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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7512087" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya!You're not alone, Morrus. I stopped trying to read/remember all that "backstory" stuff sometime around mid-2e. IMNSHO, if an adventures "Background" takes more than half a page, I'll pretty much ignore it as a whole and only skim it for things that stick out. Then I take those and make my own stuff up.I still firmly believe in the superiority of the old 1e-module creation/design/structure. Basic story base, some interesting history tid-bits, an overall "story goal" (which may simply be "To just exist for monsters to live"), and then clear, b/w maps, some random encounter charts, a new magic item or spell, and a new monster. Removable cover is also a must, obviously! With very loose, extremely vague/undefined "backgrounds" for adventures it is a sign of good adventure design simply because it shows the writer is trusting the DM to actually be intelligent and WANT to be a DM. Anytime I get the backgrounds that you encountered I always think "Ok, DAD, I get it...you don't trust me to figure out how to run a game with a good story. Please hold my hand and yell at me if I don't do it the RIGHT way...". I'm a DM. I know how to DM. That means when a writer says "The God Aergerath", I will likely change that to "The God Beory". When the writer says "The Kings Army destroyed the orcish hoards", I may change that to "The Kings Army destroyed the hobgoblin legion". If the writers "backstory and adventure" has key-points that MUST be attributed to Aergerath or Orcs...you've effectively lessened the usefulness of the adventure; which defeats the point of buying a pre-made adventure module.So, not to future adventure writers: There are a LOT of experienced DM's (even newly-experienced...like, a year of it) who don't need their hands held for "story stuff". Besides, as a DM I've realized a long time ago that my idea of where the story is going is almost NEVER the same idea that the Players have, and none of us are ever sure of where the story will ACTUALLY end up! ...and that is the beauty of open-ended, "sandbox" RPG play. The Players are the ones who tell the story....I, as DM, am just here to do all the set dressing and special effects! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

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