Below we will walk through the setup of The Festival of Emerelda, a free adventure on the Roll20 Marketplace. This adventure is a few years old (as of 2024), so to view more modern examples of free games, check out:
- Frozen Sick (D&D 5e)
- Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Made Mage Level 1 (D&D 5e)
- Dune: Fall of the Imperium Free Starter Adventure (Dune: Adventures in the Imperium)
- Fallout Free Starter Adventure (Fallout: The Roleplaying Game)
- A Fistful of Flowers (Pathfinder 2nd Edition)
- We Be Goblins! (Pathfinder 1st Edition)
- Easy Mode (Cyberpunk RED)
The Festival of Emerelda
Access The Festival of Emerelda:
- Navigate to The Festival of Emerelda Marketplace Page, a free 5th Edition One-Shot Adventure on the Roll20 Marketplace.
- Click on the Create Game with Game Addon button. This will bring you to the Game Creation Page where you will enter a name for the Game you’re making.
- Under the Optional: Choose a Character Sheet section of this page, choose the “D&D 5E by Roll20” character sheet.
- Once named and a character sheet is selected, click the I’m ready, Create Game! Button.
The Festival of Emerelda comes with a landing page graphic (this is commonly the cover art of the product) and a Page that contains the map art of the village festival the one-shot takes place on.
The Journal Tab has nested Handouts that explain how to run the Adventure and what Roll20-specific features have been included.
At the bottom of the list of Handouts is a folder that contains three NPC Character Sheets. Each Character entry has their NPC 5E Character Sheet filled out and Token art has been attached to them.
In the Collections Tab are custom-made Macros that roll for specific events that happen in the adventure and…
A Rollable Table with 75 items has been added so that the Players can find out what sort of prizes they win by competing in the festival games.
Customer Expectations
Character Sheet
A Character Sheet of the intended RPG system should be loaded for use in the game's settings. Every NPC, Monster, and PC character in your Adventure should probably have a Character Sheet unless there's no reason for them to have stats. They should all also have a linked Token to their sheet.
Page Elements
- Every Map that is featured in the Adventure should be set up on its own Page
- When a grid is used on the Map, the map art should be aligned with the Page’s grid. If the artwork contains the grid in it, lower the opacity of the Page’s gridlines on that Page’s Settings so that only the artwork’s grid is visible.
- Dynamic Lighting, when applicable, should be set up on the Pages when required. This also means that light sources are placed, and barriers/doors/windows are added on the Dynamic Lighting Layer.
- NPC and Monster Tokens should also be put in their respective locations on the Pages, and these Tokens should link to their respective Character entries in the Journal tab.
- GM info such as Room Labels and Trap locations placed on the GM Layer.
Journal Elements
- Every Monster and NPC should have their own Character Sheet. Assigned Token art (or Text Tokens) should also be given to these entries if you expect them to be interacted with on a Page.
Roll20 Compendiums and Copyright & IP Awareness
Refer to your Rule System's license on what you can and can't use when dragging and dropping content from a Compendium. Content such as Token art and other art found in Character Sheets or Handouts will likely be protected by Copyright.
- Your Adventure text should be recreated in Handout form. This includes the instructions on how to play the Adventure, details for every scripted encounter, dungeon guides (ideally including a dungeon room key graphic), flavor text, and anything else that would be read from a traditional for-print Adventure.
- You should nest the Journal entries by chapters, locations, or however the Adventure is organized. Subfolders on the Journal tab can nest three levels deep. For Addons specifically, all Handouts and folders should be nested in one top-level folder.
- You should include Credit information as its own Handout entry and a means of contact if users find errors or issues with your Adventure that might require patching.
- Linking Between Journal Entries is a huge time saver for a GM. For instance, the GM could be reading a Handout that is a dungeon guide and notes that “...two wolves are located in a cellar.” The word “wolves” in the Handout has been linked to the “Wolf” Character Sheet, so the GM can open that Sheet by simply clicking on the hyperlink in the Handout instead of having to dig through the Journal tab (or run a search) for it.
- Special Inventory Items, Monster Images, and other Art should be added as their own Handout entries so the GM can share them with the party by using the "Show to Players" option.
Collections Tab Elements
Collections Tab elements aren’t required for an Adventure, but they’re available to you. You can utilize Macros, Card Decks, and Rollable Tables in your Adventure and they will be carried over to the Marketplace Item. If you add any to your Adventure, we recommend that you also include a Journal Handout that explains what the Collections item does, when to use it, and how to use it.
If there’s a special mechanic included in your Adventure that would be easier handled via a custom Macro, this is where you would build it.
Every game comes with the standard deck of Playing Cards as well as a Safety Tools Deck. If your adventure would include a custom Card Deck, this is where you would build it.
Rollable Tables are very versatile and you may use this feature in several different fashions:
- A random list of items, monsters, events, etc (ex. Random Encounter Roll Table)
- A Rollable Table Token for an NPC or Monster that uses disguises or shapeshifts
- A Rollable Table Token for areas of a map that can change shape or landmarks