Pathfinder Adventure Path is not a "Better Homes and Gardens" approach, rather, it is a thematic monthly book that presents, typically:
- a 2 page introduction
- a 50 page adventure
- a 10 page regional background article
- a 8 page article on a god or religion of Golarion
- a 8 page fiction article
- a dozen pages of Bestiary material
- a couple of pages of ads
The individual page attributions devoted to each “section” might vary a little from the above, but that is a fair summary of the overall average issue of Pathfinder Adventure Path.
With respect to its readability, yes, Paizo has always emphasized that aspect of its adventure material. Long before Pathfinder AP was ever conceived, Messrs Mona and Jacobs realized while publishing Dungeon Magazine that people bought the magazine regularly, but did not run the adventures in it regularly -- or often -- at all.
Yes, the magazine was collected and sometimes referred to many years later. At other times, the adventures would be pilfered, in whole or in part (usually in part) for homebrewed adventures.
Even when a GM would run an adventure within it (the occurrence of which was gratifyingly increased when Dungeon started featuring Adventure Paths) there were TWO OTHER adventures in that issue of the magazine that were not receiving nearly the same care, attention or use.
So why were people valuing that content? Paizo appreciated that the main utility -- the value in use to their subscribers -- was in reading the adventure. After all, there are many readers and subscribers who, for whatever reason, are not currently in a gaming group, and others still who are in a group but are playing or running something else. In fact, the overwhelming majority of readers are playing something else (if they are playing at all) when they received the magazine. The immediate value they obtained from it was obviously in the reading of it.
There's no shame in recognizing that fundamental fact and in ensuring that the adventure not only plays well, but that it reads well, too.
That editorial philosophy has been demonstrably successful at Paizo for almost ten years. Given the sheer volume of adventure material that it puts out, -- much of it consumed by the same customers every month -- it remains a guiding editorial philosophy at Paizo. After all, I subscribe to everything Paizo puts out and I have a great deal of trouble reading even half of it each month. But I do try to do so – enjoy doing so – and there are lots of customers like me. My guess is that they enjoy reading it, too.
Sometimes, in fact, I would argue that this devotion to making sure an adventure is "a good read" can (and does) adversely affect their overall adventure presentation. I find this problem is underscored most often when the adventure author spills a LOT of ink on a backstory or other explanation for an event or series of events in the adventure that never, EVER, has an opportunity to emerge during play. When you recognize this when reading the adventure, you realize that the backstory is there to make that aspect of the adventure more interesting to The Reader -- not because it is necessary to the GM or the players.
While this can sometimes be frustrating, on balance, I wouldn't have it any other way.
