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<blockquote data-quote="smerwin29" data-source="post: 2648516" data-attributes="member: 15050">I think a main point to pull out of this great thread is that if you are writing a module for publication, write the &quot;DM's Background&quot; section last, only after you have written the actual adventure encounters.&nbsp; This avoids the problem I have seen with some writers who, since they write it down early, assume subconsciously that the background is apparent to the players.While editing RPGA mods, I saw far too many cases of this problem.&nbsp; As people have stated, it's fine to give the DM some background information that the PCs may never learn as a way to give direction for NPC motivation, side treks, etc.&nbsp; I too love to read modules for that reason. However, there are those two cases where the inclusion of background information, especially irrelevant information, actually hurts the mod: (1) when the background information is important to the adventure but there is no way for the PCs to learn it, and (2) when the module is a tournament-type scenario where there is a time limit and the judge may have not had a long time to prepare the module.In one RPGA scenario I edited, probably 10% of the module was an extensive background of a situation that started 500 years in the past.&nbsp; In reality, none of this information was relevant to the module.&nbsp; A member of one of the factions was in stasis for 500 years, and the PCs had to deal with it after it awakes.&nbsp; The pages of background could have been summarized in a paragraph explaining what this newly awakened creature thought and what it would try to do.Of course, if this was a module that a DM wanted to incorporate into a campaign, all of that background might have been useful.&nbsp; But for a tournament module it just took up valuable time and space.Regards,Shawn</blockquote>

[QUOTE="smerwin29, post: 2648516, member: 15050"] I think a main point to pull out of this great thread is that if you are writing a module for publication, write the "DM's Background" section last, only after you have written the actual adventure encounters. This avoids the problem I have seen with some writers who, since they write it down early, assume subconsciously that the background is apparent to the players. While editing RPGA mods, I saw far too many cases of this problem. As people have stated, it's fine to give the DM some background information that the PCs may never learn as a way to give direction for NPC motivation, side treks, etc. I too love to read modules for that reason. However, there are those two cases where the inclusion of background information, especially irrelevant information, actually hurts the mod: (1) when the background information is important to the adventure but there is no way for the PCs to learn it, and (2) when the module is a tournament-type scenario where there is a time limit and the judge may have not had a long time to prepare the module. In one RPGA scenario I edited, probably 10% of the module was an extensive background of a situation that started 500 years in the past. In reality, none of this information was relevant to the module. A member of one of the factions was in stasis for 500 years, and the PCs had to deal with it after it awakes. The pages of background could have been summarized in a paragraph explaining what this newly awakened creature thought and what it would try to do. Of course, if this was a module that a DM wanted to incorporate into a campaign, all of that background might have been useful. But for a tournament module it just took up valuable time and space. Regards, Shawn [/QUOTE]

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