Modules: Made to Read vs Made to Run?

[overgeeked]

I agree with you there. Although I also think @Lanefan has a point: information density means less page jumping, and/or better value per page that you are paying for.

Information density as in more information per page, right? That’s an argument for bullet points and clipped descriptions rather than large paragraphs you have to dig through to get to the buried tidbits.

Consider a 250-page module for $50 that could be easily summarized and converted to a 50-page module for $10. Fewer pages to flip. Higher information density. Lower cost. Better value per page. Etc.

 

[GrimCo]

In general, i think more people buy adventures/modules to read, mine for ideas, or snatch parts to implement into their existing games. Sure, there are people who buy them to run them straight up. But, made to read module, with some work, can be run straigh up. Made to run modules are more condensed, have less fluff, and aren't as good as pure read or idea mine.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In general, i think more people buy adventures/modules to read, mine for ideas, or snatch parts to implement into their existing games.

I agree with the first thought, but not the latter two.

I think WotC, like White Wolf before it, relies heavily on the non-playing customer.

That said, they often also seem unaware of a lot of the things that are happening in the non-5E RPG space, so I suspect at least some of their designers don't know that there are alternatives to the way TSR and WotC have almost always done things. Given that they largely recruit from the 5E community, and many of those community members are similarly unaware of anything beyond WotC's boundaries, that's not a big surprise.

That's not a criticism of anyone involved, but one often doesn't know what one doesn't know.

It's sort of like being a resident of the Roman Empire. One wouldn't expect many of those millions of people to know much about what lay beyond the empire's borders. Everyone they know lives in the empire and the empire seems to have everything they need.

 

[zakael19]

That said, they often also seem unaware of a lot of the things that are happening in the non-5E RPG space, so I suspect at least some of their designers don't know that there are alternatives to the way TSR and WotC have almost always done things. Given that they largely recruit from the 5E community, and many of those community members are similarly unaware of anything beyond WotC's boundaries, that's not a big surprise.

Questing Beasts' review of the FR campaign setting's little encounters suggested this as well, yeah.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Information density as in more information per page, right? That’s an argument for bullet points and clipped descriptions rather than large paragraphs you have to dig through to get to the buried tidbits.

Yes, exactly.

 

[Bill Zebub]

What does time spent reading something (presumably) enjoyable have to do with having a trust fund?

Not the enjoyable part. The claim that 4x time required to read (8 minutes per encounter, rather than 2 minutes) is not a problem.

Sure, back in junior high in '81 I happily stayed up all night with a flashlight reading RPGs.

Not anymore.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Not the enjoyable part. The claim that 4x time required to read (8 minutes per encounter, rather than 2 minutes) is not a problem.

Sure, back in junior high in '81 I happily stayed up all night with a flashlight reading RPGs.

Not anymore.

Sorry to hear that. I'm nearly 50 and I do it all the time. Without a trust fund, even!

 

[GrimCo]

I think WotC, like White Wolf before it, relies heavily on the non-playing customer.

Not so much no playing as realizing that DMs are small percentage of player base. Those succinct, condensed, ready to run, modules cater primary to DM audience. Fluff (lore) filled modules that are fun to just read (and take ideas and inspirations) will be bought by both DM and players (for different reasons). So from pure economic stand point, it makes sense to make them apealing to broadest possible customer base.

 

[DEFCON 1]

No.

If you are going to run a module, you need to at least read it. Otherwise you are fumbling from one moment to the next rying to figure out what the text wants you to do.

That is nothing like running off the cuff, where you are there to respond to whatever the dice, the player choices, and your own whims suggest what should happen next. There is no text to fail to understand. It is as extemporaneous, and all built on the moment.

Totally different thigs.

Yes.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Even when I'm the one who wrote the module I'm still reading it as I run it; it's not like I memorize the whole thing (if I could I wouldn't have written it all out in the first place!), and the players are inevitably going to do things I didn't account for and thus I have to read the words in order to then extrapolate what comes of their unexpected actions.

Are you reading it, or are you scanning it? To me they are two different things and it is obvious to me while playing when the DM is doing one versus the other.

Scanning a module to remind yourself of information you already have a familiarity with takes a lot less time and usually can be done while the players are thinking and acting so that one is ready to respond when it is the DMs turn to act and react. But when a DM does not know the information at all... their turn is spent with their nose buried in the papers and you can see the figurative hamster wheel spinning as they are not only reading aloud the parts the players have to know, but also are trying to absorb the secretive stuff around all that info that they need to know which they aren't supposed to tell the players about. They have to spend all this time figuring out in the moment "Wait, do I tell the players this? No? Okay, what do the players have to do for me to then reveal this information? Wait, what did the players already do? Have they done it already? No. Okay." Etc. etc. etc. And this doesn't even include the very different narration style that occurs between a DM who has an idea of what the scene is about and can give the description and NPCs a bit of life... and the DM who falls back into an almost robotic tone as they talk because they are merely reading something out loud for the first time and thus have no idea what the proper tone and characterization is supposed to be.

Maybe that kind of stuff doesn't matter to some players, but it does to me. I enjoy D&D as a player when I can feel I'm in the hands of a DM who actually knows what the heck is going on.