Best Organized Adventure?

Sigurd · May 19, 2008

I really like what Paizo did with dungeon adventures - like the artwork, good organization etc....

That got me thinking. What do people think is the best organized module\adventure of all time?

I'm not talking about the quality of the material so much as the presentation, organization and style of the material?

Anyone?

EricNoah · May 19, 2008

I like the format used by Dungeon Crawl Classics. The adventure summaries are tidy, the master list of monsters/traps is just great for a DM looking over adventures on the fly.

I was reading through one of the Pathfinder adventures today and it occurred to me that I was having a heck of a time figuring out where the background info stops and the encounter starts. That will make running those a challenge for me -- I won't have time to stop and read a couple of long paragraphs at a time at the table, so I'll have to know in some detail what is going on ahead of time.

Yet the "delve" format from WotC is a little too chopped up for my taste. Making me flip back and forth from the adventure to the encounter doesn't work well for me either.

Vascant · May 19, 2008

EricNoah said:
I like the format used by Dungeon Crawl Classics. The adventure summaries are tidy, the master list of monsters/traps is just great for a DM looking over adventures on the fly.

I like the classic feel myself, though don't know if it is because it is better or just 30+ years of seeing it. I'm leaning more to the fact it just seems cleaner though since I was not adverse to the change in stat blocks.

EricNoah said:
I was reading through one of the Pathfinder adventures today and it occurred to me that I was having a heck of a time figuring out where the background info stops and the encounter starts. That will make running those a challenge for me -- I won't have time to stop and read a couple of long paragraphs at a time at the table, so I'll have to know in some detail what is going on ahead of time.

We agree here as well, if I don't go through ahead of time and mark things up it does add some pauses during the game as I try and find myself sometimes.

EricNoah said:
Yet the "delve" format from WotC is a little too chopped up for my taste. Making me flip back and forth from the adventure to the encounter doesn't work well for me either.

Bad format and even worse execution of a bad idea. If you think finding where you are at on a single page can pause a game then it is nothing like having to flip through countless pages every turn of events. Even in PDF format this could have been handled better with using bookmarks and internal links to make it easier to link text with other related pages. It has been moves like this that has not generated confidence in the direction the game is heading for me. I noticed in Keep on the ShadowFell that this format was not used, perhaps they agree as well.

James Jacobs · May 19, 2008

EricNoah said:
I was reading through one of the Pathfinder adventures today and it occurred to me that I was having a heck of a time figuring out where the background info stops and the encounter starts. That will make running those a challenge for me -- I won't have time to stop and read a couple of long paragraphs at a time at the table, so I'll have to know in some detail what is going on ahead of time.

Interesting observation...

Since I'm always looking for ways to make the adventures easier to run (without making them tougher to read... sometimes a tough balancing act, that!), what exactly do you mean by "background" material vs. "encounter" material? We try to make sure all the monster tactics are enclosed in the stat block... are you referring to encounters that have information about how the area directly affects combat (weak floors, difficult terrain, exploding mushrooms, etc.) hidden in the text between the read-aloud text and the stat block of an encounter?

EricNoah · May 19, 2008

Off the top of my head ... Seven Days to the Grave is one where I noticed it. It's not nearly as bad in the parts of the adventure that are keyed to locations. But the event-based sections toward the beginning are paragraph upon paragraph of information and it isn't always clear at a glance what parts are background and what parts are the encounter itself. If I see a read-aloud box or a stat block I know something is happening but that's when I have to start reading through the paragraphs to figure out when this encounter starts, what triggers it, and who all is involved.

bento · May 19, 2008

Eric, I totally agree with your first two, but not so much on the third.

I love DCCs because they are relatively easy to run. They read exactly like you'd probably run them - text that should be read aloud is set apart and italicized. Some additional tactics thrown in right after the monster's stats. For one module, DCC #2, I input and ran the adventure off a wiki! I also like that Goodman doesn't assume you have the MM in front of you and provide stat blocks for monsters, at least at the first encounter you find them.

I've started the second Pathfinder campaign and I'm also running into the same problem of jumbled text. The books flow great when you're reading them to yourself, but when you get to the table they are lacking some of the visual clues that can speed up time. I find that when I'm using the book at the table I'm starting and stopping descriptions, as I'm scanning ahead to make sure I don't provide too much information. As I'm purchasing only the HC versions, I don't want to mark up my copy, as I do with a printed pdf of a DCC. I'd like to see more visual clues in text.

I haven't run any WoTC modules, but I liked the format used in Return to Ravenloft. Maybe there would be a lot of flipping back and forth between pages, but I do like the idea of all the info on a single page to run the encounter.

Thanks for the great question!

JoeGKushner · May 20, 2008

Orcfast by Fast Forward Games of all people. A great introductory adventure to the game.

Storminator · May 20, 2008

There was a thread by some designers that mentioned putting "REVELATION: blah" boxes around info that is important to reveal to the players so it doesn't get lost in the narrative, stat blocks, tactics, etc. I thought that was a very good idea, and I'd love to see that happen more.

I'm pretty happy with the organization of KotS. Having all the encounter info on a two page spread is pretty handy, and having it worked thru the book works out pretty well.

I think Dungeon's Sea Wyvern's Wake is probably the worst organized adventure I've ever run. Very, very frustrating.

PS

Mark · May 20, 2008

While we're on the subject, what do people think of the organization of Cooperative Dungeons (they are free to download and own, FWIW)?

Khairn · May 20, 2008

Best organized module / adventure of all time?

No question ... hands down its Ptolus.

From the completeness of the content, to the artwork, the fantastic support and an amazing story, this adventure (dare I call it a single adventure?) has it all. And each page has cross indexed content that enables a GM to breeze through it.

Its pricey, but I've never regretted buying it.

Best Organized Adventure?

Sigurd

First Post

EricNoah

Adventurer

Vascant

Wanderer of the Underdark

James Jacobs

Adventurer

EricNoah

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bento

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JoeGKushner

First Post

Storminator

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Mark

CreativeMountainGames.com

Khairn

First Post

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