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What do you want in a published adventure? / Adventure design best practices?
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<blockquote data-quote="happyhermit" data-source="post: 7159102" data-attributes="member: 6834463"><p>I might have a different perspective than many in that I played for decades but was never a fan of the old "modules" in general. We played them sure, and I tried a fair variety from different publishers and systems and even run by people outside our regular group, but overall they fell flat next to our usual homebrew. The 5e starter set went a long way towards redeeming published stuff in our eyes, I can't say enough about how good that adventure is IMO. I have seen completely new-to-ttrpg players just start running it and they "got" D&D in a way that usually took much longer, not to mention players, and as a long time GM I found it excellent as well. CoS and SKT have me 100% ready to pick up ToA when it comes out. I actually am waiting to buy the next adventure which would have sounded ridiculous to me a few years ago.</p><p></p><p>So, here's my take on what I like about the recent adventures and by extension what has convinced me to buy more. </p><p></p><p>It needs to be readable. If the text comes out looking and sounding like a formula my satisfaction drops precipitously. I may never run a particular section for a variety of reasons, but if the writing is good I will be satisfied anyways. On this note, I am not a fan of in-line stats in general. A sidebar wouldn't be too bad but I much prefer to have them all in one place (referring to the MM is great), "cut-out" cards are wonderful.</p><p></p><p>I like boxed text, even if I wouldn't normally read it aloud. It gives a nice summary that's quick and easy to check.</p><p></p><p>If the adventure is particularly linear I am simply not interested, I might slice it up for pieces but I simply don't want to buy, run, or play in it. Reading it irks me because of the assumptions made on what will happen vs. what I or players I know would do.</p><p></p><p>"Modularity" in the sense of "steal-abilty"<img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> is great. SKT was a great example of this for me. The lists of locations that are tied together somehow have been much more inspiring and useful than purpose-made materials I have used (or acquired with the intention to use) in the past. Some of them I just used the idea or shape ie; "Beorunna's Well" while others like "Grudd Haug" almost as-is can be transplanted to so many locations. More elaborate locations like Goldenfields are great as well. Then there is all the non-location stuff, I have stolen the airship, the boats, and other stuff that isn't coming to mind ATM. None of this stuff is new to me and I have rules/art/maps/diagrams already but packaged like this it really comes to life.</p><p></p><p>Things that I wish they did more of are definitely indexing/listing this kind of thing for reference. Making it even more readable, as a GM/purchaser I would love to have a clearly identified bit of story for many locations, either past lore or even an example of what could happen.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="happyhermit, post: 7159102, member: 6834463"] I might have a different perspective than many in that I played for decades but was never a fan of the old "modules" in general. We played them sure, and I tried a fair variety from different publishers and systems and even run by people outside our regular group, but overall they fell flat next to our usual homebrew. The 5e starter set went a long way towards redeeming published stuff in our eyes, I can't say enough about how good that adventure is IMO. I have seen completely new-to-ttrpg players just start running it and they "got" D&D in a way that usually took much longer, not to mention players, and as a long time GM I found it excellent as well. CoS and SKT have me 100% ready to pick up ToA when it comes out. I actually am waiting to buy the next adventure which would have sounded ridiculous to me a few years ago. So, here's my take on what I like about the recent adventures and by extension what has convinced me to buy more. It needs to be readable. If the text comes out looking and sounding like a formula my satisfaction drops precipitously. I may never run a particular section for a variety of reasons, but if the writing is good I will be satisfied anyways. On this note, I am not a fan of in-line stats in general. A sidebar wouldn't be too bad but I much prefer to have them all in one place (referring to the MM is great), "cut-out" cards are wonderful. I like boxed text, even if I wouldn't normally read it aloud. It gives a nice summary that's quick and easy to check. If the adventure is particularly linear I am simply not interested, I might slice it up for pieces but I simply don't want to buy, run, or play in it. Reading it irks me because of the assumptions made on what will happen vs. what I or players I know would do. "Modularity" in the sense of "steal-abilty":) is great. SKT was a great example of this for me. The lists of locations that are tied together somehow have been much more inspiring and useful than purpose-made materials I have used (or acquired with the intention to use) in the past. Some of them I just used the idea or shape ie; "Beorunna's Well" while others like "Grudd Haug" almost as-is can be transplanted to so many locations. More elaborate locations like Goldenfields are great as well. Then there is all the non-location stuff, I have stolen the airship, the boats, and other stuff that isn't coming to mind ATM. None of this stuff is new to me and I have rules/art/maps/diagrams already but packaged like this it really comes to life. Things that I wish they did more of are definitely indexing/listing this kind of thing for reference. Making it even more readable, as a GM/purchaser I would love to have a clearly identified bit of story for many locations, either past lore or even an example of what could happen. [/QUOTE]
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