D&D General Adventure hype and meeting expectations

[Retreater]

The compilations I own (Yawning Portal and Saltmarsh) had a few high points. I've found few exceptionally "good" sections to pull from larger campaigns. I guess you can take Castle Ravenloft out of Curse of Strahd and just run that. Dragon Heist has some fair boss lairs - maybe good for one night of play.
It just seems a waste to buy a $40-50 (or more) hardcover for a 15 page adventure.

 

[Parmandur]

It just seems a waste to buy a $40-50 (or more) hardcover for a 15 page adventure.

Ever check the prices of the old AD&D or Basic models and adjusted for inflation...?

 

[payn]

I never buy anything until I have read reviews and discussed with folks who have played and run it. During PF1 run, I would grab some APs sight unseen based on theme with a subscription. I wouldn't run them until I had the entire series though. The cost was money well spent fo the hours of joy and entertainment.

40-50 bucks is a lot for a single session adventure. Id go diving in the organized play bin for 5 dollar hollers if that were the case.

 

[Retreater]

Ever check the prices of the old AD&D or Basic models and adjusted for inflation...?

I didn't play back then, but I can say that 3e adventures ($9.95 for 32-page books) in 2000 would be close to $20 in today's money.

 

[Parmandur]

I never buy anything until I have read reviews and discussed with folks who have played and run it. During PF1 run, I would grab some APs sight unseen based on theme with a subscription. I wouldn't run them until I had the entire series though. The cost was money well spent fo the hours of joy and entertainment.

40-50 bucks is a lot for a single session adventure. Id go diving in the organized play bin for 5 dollar hollers if that were the case.

I didn't play back then, but I can say that 3e adventures ($9.95 for 32-page books) in 2000 would be close to $20 in today's money.

So, in the 1980's, they cost ~$7-9, or ~$25-$30 in today's money.

So, Tales fromt he Yawning Portal is currently $25 on Amazon. That means if yoy just wanted to only play White Plume Mountain, it's possible to do so more inexpensively in the current hardcover format than the old softcover module format. And, yoy get a whole other 6 longer Adventures!

In the 3E era, those $10 models were abandoned quickly in favor of 160-192 page larger Adventures that cost $29.95, or about $50 now.

 

[MerricB]

Just for a laugh...

In 1978:
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (8 pages): $4.49 -> $26 today
D3 Vault of the Drow (32 pages): $5.98 -> $34.70 today

Cheers,
Merric

 

[MerricB]

From the back cover of Vault of the Drow, first printing (1978).

 

[Parmandur]

Just for a laugh...

In 1978:
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (8 pages): $4.49 -> $26 today
D3 Vault of the Drow (32 pages): $5.98 -> $34.70 today

Cheers,
Merric

So, just the 8 page G1 cost more tham the Yawning Portal as a whole.

Yikes.

 

[Quickleaf]

I found that quote - it's a helpful framework to analyze usability: https://www.sageadvice.eu/one-key-m...ing-that-doesnt-help-the-dm-at-the-table/amp/

From M.T. Black: One key method to increase the usability of your D&D adventure is to strip out anything that doesn't help the DM at the table. Consider the following room description from an old Dungeon magazine adventure (apologies for image quality)

What's worse is that the author, in telling us interesting things about the past, doesn't tell us anything interesting about the current state. What sort of refuse? What sort of rusty equipment?

Massively long backstories at the start of an adventure are another culprit here. Please - just tell me enough backstory to make the adventure coherent. If you have heaps of additional flavor info about the history of the empire or whatever, perhaps put it in an appendix

Shawn Merwin: This is why designers need several drafts of a project. The first draft gets down ideas. Then write a draft where you're thinking like the DMs running it. Then write a draft thinking like the players playing it. Each iteration adds needed content and eliminates the dross.

 

[Zaukrie]

As a wanna be novelist, I've found ideas EASY. I've found execution HARD.

I think that's the same with many modules these days (and if I'm being honest, in the past.....I've re-read a lot of Dungeon lately. Yikes).

As for WotC specific stuff......I have bought mostly to try to publish related items on DMSGUILD lately.....I own so many PDFs I could run adventures until long after I die and not scratch the surface of what I own.

Rime had some great ideas, but man, they did NOT stick the landing (or even the penultimate parts). If they'd gone totally sandbox and brought in more old stuff, they could have had a great book, IMO.