Module Auteurs

[roguerouge]

In film and television, we have the concept of auteurism. An auteur is an artist, usually a director in film and the persons with the "created by" credit in television, who are ultimately responsible for the meanings created in the work. One can tell an auteur by the fact that they grapple with similar issues and use similar aesthetic techniques over and over again, despite having different collaborators and producers. Hitchcock is the quintessential example of the film director as auteur, while Joss Whedon or Aaron Sorkin might be the example in Television.

Are there module auteurs? Are there authors of adventures that have similar thematic concerns and similar approaches to resolving "narrative" problems? Which authors are considered to be the "top" in their "genre"? What genres are there for modules?

 

[Kwalish Kid]

Excellent question!

Tracy Hickman, for sure. You can find a pretty consistent style through Ravenloft, The Desert of Desolation Series and Rahasia (at least in the original versions of these adventures). And, of course, the Dragonlance series of adventures (which are somewhat different from the novels.

Common themes:

• mazes
• ancient magic-users that are trapped in some way
• tragic romance
• wandering undead armies
• monasteries
• PCs are railroaded to some extent (sometimes due to geographical feature)
• magic items that are specific or semi-specific to the PCs task
• PCs have an overall task!
• Players can figure out puzzle through Madlibs-type of clues

 

[FunkBGR]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autuer

The film major in me says that the 'author' of the module is . . . the author. Unlike films, which have a lot of people besides the director working to complete the film, the module has a singular entity that one can point to for the majority of the text.

The other person in me really likes this thought though, and really wants Ari Marmell to appear and comment on how it works when he writes a module. I'm guessing it's not as simple as above. You have a person who contracts out the freelance work, giving a bit on what exactly they're looking for in the module. You have the cartographer, creating a visual map of some kind - but does the map get created before the module text, or vice versa? Do the author and the cartographer work together? You've got an editor, what sort of role do they play in it?

I'm not sure if he's going to like this, but I notice a distinct style when I read old school modules - Gygax for sure.

 

[Melan]

Paul Jaquays:
- complex 3D environments with secrets within secrets, lost sub-levels, several inter-level connections
- heavy focus on lost shrines
- eccentric NPCs
- almost always a few halfling NPCs used for comic relief

 

[Nlogue]

while Joss Whedon or Aaron Sorkin might be the example in Television.

Swoon. My heroes.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Monte Cook

*dead deities
*unique locales
*mages in armor
*pocket dimensions
*alternate forms of technology

Wolfgang Baur
*darkness, shadow and light
*creative templated enemies
*clockworks
*necromancers and undead and shadow fey
*clever, sometimes hidden magical effects


to name a few examples for them both

 

[pedr]

Swoon. My heroes.

As, I think, one of about three or four Brits who watched 'Studio 60' I always enjoy noticing that Mr Sorkin is slightly more appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic. I never saw 'Sports Night' but doubt that anything on TV will better 'The West Wing' at its height.

Um, that's a threadjack, I guess, for which I apologise.

 

[el-remmen]

Willie Walsh

 

[Nlogue]

As, I think, one of about three or four Brits who watched 'Studio 60' I always enjoy noticing that Mr Sorkin is slightly more appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic. I never saw 'Sports Night' but doubt that anything on TV will better 'The West Wing' at its height.

Um, that's a threadjack, I guess, for which I apologise.

Yeah, I won't watch Studio or Sports Night...I just want to remember him as the genius behind West Wing.

 

[Erik Mona]

Studio 60 was decent, it just needed more time to develop and someone needed to remind Sorkin that he wasn't doing a political show anymore.

But we'll always have The West Wing.

--Erik