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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="LordEntrails" data-source="post: 7156993" data-attributes="member: 6804070"><p>Yes it should start fast. But it doesn't have to be completely unique and one or two cliches or stereotypes can help get that going. To get past the setup and into the fun faster.</p><p></p><p>I will say if I came across an adventure author that did not include boxed text, I would probably never buy from them again.</p><p></p><p>Yes, boxed text can be bad. It can be lots of things. A good DM or may not use the boxed text as-is, and a good DM can read boxed text without the PC's ever knowing that he is actually reading boxed text. But, an inexperienced DM will suffer greatly without boxed text.</p><p></p><p>Just because boxed text is there, doesn't mean that it is always going to be the right set of text to be read. It is an example, a default, a hey, if everything goes they way it might be most likely to go, then it is a sample of what you can use. As an author, you don't, shouldn't, can't provide boxed text for every eventuallity.</p><p></p><p>But one of the primary reasons for buying an adventure is to have something ready to run as-is. Something I can run without spending more time than it takes to read through it once. If I have to read it, take notes on it, plan what the NPC's might say, think about how I want to describe the rooms... well then I might have well just made the adventure myself. </p><p></p><p>A final note on boxed text. I'm a big proponent of maps and images. Every room should have an image or map for it (for the players), so boxed text doesn't have to describe the shape of the room, doesn't have to use left, right, north or east. Oh, and repeating things like the ceiling height or type of floor is boring, it should only be mentioned if it is different than what comes before or is non-standard.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and maps don't have to be amazing, but they should be good. It really is not hard to do good maps yourself. There are several very good mapping programs that don't take much to learn and really are not that expensive. If you are putting together a professional quality module, then have some quality maps in it. (Either find a cartographer or spend $50 and 20 hours to learn how to make maps yourself!)</p><p></p><p>I like the idea of indexes and relationships maps (or mind maps) if they are needed. </p><p></p><p>Yes, most published adventures should have an acceptable/expected linear path. Otherwise if it is just a sandbox, then it should probably be a campaign setting and not an adventure (wasn't it Judges Guild who used to do things like that?).</p><p></p><p>Not a fan of downtime inside of most adventures. Adventures should be limited in scope, not an entire adventure path.</p><p></p><p>Regardless of page count, IMO the entry inside the adventure should be short (a stat block) and then if the creature is not in the SRD/MM the appendix should have a full block for them. Though my opinion on this is pretty... unimportant to me since I use Fantasy Grounds and stats are just done once and linked in full as many times as needed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordEntrails, post: 7156993, member: 6804070"] Yes it should start fast. But it doesn't have to be completely unique and one or two cliches or stereotypes can help get that going. To get past the setup and into the fun faster. I will say if I came across an adventure author that did not include boxed text, I would probably never buy from them again. Yes, boxed text can be bad. It can be lots of things. A good DM or may not use the boxed text as-is, and a good DM can read boxed text without the PC's ever knowing that he is actually reading boxed text. But, an inexperienced DM will suffer greatly without boxed text. Just because boxed text is there, doesn't mean that it is always going to be the right set of text to be read. It is an example, a default, a hey, if everything goes they way it might be most likely to go, then it is a sample of what you can use. As an author, you don't, shouldn't, can't provide boxed text for every eventuallity. But one of the primary reasons for buying an adventure is to have something ready to run as-is. Something I can run without spending more time than it takes to read through it once. If I have to read it, take notes on it, plan what the NPC's might say, think about how I want to describe the rooms... well then I might have well just made the adventure myself. A final note on boxed text. I'm a big proponent of maps and images. Every room should have an image or map for it (for the players), so boxed text doesn't have to describe the shape of the room, doesn't have to use left, right, north or east. Oh, and repeating things like the ceiling height or type of floor is boring, it should only be mentioned if it is different than what comes before or is non-standard. Oh, and maps don't have to be amazing, but they should be good. It really is not hard to do good maps yourself. There are several very good mapping programs that don't take much to learn and really are not that expensive. If you are putting together a professional quality module, then have some quality maps in it. (Either find a cartographer or spend $50 and 20 hours to learn how to make maps yourself!) I like the idea of indexes and relationships maps (or mind maps) if they are needed. Yes, most published adventures should have an acceptable/expected linear path. Otherwise if it is just a sandbox, then it should probably be a campaign setting and not an adventure (wasn't it Judges Guild who used to do things like that?). Not a fan of downtime inside of most adventures. Adventures should be limited in scope, not an entire adventure path. Regardless of page count, IMO the entry inside the adventure should be short (a stat block) and then if the creature is not in the SRD/MM the appendix should have a full block for them. Though my opinion on this is pretty... unimportant to me since I use Fantasy Grounds and stats are just done once and linked in full as many times as needed. [/QUOTE]
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