Preferred Format: Ret. to the Temple of Elem. Evil or Exped. to the Ruins of Greyhawk

[joethelawyer]

Maybe it's an old dog/new trick thing, but I find the newer module formats hard to use. I like the more traditional Grey Text Box to read to the players, with a couple paragraphs for the DM to read to himself, and the generic monster stat blocks shown in the DM text.

 

[1auxy]

Well I guess I'm an old dog in a sense...but don't mind learning new tricks

I do however prefer the modules of old. Even though the newer format is set up so as to be easier to use at the table, I find myself flipping around in the book a heck of a lot more.

Guess it really doesn't matter that much though. I usually make index cards with the pertinent info for npc's and monsters for combat with page references.

 

[MerricB]

Maybe it's an old dog/new trick thing, but I find the newer module formats hard to use. I like the more traditional Grey Text Box to read to the players, with a couple paragraphs for the DM to read to himself, and the generic monster stat blocks shown in the DM text.

I hate both the formats you've based your poll on. RttToEE was terrible with constant flipping to the statblocks in the back of the book; XRG was terrible to read, and as an early experiment with the tactical format, something of a failure.

I think the tactical format has been working a lot better with the 4e adventures - I've certainly found the H series easy to read and run, much more than XRG (which I still don't think I've managed to read all the way through). I also enjoy more of an oldstyle format where the statblocks are in-text, but only if they're short. Paizo demonstrates all the flaws of presenting terribly overlong statblocks in their adventures.

Cheers!

 

[Neil Bishop]

I think RttToEE almost got it right. I like my stat blocks on separate pages and I like to be able to read an adventure without it being broken up by pages of stat blocks or having to flip backwards and forwards as happens with the encounter/delve format.

When I prepare my own homebrewed adventures I always include the stat blocks on separate sheets of paper (a DM's version of a character sheet if you will).

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I hated running RttToEE because of the statblock templates and location in the back of the book. I also hate the delve format in the newer books such as Eyes of the Lich Queen as it splits up important information for each encounter.

The most ideal was Paizo's format for Dungeon Magazine, but even that was littered with too many sidebars and images that broke up the content in an awkward way.

The best presentation I've seen was in the Fantastic Locations series of adventures.

 

[Kristian Serrano]

I think RttToEE almost got it right. I like my stat blocks on separate pages and I like to be able to read an adventure without it being broken up by pages of stat blocks or having to flip backwards and forwards as happens with the encounter/delve format.

When I prepare my own homebrewed adventures I always include the stat blocks on separate sheets of paper (a DM's version of a character sheet if you will).

I think Red Hand of Doom did a better job with the downloadable PDF.

 

[delericho]

While I really liked the concept of the Delve format when it was introduced, its implementation has been lacking. It seems too rigid for many uses, and very strongly gives the impression that the monsters are just waiting around in their assigned starting squares for the PCs to arrive.

IMO, therefore, the older format is preferable. However, I wouldn't go back as far as RttToEE for my template - some incremental improvements have been made since then, notably in the layout of stat blocks. Some of the later (print) Dungeon adventures, or even better the Pathfinder adventures, would give a better example of this format at work.

And despite that being said, I'm not convinced that this represents the optimal method for presenting adventures. I think there is scope for experimentation in this area, as there may be a third way. It's just the best I think I've seen to date.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Even though the format of the Expedition modules is annoying its not like it can't be gotten used to, I'd just rather not.

 

[Serendipity]

I despise the old format (RttTEE) but I'm not fond of the newer format either. The constant sound of the GM page flipping in the middle of combat is ungood. Especially when I'm GMing.

 

[Betote]

Wow, you just botched it with the examples

RttToEE was a nightmare. Information dispersed and a horrible adventure RoG was a much better adventure, but it didn't make the best of uses from the Delve format.

Let's say... Pathfinder vs. the H-series. In Pathfinder modules you have the occasional page flipping, but with the advantage that everything present in one location is written down at the same place, so you can "get" the story better and gives you more place to improvise. The H-series Delve format is very easy to use and requires almost no preparation, but it's more prone to railroading, as it's more difficult to get from point A to point C without going through point B.

So, overall, I prefer the "classic" format, but I don't mind having some Delve modules at hand for emergencies