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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7156852" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Good answers so far! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> Let me follow up with questions to clarify...</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I followed everything else you mentioned, but this one I didn't grasp. Could you explain?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>If you have the option (let's say you can only choose one due to page count limits), which would you prefer? You can tell I have a bias in favor of #1...</p><p></p><p><strong>#1. Index of 1e-style short form stats for ALL monsters in adventure</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Avoids duplication, everything in one place.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">DM knows exactly where to turn to; no question later "crap, dread zombies, do I flip to that Hall of Kings for their quick stats?"</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Requires separate printing/photocopying of monster index for reference.</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>#2. Present 1e-style short form stats in the room(s) where "most likely" to appear</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some duplication may happen, and that's ok or even desirable.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Due to ambiguities about where monsters appear, quite possible the quick stats the DM needs won't appear right where he/she needs them. Could mean searching for quick stats.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ideally no need to print/photocopy anything. Ideally it's all right in front of you.</li> </ul><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Great example of a way to dovetail an exploration/site-based adventure with a quest-style story.</p><p></p><p>Ok! About boxed text..</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree that boxed text can be conditionally useful.</p><p></p><p>Personally I would notice players' attention drift at the table when I would read boxed text. Could be simply that it was "bad" boxed text.</p><p></p><p>But it sounds like what you guys are saying is that the boxed text is more for the <strong><em>DM</em></strong> than it is for the players. Is that right?</p><p></p><p>Some specific challenges I've run into with boxed text...</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Describing non-standard room shapes and sizes. I'm in architecture, so I'm comfortable with possibly a broader lexicon of building terms, but still it's challenging to describe a room like, for example, the Hagia Sophia in terms that (a) don't reference architecture terms others won't necessarily know, and (b) don't reference the real world "like the Hagia Sophia" that could break immersion or players may not know.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Describing conditional elements, like globes of silence or darkness with information inside them. Do you write up 2 versions of the boxed text? Dark/silenced version? And un-darkened/silenced version?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How much detail is too much / not enough? For example, is it sufficient to say somewhere in a General Features of the Site paragraph toward the beginning "most passageways are 10' x 10', walls are made of granite, floor are flagstones which can be lifted with effort, and doors are reinforced wood (AC X, hp X)", and then just let that ride until something changes? Or would you expect boxed text to inform you of each room's flagstone floors (because we don't want to assume the DM had time to read that earlier paragraph)?</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7156852, member: 20323"] Good answers so far! :) Let me follow up with questions to clarify... I followed everything else you mentioned, but this one I didn't grasp. Could you explain? If you have the option (let's say you can only choose one due to page count limits), which would you prefer? You can tell I have a bias in favor of #1... [B]#1. Index of 1e-style short form stats for ALL monsters in adventure[/B] [list][*]Avoids duplication, everything in one place. [*]DM knows exactly where to turn to; no question later "crap, dread zombies, do I flip to that Hall of Kings for their quick stats?" [*]Requires separate printing/photocopying of monster index for reference.[/list] [B]#2. Present 1e-style short form stats in the room(s) where "most likely" to appear[/B] [list][*]Some duplication may happen, and that's ok or even desirable. [*]Due to ambiguities about where monsters appear, quite possible the quick stats the DM needs won't appear right where he/she needs them. Could mean searching for quick stats. [*]Ideally no need to print/photocopy anything. Ideally it's all right in front of you.[/list] Great example of a way to dovetail an exploration/site-based adventure with a quest-style story. Ok! About boxed text.. I agree that boxed text can be conditionally useful. Personally I would notice players' attention drift at the table when I would read boxed text. Could be simply that it was "bad" boxed text. But it sounds like what you guys are saying is that the boxed text is more for the [B][I]DM[/I][/B] than it is for the players. Is that right? Some specific challenges I've run into with boxed text... [list][*]Describing non-standard room shapes and sizes. I'm in architecture, so I'm comfortable with possibly a broader lexicon of building terms, but still it's challenging to describe a room like, for example, the Hagia Sophia in terms that (a) don't reference architecture terms others won't necessarily know, and (b) don't reference the real world "like the Hagia Sophia" that could break immersion or players may not know. [*]Describing conditional elements, like globes of silence or darkness with information inside them. Do you write up 2 versions of the boxed text? Dark/silenced version? And un-darkened/silenced version? [*]How much detail is too much / not enough? For example, is it sufficient to say somewhere in a General Features of the Site paragraph toward the beginning "most passageways are 10' x 10', walls are made of granite, floor are flagstones which can be lifted with effort, and doors are reinforced wood (AC X, hp X)", and then just let that ride until something changes? Or would you expect boxed text to inform you of each room's flagstone floors (because we don't want to assume the DM had time to read that earlier paragraph)?[/list] [/QUOTE]
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