I’ve not be able to find a definition for what constitutes an Adventure (or I think Quest in Fallout) across a few core books and the 2d20 world builder ruleset. It does clearly delineate what a Scene comprises but not an Adventure. Feels important to me as an Adventure is referenced in several rules, for advancement once per adventure, certain talents etc.
Is an Adventure a single session? Or is it a Goal set by the GM, and is only when it’s achieved does one get the chance to be awarded and spend Advancement Points.
Very good question, as other 2d20 RPGs do give out experience points per session, so that PCs can improve their stats between sessions (like Infinity or Mutant Chronicles).
Others structure the advancement along the line of “episodes”, like STA, where an episode could mean a single session or half a dozen or more.
Similar with the “adventure”. If you want the characters to advance more quickly, define an adventure as a shorter span of connected scenes, that could be a single session or a few sessions.
If you define an adventure as a long story arc, spanning a lot of sessions, that could actually frustrate some player types as they cannot improve or adapt their characters at all.
As this is a term that is used in rules mechanics, the GM needs to find what makes an “adventure” for the campaign at hand, considering the campaign structure (episodic or continous, plot-based or sandbox, etc.) and the intended speed of character advancement (giving the players something to improve, but avoiding “power creep” and unchallengeable PCs).
It’s easier for me since I play star trek adventures. For me an adventure is a TV episode, with several scenes in it. There can be episodes in several parts but they aren’t the rule. Every time the location change it’s a scene with a fade to black.
The missions briefs are good examples of episodes.
A campaign is a series season.
I have put a rule that I give players an arc stone on their birthday IRL with a player focused scenario (it is more accepted on this day)
I use the alternative experience option (but filler episodes give no experience).