Framing the problem
In film, theatre, books, etc. we have words like ‘act’, ‘chapter’, ‘scenes’, ‘series’, etc. In D&D we only seem to have ‘encounter’ and ‘adventure’, and eventually ‘campaign’. Why is there nothing between ‘encounter’ and ‘adventure’?
To address the presenting problem, we (Auke, Eerie, HarebrainedTom, MagnificentBean) attempted first to organize the narrative units found in various forms of media: books, theatre, TV, film, video games, and RPGs. We defined each unit, gave examples from The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Lord of the Rings, and then attempted to identify the name of each unit for each media form.
| L | Narrative Unit | RHPS | LotR | Book | Theatre | TV | Film | Video game | D&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Near-atomic unit; a moment of change | “Dammit, Janet, I love you!” | “Fly, you fools!” | Beat | Beat | Beat | Beat | Gameplay Beat / Player Action | Round |
| 2 | A discrete situation; a single continuous event bounded by space and time | Brad and Janet arrive at the castle door and meet Riff Raff. | The hobbits hide from the Nazgûl under the tree root on the side of the road. | Scene | Scene | Scene | Scene | Encounter (or “Scene”) | Encounter |
| 3 | Sequence of events forming a continuous unit | Brad and Janet, stranded in a storm, “You see, our car broke down a few miles up”, spot the castle and decide to seek help. | The Fellowship’s journey through the Mines of Moria. | Segment (Chapter) | Act or Movement | Act or Sequence | Sequence | Quest / Mission / Level / Operation | Quest |
| 4 | A complete story with setup, conflict, resolution | The Rocky Horror Picture Show | The Fellowship of the Ring | Novel / Short story | Play | Episode | Feature film / Short film | Campaign / Story Mode / Episode | Adventure |
| 5 | Larger narrative made of several complete stories | “The Frank N. Furter Chronicles”, detailing Frank’s experiments, guests, and household intrigues within Frankenstein Place. | The complete trilogy of The Lord of the Rings | Series / Cycle | Cycle | Season, Story arc | Series, Film series | DLC / Expansion / Side Campaign / Post-launch Episode | Campaign |
| 6 | Several arcs forming a long-form continuity; overarching meta-story | “Transsexual Transylvanian Adventures in the Milky Way” | The entire history of the Rings of Power | Saga | Cycle or Tetralogy/Trilogy | Multi-season series | Saga, Franchise series | Game Series / Saga | Saga |
| 7 | A shared world of narratives | “The Velvet Underquadrant: Tales of the Transsexual Transylvanians, the Pan-Galactic Pansexuals, and the Metrosexual Martians” | The complete history of Arda;’ “Tolkien’s Legendarium” | Universe | Cycle, Theatrical Universe | Franchise, Shared universe | Franchise, Shared universe | Shared Universe / Transmedia IP | Setting |
The resulting table thus attempts to demonstrate the structural equivalence of narrative units across media, showing how stories are built from the same functional layers, suggesting that each art form organises meaning through comparable hierarchical units of action and resolution.
In so doing, it suggests that Quest lies between Encounter and Adventure.
(Last edit: 2025.10.08)
See also
Campaigns, Adventures, and Modules – Oh My! (2026.02.24) — Justin Alexander (The Alexandrian) explores the historical evolution and overlapping definitions of the terms “campaign,” “adventure,” “scenario,” and “module” within the tabletop RPG hobby.
Alexander places Encounter and Scene at the same organizational level but distinguishes then by the stage of the game in which they exist – an Encounter exists during prep (what the DM creates) and a Scene exists during play (what happens at the table). Put another way, an Encounter is static (it is a pre-defined situation or group of creatures in a specific location) while a Scene is emergent (it is what happens at the table when players interact with the world). An Encounter is a tool used to build a Scene. Which means, a DM should not prepare a Scene – a Scene requires the players to actually be there to make it happen. Instead, the DM should simply prep a situation (the Encounter) and let the Scene unfold naturally.