Who Actually Has Time for Bloated Adventures?

[Jd Smith1]

in high school, we got by with 30 min of a 40 min lunch period... 4 or 5 days a week.
For many years, 5-6 hours was my norm. Now, I'm happy to see 3.5; I don't have access for longer.

I won't run a session for less than 4 hours. And weekly.

But if you play f2f, you have to deal with constraints.

 

[Thomas Shey]

in high school, we got by with 30 min of a 40 min lunch period... 4 or 5 days a week.
For many years, 5-6 hours was my norm. Now, I'm happy to see 3.5; I don't have access for longer.

Again, I get that's workable for other people. It just wouldn't be for me. I need time to stretch in a game session.

 

[Starfox]

Personally, I like overstuffed adventures. I find its much easier to cut out than to add. But that's me, I clearly see how others might not like this.

 

[Jd Smith1]

Personally, I like overstuffed adventures. I find its much easier to cut out than to add. But that's me, I clearly see how others might not like this.

Yeah, it is far easier to trim back excess. And dropped bits can be pasted onto other scenarios as needed.

 

[Retreater]

Yeah, it is far easier to trim back excess. And dropped bits can be pasted onto other scenarios as needed.

I can agree with that. It's only when the story gets so convoluted that I can't unravel the point that it becomes a real problem.

 

[mamba]

Agreed. And yet people complain if an adventure is presented in the classic 1e style of minimal art, lots of text, and little if any filler.

Can't win, really.

that does not make it easy to run, it just makes for a bad presentation

 

[Hex08]

I guess bloat is a matter of perspective. I'm not a huge fan of adventures that only stick to the main storyline, I prefer that campaigns have side quests and other things unrelated to the main adventure. Pre-published adventures by nature kind of railroad players down a specific path and all the extraneous stuff helps give the illusion that other things are happening in the gaming world and make it feel less linear.

 

[Lanefan]

that does not make it easy to run, it just makes for a bad presentation

Minimal art and little if any filler make a module much easier to run IME, in that I'm not digging through page after page of fluff trying to find the key bit of info I'm lookign for.

 

[Lanefan]

I guess bloat is a matter of perspective. I'm not a huge fan of adventures that only stick to the main storyline, I prefer that campaigns have side quests and other things unrelated to the main adventure. Pre-published adventures by nature kind of railroad players down a specific path and all the extraneous stuff helps give the illusion that other things are happening in the gaming world and make it feel less linear.

You seem to be talking about adventure paths here, rather than single stand-alone adventures.

I also prefer that campaigns have side quests etc.; but a campaign is (or should be) bigger than any one adventure anyway.

 

[mamba]

Minimal art and little if any filler make a module much easier to run IME, in that I'm not digging through page after page of fluff trying to find the key bit of info I'm lookign for.

I was not looking to add fluff, but evocative art and DM guidance (summarize the chapter, the main goals / decisions / branching points, and things to look out for / keep in mind, etc.), instead of having room description after room description from start to finish

Sure, having to find the key info in 30 unstructured pages is easier than in 100, but my point is they should be better structured in the first place