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Originally Posted by Melan Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury aren’t flawed adventures because they are new, but because they employ a structure which is antithetical to freeform play and represents a more rigid „story-game” approach, something D&D should be rid of. |
This is the most problematic part of the initial essay. You are, of course, free to value freeform play over story-game style play, but to insist that D&D -- for everyone -- should be "rid of" it ... it's not helpful.
Rather, what would be helpful would be for each DM and player to know, ahead of time, what style of play he likes, and to then have the DM know how to design for that purpose. I have had my players tell me, in essentially these exact words, that they do not like freeform play. They want to be part of a story-game. Were I to force this style upon them, it would be as poor a choice as to force freeform players into a linear story.
Part of being a good DM is creating illusions. The DM who has a map/locations and a bunch of encounters, but not keyed ahead of time, can play in a freeform style but create the illusion of a linear story, given practice and skill. Likewise, the DM who has a linear adventure can effectively create the illusion of freeform play with some appropriate pre-planning. The effectiveness of these illusions will depend on the DM's experience and skill.
My gut instinct is that most players and DMs do in fact like a little of each over the course of an adventure and/or campaign -- some freeform play and some linearity to give shape and purpose. Or maybe it's just me, and that's why I often design with a line --> loop --> line shape, with chokepoints to make sure certain things happen, and with areas of relative freedom to encourage and reward player choice.
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