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General Tabletop Discussion
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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ath-kethin" data-source="post: 7156830" data-attributes="member: 6798775"><p>Aside: why no boxed text? To my mind, boxed text helps a DM describe a scene without accidentally giving away information they shouldn't. Since I think it is common for a DM to run a module without closely reading it first, boxed text can be a lifesaver.</p><p></p><p>What I would like to see: something compelling but flexible. I don't care about new magic items unless they are important; magical loot in an adventure gets changed to mundane stuff in my campaigns anyway. If there is a magic item there, why is it there? Who owned it? Why did they lave it there? Why does it exist? Why is it still there?</p><p></p><p>I also like to see innovative uses of terrain and environment. Ants do clever things with the caverns they inhabit; it stretches credibility that goblins and kobolds (let alone humans or more powerful and intelligent creatures) wouldn't.</p><p></p><p>It seems you are getting at this anyway, but if you insist on a "characters stand around for hours wondering what to do" (I'm sorry, "sandbox") format, include a suggested sequence for the areas to be explored, events to take place, whatever. </p><p></p><p>Include something that breaks the rules. Something players can't just duplicate with spells and junk from the core books. A good example is the illusions and quasi-contract in the "Tower of the Black Flame" adventure from the Primeval Thule campaign setting book. Weird stuff happens. There is no explanation, because the tower has been home to untold numbers of magic users. It's cool and unexpected.</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Here's an example of what I mean by the "give a general plot outline" idea. It's from the Xoth adventure "X4:Land of the Silver Lotus." </p><p></p><p> [ATTACH]85662[/ATTACH]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ath-kethin, post: 7156830, member: 6798775"] Aside: why no boxed text? To my mind, boxed text helps a DM describe a scene without accidentally giving away information they shouldn't. Since I think it is common for a DM to run a module without closely reading it first, boxed text can be a lifesaver. What I would like to see: something compelling but flexible. I don't care about new magic items unless they are important; magical loot in an adventure gets changed to mundane stuff in my campaigns anyway. If there is a magic item there, why is it there? Who owned it? Why did they lave it there? Why does it exist? Why is it still there? I also like to see innovative uses of terrain and environment. Ants do clever things with the caverns they inhabit; it stretches credibility that goblins and kobolds (let alone humans or more powerful and intelligent creatures) wouldn't. It seems you are getting at this anyway, but if you insist on a "characters stand around for hours wondering what to do" (I'm sorry, "sandbox") format, include a suggested sequence for the areas to be explored, events to take place, whatever. Include something that breaks the rules. Something players can't just duplicate with spells and junk from the core books. A good example is the illusions and quasi-contract in the "Tower of the Black Flame" adventure from the Primeval Thule campaign setting book. Weird stuff happens. There is no explanation, because the tower has been home to untold numbers of magic users. It's cool and unexpected. EDIT: Here's an example of what I mean by the "give a general plot outline" idea. It's from the Xoth adventure "X4:Land of the Silver Lotus." [ATTACH=CONFIG]85662._xfImport[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]
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