8 page Adventures

[TarionzCousin]

I want (a) boxed text for the PCs; (b) a brief bullet point list of other features of the area; and... Actually, that's pretty much it. Maybe a short list of "this would be nifty" tactical ideas if you're feeling fancy (not round-by-round tactics that become irrelevant as soon as the PCs do something unexpected; which is to say that the PCs do anything at all).

 

[Alzrius]

All good things come in eight's.

Eight-page adventures.

Eight reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh.

Eight maids a-milking.

Eight-minute abs.

Eight is great. And now, I'm going to go write an eight-page adventure while working on my eight-minute abs.

 

[Aurumvorax]

All good things come in eight's.

Unless you live on the Disc in which case the number seven plus one should be avoided at all costs.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The older adventure modules, even the ones with canned boxed text, assumed that the DM would be tinkering with and modifying the material prior to play. Descriptions of room contents were certainly provided but the presentation of said contents was up to the DM. Some things might be readily apparent and others might require closer investigation.

Short stat blocks certainly help the adventure from taking up too many pages.

My biggest problem with the format of adventures I have seen recently is the lack of maps. The last 4E module I picked up, Orcs of Stonefang Pass, had nothing but tactical combat maps of the individual encounter areas.

There was no map of the region, the village the adventure began in, or even a comprehensive map of the pass itself. Maps of varying scale help show how different areas are connected. Not every map needs to be presented at the 5' square scale to be used for combat. If the adventure begins in a village a simple map showing the relationship of the buildings in the village and a small area map showing the village and it's relative location to the adventure site might be helpful.

Without a greater framework, the encounter areas just feel like disconnected acts in a play. The environment doesn't feel complete and connected to a larger world. It is these kinds of details that help the adventure site feel like it belongs as part of the game world and feel less like a battle board.

 

[Festivus]

The older adventure modules, even the ones with canned boxed text, assumed that the DM would be tinkering with and modifying the material prior to play. Descriptions of room contents were certainly provided but the presentation of said contents was up to the DM. Some things might be readily apparent and others might require closer investigation.

Short stat blocks certainly help the adventure from taking up too many pages.

My biggest problem with the format of adventures I have seen recently is the lack of maps. The last 4E module I picked up, Orcs of Stonefang Pass, had nothing but tactical combat maps of the individual encounter areas.

There was no map of the region, the village the adventure began in, or even a comprehensive map of the pass itself. Maps of varying scale help show how different areas are connected. Not every map needs to be presented at the 5' square scale to be used for combat. If the adventure begins in a village a simple map showing the relationship of the buildings in the village and a small area map showing the village and it's relative location to the adventure site might be helpful.

Without a greater framework, the encounter areas just feel like disconnected acts in a play. The environment doesn't feel complete and connected to a larger world. It is these kinds of details that help the adventure site feel like it belongs as part of the game world and feel less like a battle board.

I agree with your assessment of Orcs of Stonefang Pass. I had high hopes with seeing products like Hammerfast and Slaying Stone... only to have my hopes dashed with the Orcs of Stonefang Pass. Seems really inconsistent quality/layout styles with product coming out from Wizards of late. If every adventure was written like the Slaying Stone adventure I'd buy every one.

 

[TarionzCousin]

Eight-minute abs.

"Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?"

 

[S'mon]

Hmm, I think I like the 32-page, early-80s module format the best. Enough meat on the bones, but still easy to use. I find the encounter-centric Delve format leaves me both stifled and drowning in detail. I recently ran 32-page early-3e Forge of Fury for 4e and found the format accessible and easy to use, whereas I find the late 3e/4e format that splits encounters into a separate section effectively impossible to use.

 

[Dice4Hire]

All good things come in eight's.

Eight-page adventures.

Eight reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh.

Eight maids a-milking.

Eight-minute abs.

Eight is great. And now, I'm going to go write an eight-page adventure while working on my eight-minute abs.

Now if you were a level 8 Githyanki I could take you seriously. Alas, you have gone up to level 9. Care to revise your post?

 

[Kerranin]

I think which you prefer depends on how confident you feel in improvising or building detail. Having said that, I do find the splitting of encounters from the main description of the adventure, difficult to use.

I have found that with the old-school adventures, I can often just sit and read them and take ideas from the story.

 

[Stoat]

My biggest problem with the format of adventures I have seen recently is the lack of maps. The last 4E module I picked up, Orcs of Stonefang Pass, had nothing but tactical combat maps of the individual encounter areas.

There was no map of the region, the village the adventure began in, or even a comprehensive map of the pass itself. Maps of varying scale help show how different areas are connected. Not every map needs to be presented at the 5' square scale to be used for combat. If the adventure begins in a village a simple map showing the relationship of the buildings in the village and a small area map showing the village and it's relative location to the adventure site might be helpful.

Without a greater framework, the encounter areas just feel like disconnected acts in a play. The environment doesn't feel complete and connected to a larger world. It is these kinds of details that help the adventure site feel like it belongs as part of the game world and feel less like a battle board.

This is the worst problem with WotC's 4E adventures. It's particularly bad with Dungeon adventures.