Best practices for easy-to-run modules [+]

[zakael19]

I like this example, aaaand to be totally nitpicky, I would want it even more terse:

• Flowing red evening gown that hides her feet.
• Glamour wavers around slowly pulsing moth wings.
• Arresting eyes you want to tip into like a deep black pools.

P.S. I also really like giving NPCs an archetypical quote. Done right (and I think the above does it right) it both gives the GM something to use and conveys more than a much longer description.

A couple of the things you lined out are actually important in context, but this is why if you’re doing stuff for a publication, you have an editor who helps you work within a style!

 

[zakael19]

Absolutely brutal editing. Whatever words the author things are brilliant, the editor should be ready to excise in the name of brevity and clarity.

I think this very much depends and you should have an editor who’s just as ready to underline and highlight and require better more grabby words. I think that a strong authorial vision should still be present. Otherwise we’re back to room: contain six skeletons and a chest.

 

[LordEntrails]

A couple of the things you lined out are actually important in context, but this is why if you’re doing stuff for a publication, you have an editor who helps you work within a style!

I agree with @zakael19 on this. If I found this level of editing/conciseness in a published module I would never go back to the publisher. For me, it's too far. I want and need to get a feel from the author. Flavor is critical, otherwise I would run every adventure the same way as the last and I have to imagine that would be pretty boring for my players after ten years.

 

[zakael19]

I don't own any of those. Are they hard to follow? Are they "wall of text" adventures?

Oh they're so bad. WOTC stuff is positively usable in comparison. Here's an example from the second episode in their grand campaign, entering a significant city:

First Impressions

Those who have made their way up the cliff and reached the sturdy wall at the end of the slope are intercepted by a group of eleven wrathguards, who share little in common beyond the arms they carry and their red-tinted chainmail. Newcomers should not be surprised to be met by just a few guards, probably accompanied by Lumedo, the aged Ambrian who has been the wrathguards’ interpreter these last four years. The remaining wrathguards are likely to throw them quick glances before redirecting their attention to the forest, looking for any movement that might signal an approaching threat.

After having answered questions about the nature of their visit, and having their packs searched, the travelers are given some time to let the impressions sink in – the High Chieftain’s mighty fortress looming on the eastern edge of the plateau; the fault scarp, a couple of hundred meters further away, with its entrance to the witches’ dwelling; the shiny copper dome of the sun temple perched on the upper ledge near the western precipice.

There's some really good art, but what the heck are you supposed to do with this during play. Note that there is also a location map entirely unkeyed :|.

Or how about this bit about a cellar with an inhabitant from one of the mandatory exploration zones (the entire book is like this, paragraphs of text with way too much crap):

Spoiler: Spoilers for Throne of Thorns

The fortune hunter: In a cellar below one of the ruins hides the fortune hunter Serema, who was left behind by her colleagues less than a week before the first of the groups following Elmendra’s trail arrives on the island. She is absolutely terrified, will not trust anyone, and is slowly starving to death. With a successful Vigilant test, player characters walking through Yeferia can notice her footprints – someone has moved, repeatedly and hastily, between a nearly dried-up well and one of the better-preserved ruins. If the characters treat her gently, and especially if they offer her something to eat, Serema may be talked into lowering her loaded crossbow and sharing the information listed below. But getting her to leave her hiding place is much more difficult – good arguments and a successful [Persuasive –5] test are required to save her from meeting a horrible end.

Note: if Yeferon Isle is the second or third stop on the character’s journey, Captain Marvello will
already have found Serema, talked to her, and replenished her food supply. However, he could not persuade her to leave with him.

◆ She came to the island with her newly-wedded husband and his gang of treasure hunters; they had purchased information about the place from a penniless Zarek in Thistle Hold.

◆ After having unearthed some trinkets in Yeferia, they set off for the ziggurat; her husband, Darask, and one of the others approached it from the north. They ran the last stretch and were seen by the “stiffs”, but as they finally got inside the pursuers backed down.

◆ Serema let out a terrified scream so that she and her group were detected as well. They fled, hunted by at least fifty undead. Running through the hills, she fell into a crack, and the undead hunters kept going after her friends.

◆ When she had finally mustered the courage to continue, she headed for their ship, but it was gone. She went back into the ruins and found the cellar, where she has stayed ever since.

My swag last year (early this year?) at refining that down:

1. The Fortune Hunter: newer footprints in the dust between a nearly dry well and a ruin can lead to a cellar where a living person hides.

• Serema (haunted eyes, voice like a whispered scream, gaunt skin of someone without food, lank brown hair)
• Terrified, starving, haunted.
• Wants: food, to never have come here. To stay safe in the dark.
• Knows: about the ziggurat and its undead legion. That said undead stop chasing if you go inside (“Darask...my husband...he ran inside chased by the shambling forms and they stopped and turned back”).

 

[Truename]

My swag last year (early this year?) at refining that down:

1. The Fortune Hunter: newer footprints in the dust between a nearly dry well and a ruin can lead to a cellar where a living person hides.

• Serema (haunted eyes, voice like a whispered scream, gaunt skin of someone without food, lank brown hair)
• Terrified, starving, haunted.
• Wants: food, to never have come here. To stay safe in the dark.
• Knows: about the ziggurat and its undead legion. That said undead stop chasing if you go inside (“Darask...my husband...he ran inside chased by the shambling forms and they stopped and turned back”).

That's a big improvement for sure. (Seriously, I would have completely missed that Serema is supposed to be hidden if I were reading that at the table.) I think it can be improved a bit more, though. I like the convention of using parentheses for the things that aren't immediately obvious. I also think you cut a bit too much. Here's my attempt:

The Fortune Hunter. Vigilant test: Repeated, hasty footprints between a nearly dry well and a less-ruined building. (Serena hides in the cellar.)

Serena. Gaunt, lank brown hair, haunted eyes, voice like whispered scream. Loaded crossbow at the ready.

• Personality: Terrified, untrusting, starving.
• Wants: Safety, food, to never have come here. To stay in cellar (Persuasive -5 to convince her to leave).
• Background: Fortune hunter. Came with husband Darask. Left behind by her colleagues less than a week ago.
• Knows: Ziggurat and its undead legion. Undead stop chasing if you go inside (“Darask...my husband...he ran inside chased by the shambling forms and they stopped and turned back”).

 

[zakael19]

I also think you cut a bit too much. Here's my attempt:

(To be fair to me, I was trimming the entire Symbaroum backlog down to something system agnostic to use as the basis of a PBTA hack, lol.)

 

[lepharaon33]

The [+] is to keep things positive and prevent the already tired arguments about preferences and this style of module. This thread is for people who like this style of information design and want to talk about it. There are plenty of other threads to hate on things you don’t like.

Branching off of this thread.

Several modules were talked about in the other thread, many OSR modules were mentioned. So it's worth reading some of the posts there for modules to check out.

But, moving ahead to talking about actual module design, what are some ways modules can use information design, layout, presentation, etc to make modules both easier-to-read and easier-to-run at the table?

For me walls of text are a nightmare. I need bullet points and important text bolded. The actual scheme or plot to be explicitly stated somewhere up in the front of the module. Tips, tricks, advice on how the villains will react when the PCs inevitably foil some aspect of the bad guy's plan. Maps, or fragments thereof, to be repeated in the same page or spread as the rooms being described.

Anything and everything that will make the module easier for the referee to actually run at the table while minimizing any prep time required to re-write the module into something useful.

Any ideas?

I’m with you the best modules are the ones you can run at a glance. For me:
Clear one-page overview of plot, factions, and goals
Bullet-point rooms with only the actionable stuff
Inset maps on every spread
Quick villain reactions and triggers
Short NPC notes (one line each)
If I don’t have to rewrite it before game night, that’s a win.

 

[Lanefan]

The [+] is to keep things positive and prevent the already tired arguments about preferences and this style of module. This thread is for people who like this style of information design and want to talk about it. There are plenty of other threads to hate on things you don’t like.

Branching off of this thread.

Several modules were talked about in the other thread, many OSR modules were mentioned. So it's worth reading some of the posts there for modules to check out.

But, moving ahead to talking about actual module design, what are some ways modules can use information design, layout, presentation, etc to make modules both easier-to-read and easier-to-run at the table?

For me walls of text are a nightmare. I need bullet points and important text bolded. The actual scheme or plot to be explicitly stated somewhere up in the front of the module. Tips, tricks, advice on how the villains will react when the PCs inevitably foil some aspect of the bad guy's plan. Maps, or fragments thereof, to be repeated in the same page or spread as the rooms being described.

Anything and everything that will make the module easier for the referee to actually run at the table while minimizing any prep time required to re-write the module into something useful.

Any ideas?

Things that make modules easier to run:

--- detached maps, preferably on cardstock, a la many of the earlier TSR modules. Bonus points if the cardstock is three-fold and can double as a DM screen.
--- monster stats in short form (but complete) baked into the encounter write-up where they appear. A formatted stat-block is not easy to use and takes up too much space, all I need is a bolded "Giants (2); HD 11; AC 5 (hides); att. 2 (fists) or 1 (boulder); dmg 3d6-3d6 +7 (strength) or 3d8; SA throw boulder 150'; Str 25, Con 19; HP 56, 54" inline in the write-up. (with the more complex design of WotC-era monsters this might get messy sometimes but it's still preferable to a separate stat block)
--- that said, if a new or very unusual monster is being introduced give its physical description as part of the room write-up. Most players and DMs have a vague idea of what a Giant looks like but if you're putting a brand-new "Flechagi" monster in your module please describe it in the write-up(s) where PCs are likely to first encounter it.
--- state the room or area dimension, exits, etc. in the write-up (and make sure the words agree with the damn map!) so I don't have to refer to the map when describing the area
--- present the room write-up in descending order of detail i.e. list what the PCs will see at first glance before going into detail on what they'll find if they take a longer look or search
--- write-ups in point-form or concise prose, either is fine
--- tell me how high the bloody ceilings are! (it's amazing how many modules don't do this)
--- do the room or area write-ups in a sequence that the PCs are likely to reach them, this cuts down on page flipping unless the PCs take an unusual or unexpected route (most modules IME are fairly good for this)
--- on the map, show how (hinged, sliding, etc.) and which way (left, right, push, pull, etc.) each door opens and maybe use colour codes to indicate whether the door is supposed to be locked, trapped, etc. when first found
--- on the map, if there's any elevation changes (including one floor to another!) show them numerically; set an arbitrary 0' point at the main entrance and then give elevation markers relative to that point anywhere the elevation is different e.g. at the start of the basement write-ups note that the basement is at -12' elevation*.
--- for every staircase, tell me the total horizontal distance and vertical rise/drop it has. Many maps show both ends of a staircase on different floors but don't give info on how to connect those ends, which can make vertically lining up the different maps a real pain.
--- never never never use isometric maps! Top-down only, thanks, unless a side-view would help in which case give that too. I recently ran a module whose main map was isometric and that map made my job much harder than it would have been; I kept having to make up what was "behind" the bits the map showed. Also, it only had squares for the horizontal bits and gave me no idea as to the vertical scale, which I had to kinda guess.
--- if the dungeon or area etc. is large, use 10' or even 20' squares instead of 5' squares to show scale so I don't have to stop and count all those little squares every time the PCs get to a new area (also see above re repeating the dimensions in the write-up)
--- no extra art or decoration on the map (Goodman, I'm looking at you!). It's a functional document, not a work of art; please treat it as such.

* - there's a module I'm probably going to be running in the next short while that involves lots of elevation changes and pits etc., I was looking at its map last night and the elevation changes are shown by discontinuous contours; a reasonable attempt but putting actual numbers on the map would make it so much easier to parse on the fly!

 

[Bill Zebub]

Printable, 1/4 page monster cards.

 

[Lanefan]

I should probably note that all my views above assume the module is printed on actual paper and sold as such.