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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pdzoch" data-source="post: 6876411" data-attributes="member: 80982">There are still publishers who publish adventure modules so I am sure they have guidance for their writers.  Because there is a marketing aspect to actually selling the modules, they have write what will most likely sell and for a most likely party structure (the standard: fighter, cleric, wizard, thief).  Despite the design of the module, I think all publishers (and the game designers) expect that the game master will make necessary adjustments for the actual party character mix and play styles of the players.I do not know if they have actually gotten worse.  However, I definitely preferred the shorter modules (ones that advance the party only one level, or maybe up to three levels) over the longer adventure books recently publish that advance the party five and then levels.  The latest adventure books provide a lot of content to allow for an open ended game environment while also trying to predict the progression of the story over the long term.  When players make majorly unexpected decisions in the game of a published adventure, the DM has to make changes on the fly to keep the story going.  On home adventures, it is easier to do because I doubt the home DM has written out the entire adventure campaign already.  Personally, I do not write the next adventure in the campaign until the current adventure (or chapter) is completed.  When players make radically different choices than expected early in the large adventure modules, it can easily make the rest of the material almost worthless.I still buy those larger adventure books though because I like to see how the wrote the segments and borrow the ideas as needed.  However, I have not been successful in running any of them because of the choices of the players.  AND I have to swap out much of the treasure, make encounter modifications due to larger or smaller part size.  The old adventures required less of that because they were shorter.  But even then, the player choices can make the sequel module moot. For example, I remember running the old Scourge of the Slave Lords (A1-4) series a few times.  Only once did I get a party through the entire series.  The others took strange turns that resulted in the subsequent modules requiring much more revision or even completely different branch.   I had more success in using the short adventures published in the Dungeon Magazine (R.I.P.).Overall, I would love the module adventures to be published more often, and not the massive hardback book adventures that seldom work as a complete adventure and function more as an adventure setting.  But maybe, that is their intent.</blockquote>

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