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What Separates Adventure Types?

by Mike on 6 April 2026

A while back I wrote a series of articles talking about adventure types. I got the idea from the excellent short book by Robin Laws called Adventure Crucible. Here are those articles:

I've been thinking about adventure types again, wondering if these nine adventure types are the right ones or if any common types are missing.

But why bother defining these types of adventures at all? Why does it matter?

I think defining adventure types matters because it changes how we prepare them, how we run them, the common problems we might have with them, and how we solve those problems. Those factors are the criteria that, I think, separate adventure types from one another and are worth understanding specifically.

For example, how we prepare and run an infiltration and heist adventure is different from how we prepare and run a dungeon crawl. These two types of adventures can feel similar. Both take place in big sprawling locations. Both have the characters moving from room to room, facing challenges. Both have goals the characters want to meet.

But dungeon crawls aren't the same as infiltrations and heists. In infiltration and heist adventures, the characters often have more information about the location they're infiltrating. They have a plan and approach they can figure out ahead of time. Characters likely want to be much sneakier during infiltration and heists than they are crawling around in a dungeon. The location in a heist is often more dynamic than that in a dungeon. Monsters may run from room to room alerting their friends in a dungeon crawl but often each room is its own little situation and the characters aren't as worried about blasting a bunch of goblins with a super-loud thunderwave than they would be while breaking into a noble's manor.

We prepare dungeons differently than we do infiltration and heist adventures. We prepare investigations and mysteries different from roleplaying and intrigue adventures, even though they share similarities.

We run these adventure types differently too. The roles assigned to the characters for overland exploration and travel aren't the same as the roles characters have when crawling through a dungeon.

Adventure types give us a clear structure, most of the time, of the things we can focus on during our prep and when we run our games.

GMs love clear structures and processes. This passion for procedures is the secret of the eight steps of Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master – the eight steps give us a process and structure for the limitless possibilities we face when preparing a game for our friends. It brings the infinite stories we might create down to the practical things we need at our table to help us share those stories.

Adventure types give us process and structure. They guide us on where we should spend our time during our prep and what procedures we can follow when it comes to running our games.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Last week I also posted a YouTube video on The Death of Kal – Dragon Empire Prep Session 61.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Watch out for too many downward beats in a dungeon crawl. Add fun and useful encounters as well.
Add interesting NPCs in dungeon crawls.
Spread attacks to different characters even if the dice have you picking on the same one.
Paint dungeons with interesting secrets and clues about its history and previous inhabitants.
Alter fun-sucking abilities for a more enjoyable game.
Damage is the universal scary mechanic.
Let the characters hunt monsters in a dungeon instead of it always being the other way around.

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