt Press. All previous posts are in the Archive on the web. Subscribe to TUMULUS to get more design inspiration. If you want to see what else is happening at Exeunt Press, check out the Exeunt Omnes newsletter.

1. Of all of them, Ed Emberley’s Big Purple Drawing Book was my favorite. The small, purple, fuzzy Ginsfortwoozellfimms from “Fred” (the smallest of the 7 moons of Zort) that I loved the most. I thought — I still think they are really funny.

2. As quoted in “I Could Do That! The Picture Book Art of Ed Emberley” (November 29, 2021) at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art website.

3. The Deconstructing Rotblack Sludge post at Exeunt Omnes was the inspiration for this guide — breaking the MÖRK BORG adventure into its component parts and then thinking about how that could be used to teach others how to make their own adventures.

4. If you add additional items to your pre-order, those items will ship at the same time as your pre-order. Printed download keys for the digital editions will arrive with your order.

5. Affinity Publisher says the document is somewhere north of 16,600 words!