Complete town write ups

[Quasqueton]

Classic adventure modules that featured a fully fleshed out "town" as a major section of the material (at least 1/3rd of the content):

The Village of Hommlet - Hommlet

Against the Cult of the Reptile God - Orlane

Keep on the Borderlands - the Keep

The Secret of Bone Hill - Restenford

And some others

Contrast the above with the likes of The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh. This adventure series had no town description beyond the population. No map, no buildings, no names, no information at all. But the whole three-module series (from character levels 1 to ~5) revolved around this town.

Were the complete town write ups a good thing or an unnecessary/waste thing?

Did your group actually "encounter" all the mundane places given complete information?

Quasqueton

 

[Crothian]

They are a great thing, it allows me to get use out of the module after its done.

 

[painandgreed]

Town write ups were largely unused for all of those adventures. Of course, last time I played them Devo was still putting out new albums and we started adventures at the dungeon entrance. I never had any trouble with The Sinister Secret..." because I could simply put it anywhere I wanted and next to whatever town I wanted.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

We used all of the towns extensively, especially Homlett. Different strokes for different folks, perhaps, but I think they're worth at least a few pages in every module that revolves around a town. (Unlike, say, the Sunless Citadel, where the town might as well not exist.)

 

[IronWolf]

I think town write-ups can be quite useful in a module. They can be handy for the module itself or yoinking out for use somewhere else in a campaign. Just a little less work for the DM or at the very least a bit of a foundation to build off of.