I've been considering my current campaign and how I anticipate it playing out. While nothing is set in stone at this point, and a lot depends on which plots the players pick up on, I expect that we will progress through a couple of dungeon crawls and gradually transition into an extra-planar romp. Since I don't have any experience creating an extra-planar romp, and I'm not even entirely sure what I mean by that, I started thinking about the different qualities that define an adventure. Based on that, I started brainstorming what the different adventure types mean to me. Here's what I have so far. I thought I would post to see if anyone else finds this useful, and also to get their thoughts on other adventure types or things I've missed.
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Adventure Types
Romp
Urgency
Qualities
Obstacles
Opponents
Rewards
Crawl
Urgency
Qualities
Obstacles
Opponents
Rewards
Investigation
Urgency
Qualities
Obstacles
Opponents
Rewards
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Adventure Types
Romp
Urgency
- Immediate, high-stakes
Qualities
- Rough
- High energy
- Non-stop action
- Environment has a big impact on the adventure
- The adventure has a big impact on the environment
- Environment is very dynamic
- Opponents are the central focus
- Multiple factions and players
Obstacles
- Threats to the environment
- Unfriendly neutral factions
Opponents
- Plot-relevant
- Powerful and destructive
- Proactive and dynamic
Rewards
- Eliminating a threat
- Thwarting opponent goals
- Recovery of plot-important objects
Crawl
Urgency
- Remote or non-existent
Qualities
- Environment has a big impact on the adventure
- Environment is a central focus
- Environment is mostly static
- Opponents are largely reactive
- Exploration is a central focus
Obstacles
- Weather
- Navigation
- Traps
- Hidden paths, hidden areas, hidden societies, and hidden objects
- Environmental challenges
- Unfriendly monsters and factions
Opponents
- Varied (see obstacles)
Rewards
- Discovery of secrets
- Treasure
- Plot hooks
- Recovery of plot-important objects
- Access to important areas or contacts
Investigation
Urgency
- Varied, often remote
Qualities
- Low-energy
- Thoughtful and reflective
- Environment is secondary
Obstacles
- Puzzles
- Hidden clues
- Uncooperative witnesses
- Restricted access to important sites
Opponents
- Hidden identity
- Hidden weaknesses
- Hidden goals
Rewards
- Discovery of an opponent’s identity
- Discovery of secrets
- Access to new allies