To anyone with any remaining interest, I'd like to point you to Beau Rancourt's blog. He reviews scenarios and does it better than anyone else I've found. Here's his review of
In The Shadow of Tower Silveraxe that also doubles as a rubric for his review methodology. No other reviewer I've found actually examines the game-based underpinnings of D&D scenarios to see whether or not the designers are actually doing any good game design rather than good narrative design. We need fewer Bryce Lynch types, more Beau Rancourts.
Anyone looking to improve how their adventures are written should design in the way that Rancourt reads.
That's a pretty solid review, though I have some issues with the reviewer's preferences (some even relate to the thread topic!):
--- not all traps and secret doors should have a "tell" or clue that they exist, as hiding them is supposed to be the point
--- the reviewer complains about noting doors, exits, dimensions in the room write-ups because they're on the map; I prefer these things be noted in the write-ups so I don't have to refer to both the map
and the write-up while describing the room (even more so if the map is on a different non-detached page thus requiring page-flipping). Listing them in the write-up flat-out makes the module easier to run.
--- it's possible, I suppose, that the reviewer is assuming the module will be used exclusively for VTT play where the map is revealed on the screen as the PCs see it (meaning the exits etc. don't need to be narrated by the DM); if so, this is a
very poor assumption on which to base a review
--- the reviewer seems to want uncertain elements nailed down a bit too solidly. For example there's an entry along the lines of "Skeletons may be present here" that the reviewer IMO unfairly takes issue with; for all we know this could be the author's attempt to account for the skeletons possibly either being elsewhere or already having been destroyed
But it's not all bad by any means:
The reviewer is quite right in noting the monster stat blocks are incomplete: they don't list the monsters' special attacks, special defenses, and-or special qualities in any detail. This would annoy me too.
Also, good on the reviewer for praising "loops" in the dungeon design.
