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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gus L" data-source="post: 9800361" data-attributes="member: 7045072">Jumping in a bit late here but what if rather then thinking of this as two distinct categories of adventure "To be run" and "to be read" we note that they are all meant "to be run" ... but some writers/brands/systems aren't actually good at knowing what that means, or have an idea of it that demands large read aloud sections, excessive unusable backstory and all the other sins associated with "meant to be read modules".When you look to the advice on running games and designing adventures from the 1990's and 2000's (something like "X-DM" or "Play Dirty" - refereeing manuals  from the 90's/00's) the advice largely focuses on bending the players to the referee's pre-written story through bullying, trickery, deception, props, and smoke machine usage.  The goal of course is to create a game with novelistic or cinematic highs, lows, and reveals - to teach the referee how to perform for the players and guide them through a narrative experience. It's not what I want in my games these days and seems very high prep...The corresponding adventure design would seem to be the sort of "to read" adventure that covers the backstory (to place the adventure in narrative context) and every detail of its scenes.  Personally I don't think this works, but as much as the 90's directed adventure experience stye game relies of rigid referee control and virtuosity to keep players unknowingly or happily moving along an (ideally hidden) track  through the rising action to the climax, this sort of module relies of designer control - to describe everything and help lock in a specific feel and experience.Personally I don't find this kind of adventure useful, but I don't think it's made for reading so much as it's made for to  "read to" one's players. It's for a certain style of game, and when we aren't playing that style of game it becomes incomprehensible.</blockquote>

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