Modules: Made to Read vs Made to Run?

[amethal]

As an aside, the “meant to be read” phenomena isn’t restricted to modern trends. Was reading D&D, Runequest and WFRP modules in a 1982 issue of White Dwarf and, you guessed it: walls of dense paragraph text. Sure it wasn’t really purple prose all of the time, but it definitely was not easy to use at the table.

I assume with early White Dwarf the main issue was taking up as little space as possible in the magazine.

Even then, some of their Traveller modules were really well laid out, given the space constraints.

 

[Retros_x]

I have the feeling that "meant to read" modules sell better because a not so small part of the customerbase only dream of DMing, but never do. They actually enjoy these modules. Modules that focus on brief but impactful information are often not so exciting to read. I definitely prefer them though. After running Necrotic Gnome or Arcane Library adventures I could never go back to the "text paragraph adventures".

But I still buy WOTC modules for example, because they often have tons of material that is great to rip from and they deliver big campaign and setting frameworks that a 15 page adventure "meant to run" cannot deliver.

 

[Reynard]

What comes to immediate mind are scenarios with a lot of background information the GM gets to read about but there's no suggestions for how the PCs are expected to learn it.

This. A lot.

If it matters, make use of it. if it doesn't, leave it out.

 

[aco175]

A bit like politics, in that there are examples found at both ends, but most are in the middle someplace.

I find more use from short adventures that are easy to drop into my existing campaign. This means that I do not need much backstory on why the dungeon is there or who built it 1,000 years ago. I just want some flavor and monsters and a map. I can modify to fit my game from there. A whole book campaign might be fine having a whole story and background since that is going to be my campaign and not filler. This might be fine to spoonfeed and digest along the way.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I have the feeling that "meant to read" modules sell better because a not so small part of the customerbase only dream of DMing, but never do. They actually enjoy these modules. Modules that focus on brief but impactful information are often not so exciting to read.

That may be/probably is true for some, but I buy way more modules (adventures, campaigns, settings) than I ever get around to running, and...as I said upthread...I find reading the concise types more enjoyable. The "brief but impactful information" is sufficient to imagine the world just as richly as from long-form exposition, and more enjoyable than wading through somebody else's prose.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I’ve been looking at a lot of modules lately and something quickly became glaringly obvious.

There are two broad categories of modules: those meant to be read and those meant to be run.

Now, of course, those meant to be read are also eventually meant to be run by some fraction of buyers, but the priority is making the module a pleasure to read first and foremost. Large walls of text that flow well together. But, the amount of reading, highlighting, note taking, re-reading, rewriting, etc you’d need to do to make those modules even barely functional to run at the table is astronomical. At a guess, most referees complaining about vast amounts of prep are running modules and having to spend an inordinate amount of time and energy beating these kinds of modules into shape.

Then there are those meant to be run. Modules that do everything they can to make running them at the table as easy as possible. Page layout and design, information packaging, information structure, information design, lots of bullet points, succinct writing, effective use two-page spreads, repeating maps or fragments, bold important bits, etc. These are the kinds of modules you can run right from the book without having to pour hours of work into beforehand. At present, these kinds of easy-to-run modules are mostly restricted to the OSR/NSR scenes.

Why most modules still use page after page of giant walls of text you have to repeatedly pick through to actually find information is beyond me. Apparently there's a large enough audience of people who buy modules just to read that most publishers just cater to that crowd instead of the referees actually running them. Surely the people actually running the things are doing far more to promote these games than the people who're just buying and reading them.

I'm curious as to why? Why are these easy-to-run modules effectively absent from the broader hobby?

I also want to dig into the details of the easy-to-run modules, specifically the presentation. Making important information easier to find on the page. Making the module easier to use at the table.

All that jazz. What do you got?

Since I only use modules as fodder for my homebrew campaign, I prefer they be made to read rather than made to run as a single piece I'm not going to use like that anyway. Perhaps others feel the same.

 

[Li Shenron]

I don't think published adventures are excessively narrative, but I am certainly forever waiting for someone to figure out such a good module layout that would allow me to read it for the first time when I am running it.

 

[SteveC]

I expect that the people in this thread have heard of it, but if not, I suggest looking at the Arcane Library for adventures that are easy to run and well laid out.

If you're willing to look at more narrative games, the adventure/sourcebook for Grimwild is very different that the norm for gaming and something I would use if I were making an adventure for publication.

 

[sevenbastard]

I also think that sometimes people see value in a 90 page module even if a ton of it is fluff. If the made to run version is only 20 pages probably not something that gets on the shelf.

Also authors get paid by the word so some times they might pad stuff out.

 

[djotaku]

I feel like Kobold Press has a nice middle spot with their adventures (at least the ones written for Tales of the Valiant). Let's say the adventure is in a village or a dungeon. Each location or room has the description, but it also has something like the text adventures of old where the end of each section says "north to the library (A3), south to the kitchen (A5)" and so on. This means I don't necessarily have to keep consulting the map. They also have a good sidebar for each of the important NPCs. It tells you their ancestry, class (if applicable), initial disposition towards the party, and information relevant to them or which they might reveal. To get the best use you need to copy out the NPC info so that you have it whenever you need it - not just where it fit in the layout (sometimes making the VTT of the module a little easier to run than in person)

I find that, once you have GM experience, you could get by with just reading the module once before running so that you know what to foreshadow.