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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 6282141" data-attributes="member: 45197"><p>Hiya.</p><p></p><p> I think what Mistwall is saying, is that and adventure has the core things "setting, opposition, description, map w/key". And that if an adventure doesn't have all of those, it doesn't count as "a full adventure". Kind of like a story needs a beginning, middle and end. You can't just say "He went to the beach" and call that a story. "In the morning, he got up. Then he went to the beach. He came back". That is a story. For an adventure, you'd need "Room 3. Study. A table, some books, papers and writing utensils. A lantern hangs overhead. Seated at the table is a lich. [there are 5 silver pieces in the desk]"...you couldn't get away with "Room 3. A lich with 5sp".</p><p></p><p> I'm more along the thinking of GX.Sigma (obviously), but only kinda/sorta. An adventure with "Room 3. A lich with 5sp" isn't an adventure as far as "needed content". However, and mind the fine line here, "Room 3. A lich with 5sp" is an adventure as far as a usable <em>role-playing game</em> adventure goes.</p><p></p><p> Role-Playing games necessitate imagination. Without it, you have...well, I don't know what you have. IMO, just because a room doesn't have a lot of description (or any; "Room 7. Empty", for example) doesn't mean it isn't useful. There are TONNES of adventures published out there that don't describe or even have mention of many aspects of the "adventure"; it's assumed the DM will make $#!t up when needed (that's his job, really).</p><p></p><p> Dyson's Delve, level 1, has this:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> That is more than enough information for a DM to do his job. Ergo, it is enough information to qualify as "adventure material".</p><p></p><p> No matter how you slice it, I think what "qualifies" as an actual adventure is indeed up to the reader...at least as far as it is meant to be used by a DM in a RPG. Do I think Dyson's Delve is an adventure? Hells yeah...and a rather awesome one at that. As I said in my original post, I DM'ed it for roughly 8 months more or less 'as is'. Everyone had a blast and it felt very real to all involved. It was evocative. It was believable. It gave all the players a sense of foreboding as they delved deeper and deeper into the earth, slowly realizing that there was "something" down there they really didn't want to find. The "lack" of boxed text, dense room detail, background plots, etc. was a BONUS. It allowed me (the DM) to easily place it in my world and fill in the blanks to fit it. It gave me the freedom to work with the players and "write" the actual adventure, as opposed to the more modern "Pathfinder" style of basically "here's the story, now have your players discover it as they play through the modules".</p><p></p><p>My players discovered a story I didn't even know was there. Originally I had *no* idea; just "Theres what seems to be a small cave entrance over there". A random encounter with some humans one night while resting at the entrance gave way to the whole "Billum" (kid, ran away, thought he may have come here). One of them, a farmer, went with them and actually survived for a while (after being equipped by the PC's); his death was quite traumatic to several PC's (and players, who became quite attached to his bravery), urging them on deeper into the dungeon. After getting stuck in a "time trap", the PC's got back to the surface to discover the remaining two NPC's (two women; aunt's of Billum; one was husband to the slain farmer) figured the PC's were dead, so they took their two horses, mule and equipment they had left at the entrance and left for Gregor's Pass...in deep sorrow, knowing that poor Billum and his ill-fated rescuers had died. The PC's didn't see it this way. They vowed revenge (or at least a very stern lecture) on the women who "stole all there loot and took their horses!". ...ahem...wow. Rambled a bit there. Sorry!</p><p></p><p> So, yeah. With a "fully detailed adventure" that would never have unfolded the way it did. I would have been trying to introduce clues and whatnot to keep the PC's on track of the "real" adventure/story and the players would likely have subconsciously tried to 'follow the plot' as opposed to just playing their characters as they should. I don't know about you guys, but I'll take group-created story over published-adventure-story every single time. <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=":)" /></p><p></p><p>^_^</p><p></p><p>Paul L. Ming</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pming, post: 6282141, member: 45197"] Hiya. I think what Mistwall is saying, is that and adventure has the core things "setting, opposition, description, map w/key". And that if an adventure doesn't have all of those, it doesn't count as "a full adventure". Kind of like a story needs a beginning, middle and end. You can't just say "He went to the beach" and call that a story. "In the morning, he got up. Then he went to the beach. He came back". That is a story. For an adventure, you'd need "Room 3. Study. A table, some books, papers and writing utensils. A lantern hangs overhead. Seated at the table is a lich. [there are 5 silver pieces in the desk]"...you couldn't get away with "Room 3. A lich with 5sp". I'm more along the thinking of GX.Sigma (obviously), but only kinda/sorta. An adventure with "Room 3. A lich with 5sp" isn't an adventure as far as "needed content". However, and mind the fine line here, "Room 3. A lich with 5sp" is an adventure as far as a usable [I]role-playing game[/I] adventure goes. Role-Playing games necessitate imagination. Without it, you have...well, I don't know what you have. IMO, just because a room doesn't have a lot of description (or any; "Room 7. Empty", for example) doesn't mean it isn't useful. There are TONNES of adventures published out there that don't describe or even have mention of many aspects of the "adventure"; it's assumed the DM will make $#!t up when needed (that's his job, really). Dyson's Delve, level 1, has this: That is more than enough information for a DM to do his job. Ergo, it is enough information to qualify as "adventure material". No matter how you slice it, I think what "qualifies" as an actual adventure is indeed up to the reader...at least as far as it is meant to be used by a DM in a RPG. Do I think Dyson's Delve is an adventure? Hells yeah...and a rather awesome one at that. As I said in my original post, I DM'ed it for roughly 8 months more or less 'as is'. Everyone had a blast and it felt very real to all involved. It was evocative. It was believable. It gave all the players a sense of foreboding as they delved deeper and deeper into the earth, slowly realizing that there was "something" down there they really didn't want to find. The "lack" of boxed text, dense room detail, background plots, etc. was a BONUS. It allowed me (the DM) to easily place it in my world and fill in the blanks to fit it. It gave me the freedom to work with the players and "write" the actual adventure, as opposed to the more modern "Pathfinder" style of basically "here's the story, now have your players discover it as they play through the modules". My players discovered a story I didn't even know was there. Originally I had *no* idea; just "Theres what seems to be a small cave entrance over there". A random encounter with some humans one night while resting at the entrance gave way to the whole "Billum" (kid, ran away, thought he may have come here). One of them, a farmer, went with them and actually survived for a while (after being equipped by the PC's); his death was quite traumatic to several PC's (and players, who became quite attached to his bravery), urging them on deeper into the dungeon. After getting stuck in a "time trap", the PC's got back to the surface to discover the remaining two NPC's (two women; aunt's of Billum; one was husband to the slain farmer) figured the PC's were dead, so they took their two horses, mule and equipment they had left at the entrance and left for Gregor's Pass...in deep sorrow, knowing that poor Billum and his ill-fated rescuers had died. The PC's didn't see it this way. They vowed revenge (or at least a very stern lecture) on the women who "stole all there loot and took their horses!". ...ahem...wow. Rambled a bit there. Sorry! So, yeah. With a "fully detailed adventure" that would never have unfolded the way it did. I would have been trying to introduce clues and whatnot to keep the PC's on track of the "real" adventure/story and the players would likely have subconsciously tried to 'follow the plot' as opposed to just playing their characters as they should. I don't know about you guys, but I'll take group-created story over published-adventure-story every single time. :) ^_^ Paul L. Ming [/QUOTE]
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