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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GX.Sigma" data-source="post: 6243065" data-attributes="member: 6690511">I might be alone in this, but I hate reading. Any adventure that starts by saying "Read hundreds of pages of boring description before running this" immediately loses me. If I had time to do that, I'd create my own adventure instead. Isn't the whole point to save time?I like to run on-the-fly, but this is problematic with old adventure design.One of the classic problems (especially with old Gygax modules) is that important details aren't specified up-front, but are hidden in the room descriptions. For example, in the Temple of Elemental Evil, a big aspect is the relationships of the various factions, and the possibility of wearing cultist uniforms to get through parts of the dungeon unmolested. But there's no chart showing the cults' relationships and what colors they wear (instead, we have pages and pages of backstory which I literally could not give a <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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /><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=":)" /> about). You have to read all the room descriptions and notice that the different factions wear particular uniforms. Why not tell me that at the beginning?Ideally, an adventure should have a short blurb about how it's supposed to go (this is unnecessary for a dungeon), and a quick rundown of all the stuff the DM needs to know before running. Then the meat of the adventure should be very brief and easy to run on-the-fly. In my experience, a detail that the DM creates is better than a detail that the DM has to read and interpret.Also, it should go without saying, but apparently adventure authors still don't get it: Stop using read-aloud text. And even if you do include it (presumably at the behest of some braindead executive), don't force the DM to use it by hiding details in it that aren't in the description.The best-written D&D adventure I've ever seen is this (and that's kinda sad, because it could be better):<a href="http://burnedfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Greg-Gillespie-_-The-Bastion-of-the-Boglings.pdf" target="_blank">http://burnedfx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Greg-Gillespie-_-The-Bastion-of-the-Boglings.pdf</a></blockquote>

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