D&D 5E Tales From the Yawning Portal Needs a Sequel

[Reynard]

The author of the Grippli adventure from Candlekeep was so upset by the editing, which left a whole bunch out and changed the tone significantly from what he had submitted (and thought had been accepted), that he disavowed it completely.

Radiant Citadel seems to have come through that process in very good shape.

Never do work for hire if you care about its final form. I once talked to a Hollywood screen writer who said the only industry that rewrote you more than Hollywood was RPGs. I haven't written for Hollywood but my experience in RPGs backs this up -- especially the bigger the company.

 

[J.Quondam]

Bad editing feels rarer than bad writing, but is definitely more detrimental I think.

To be fair, if the editing was good, the bad writing would never make it out the door.

 

[Reynard]

To be fair, if the editing was good, the bad writing would never make it out the door.

I have seen editors completely rewrite work they already paid for. Deadlines create requirements. To be clear: "bad writing" isn't the same thing as "bad ideas" and sometimes when you are making three cents a word you don't have the time or wherewithal to polish the way maybe you should.

 

[J.Quondam]

I have seen editors completely rewrite work they already paid for. Deadlines create requirements. To be clear: "bad writing" isn't the same thing as "bad ideas" and sometimes when you are making three cents a word you don't have the time or wherewithal to polish the way maybe you should.

Yep. It's almost as if the entire writing industry/s could benefit from a complete overhaul in favor of the army of people actually doing the work. And throw in all other creative businesses, while we're at it.

 

[Reynard]

Yep. It's almost as if the entire writing industry/s could benefit from a complete overhaul in favor of the army of people actually doing the work. And throw in all other creative businesses, while we're at it.

I don't know about the "entire writing industry" but the TTRPG industry as a whole relies entirely too much on rushed, underpaid freelancers.

 

[James Gasik]

I am kind of doen with 5E but a solid conversion of Red Hand of Doom would bring me back post haste. It is long enough that it could be the anchor of a new anthology but still leave room for some other adventures or setting info and players options. RHoD is hands down the best adventure of the WotC era.

Or even Scales of War.

 

[Stormonu]

I would like published adventures from more recently than 1e and 2e. In other words 3e and 4e adventures. I'd REALLY like the first 3 4e adventures updated and lots of the story elements fixed - in particular the Pyramid of Shadows.

OR - the entire Scales of War mega campaign re-jiggered for 5e with level progression from 1-20 instead of 1-30...

That would probably require an entire re-write because it is very Nentir Vale focused, so would have to re-write for Faerun

Why would it need to be rewritten for Faerun? Ghosts of Saltmarsh wasn't. Nothing wrong with giving us another prior campaign world with Nentir Vale.

 

[Parmandur]

Why would it need to be rewritten for Faerun? Ghosts of Saltmarsh wasn't. Nothing wrong with giving us another prior campaign world with Nentir Vale.

We have four Adventure books this year, and not one of them is in Faerun.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

WG4 - Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

I do think at least some of these have a rose-tinted nostalgia goggles effect going on. I reread this one a couple of weeks ago, and it's really pretty bad. Just a fairly random collection of rooms stocked with a fairly random assortment of dull monsters. The most interesting thing about it is the quirky (by modern standards) writing style, which reveals more about the author's intent than you see these days, making the "killer DM" playstyle apparent.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

I do think at least some of these have a rose-tinted nostalgia goggles effect going on. I reread this one a couple of weeks ago, and it's really pretty bad. Just a fairly random collection of rooms stocked with a fairly random assortment of dull monsters. The most interesting thing about it is the quirky (by modern standards) writing style, which reveals more about the author's intent than you see these days, making the "killer DM" playstyle apparent.

I agree 100%. Out of those I listed (all of which I own in their original versions), the only one I have actually run is Against the Cult of the Reptile God, which I enjoyed quite a bit back in the day. The questionable writing and design of most of those adventures is why I specified previously that I would want the scenarios revised in a manner that goes well beyond updating stat blocks -- I would want full-on improvements to the adventures themselves. Now you may well ask me what the point of that is, why not just move on to something fresh and new, and I may not have a satisfactory answer other than: I still want to blend classic Greyhawk adventures into my campaign, adventures that I've owned for decades but never got to play/run. Sure, I could update them myself... but I'd prefer someone spare me most of the effort.