A New Respect for Adventure Writters

[Man in the Funny Hat]

With all due respect, it is not just the number of words, it is how you use them! I would rather breeze through 8 pages of Tomb of Horrors quality material than 256 pages of a 2e Forgotten Realms epic. Adventure writers take note: a module should be as long as needed, and not a page longer (naturally, there are different ways to write an adventure, from ultra-sparse to quite detailed). Unfortunately, I don't know how that can work in a world where professionals get paid by the word.

I can write - I'm just not a WRITER, if you know what I mean. I can string words into comprehensible sentences, get most of the readily noticable grammar, spelling, and punctuation correct. I even form paragraphs!

Writing anything like publishable fiction has always eluded me. I simply do not have the MASTERY of the tools of language and writing that I would demand of myself before I deign to seriously attempt it. Much of that comes with practice, but I have at least an approximation of a life and not enough love of the craft of writing itself to devote the time to it. I do still try a little from time to time, and what player of D&D doesn't think they have at least one good rip of fantasy fiction in them?

Writing an ADVENTURE is different. It's always seemed to me more like writing an OUTLINE for a story than writing a story. You have a list of some characters - but not the MAIN characters which are the PC's. You have some locations, a general plot, and hopefully the abiltiy to reach the climax of your adventure by more than one route. The rest not only can but SHOULD be left up to a DM and players to fill in. There's no dialogue except perhaps for a few bits of boxed text. The characters YOU provide are little more than a paragraph or two of backstory and motivation to pass for developed characters. And yet when it's read by a DM it needs to seem like a vibarant, cohesive whole and not a random, dry assemblage of elements.

Neither writing fiction or RPG adventures seems easy to me. Probably why I wing EVERYTHING as a DM. I make up adventures as I go and largely just HOPE they turn out to be entertaining when the players inputs and influences are factored in. Thankfully, it generally does work out that way. I'd rather PLAY the game for several hours once a week with an hour of prep rather than spend a week in prep for a few hours of gaming. Naturally that includes writing adventures but READING them and ADAPTING them as well. I don't doubt that I'm an exception.

Still, having at least tried half-heartedly on occasion I do not disrespect adventure writers as a rule. My own issues with contemporary adventures begin with that they are, in fact, too long given the 3rd edition paradigm of a more rapid character advancement than I was PERSONALLY used to with previous editions. Oh, and that since I make up so much of my games as I go along I have very little need for them (though it isn't a COMPLETE absence of need for them).

 

[Scylla]

Thanks Drawmack and all for such a good-spirited thread.

Many moons ago I wrote a (25,000 word) adventure for Dungeon and much more recently I wrote a (nearly 50,000 word) adventure for Goodman Games, and it's always fun but it's also a great deal of work -- far different than jotting down adventure notes for your own gaming group, to be sure.
It's a labor of love.

 

[Nine Hands]

You can pretty much extend that to anybody working in the RPG industry, period.

QFT Wulf...

I'm still trying to finish up my work on the system I'm involved in designing. RPG creation is a daunting task indeed and the pay can be pretty lousy too

 

[MulhorandSage]

Adventure writing is the hardest thing in game design, at least for me. Supplements are a piece of cake. Rules? They can be tough, but if you know a system well, adding permutations is pretty easy, plus you can always get opinions on them. But adventures? Wrapping your mind around everything the PCs might do, developing a plot with interesting twists, a provocative mood and memorable characters that builds toward an interesting climax without feeling too much like a railroad? My hat goes off to anyone who does it right

 

[Sigurd]

And a special cheer for anyone working on Burning Sky

I respect the work ethic and consistant creativity it takes to put together an adventure of any length esp considering all the elements that must agree.

I'd like to echo most of the compliments paid writers and give a special good wish to the people writing the Burning Sky series.

Good luck, I'm looking forward to it.


Sigurd

 

[Nightfall]

Price of Courage is about 360 pages and about the size of a college textbook. It took me months and months to write it, and then we had all of the stat blocks to do...

Cheers,
Cam

How long for the other two? Btw I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for DL in 2007.

 

[XO]

Clutter

So many modules suffer from bad organization and clutter...

If I buy a product, I expect to be able to find the facts quickly.

That also goes for the plotline.

A module is not and should never become one's attempt at the great American (or otherwise) novel.

As to stats, the combat ones are more important than skills, but unless completely and utterly botched, a "fuzzy logic" approach works best. Why? Do we REALLY care whether the Perform skill is +12 or +14 as long as we have a reasonable ballpark figure? If it is at the edge, you DM it the way you want it to go. Actually, many DMs will hyperfudge it into going any way they like (Perform, roll a 1 and say "The sweetest music you have ever heard rises from that bard's lyre, as the harmonic consonance just flutters about you, seemingly weaving pictures before your very eyes").

Come the big fight, if at the edge (someone forgot the ogre's 150% 2H Str bonus), the DM decides whether the target character lives or dies, often not so much on the # of hp damage but rather on "Did they act stupidly?" or "Was it a good or sensible plan?" or even "It was a horrendous plan, conform to roleplaying these characters, and executed according to expectations, meanign not so much flawlessly as stumblingly".

Go figure!

I am currently DMing Crown of Shadows in a Midnight campaign.

Is it a good adventure?
Yes, inasmuch as it provides a solid introduction to that setting's mechanics and flavor.
Yes, inasmuch as it provides role-playing opportunity and the adventure itself is (or at least can be) fun.

But...

It is rife with errors and omissions or overlooked implications.
It starts as a railroad (a la Dragonlance) thrust which then gets freed up.
As a reference document or module, it's internal organization sucks. In part because it waxes lyrical when it should deliver "point blank range" bang-on comment or fact.