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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9692650" data-attributes="member: 7045072">Absolutely, I think it would take a lot of prep to run Arden Vul no matter what. Even if the keys were streamlined in whatever one's preferred method is there's still so much dungeon, so many factions, so many interactions and so many connected details to the thing that it needs to be understood (or at least parts of it do) to run it...but...I think that's the point.  The same can be said for AV's inspiration - the Caverns of Thracia.  High detail, connectivity, interactivity, secrets, and faction intrigue what I personally think of as Jaquaysing (it's not really about making sure you have a certain number of loops in your map...).  The style though takes referee investment, and it take forever to write up, especially when the dungeon grows and its complexity grows. Yet this style of design is I think the most compelling for exploration based dungeon crawling as it gives the players a lot to do over many sessions, allows for a larger variety of approaches and has the opportunity to create moments of wonder.  That's a very hard standard.  While I think it's possible at the room key level, the overall dungeon will usually need at least a skim if you want something that has connectivity or even complex traps and puzzles. What I personally aim for (and again I tend to be a maximalist in adventure design) is keys that can generally be read and used straight off the page, but larger dungeons (over 10 rooms) that require a small amount of prep - say 10 minutes per hour of play. So a 10 key jewelbox dungeon is something one could just read as you run it, but might do better with a quick read over. A 50 key, five level dungeon will be more involved and the referee might need to read through it once and write down some notes.  Of course a 50 room dungeon with that level of detail is also likely to last 10 or more sessions, and I've even seen small dense jewelboxes take 2 to 5. Arden Vul is like this on the grandest imaginable scale.Basically the more engagement with the adventure one wants, the more details, interactive elements, and connections between keys it has ... the more engagement the referee needs to have with it during prep time. I don't think it works any other way. I'm not a big improvisational referee though - I suspect some of those folks can wing a complex adventure from a couple of notes.</blockquote>

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