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<blockquote data-quote="MNblockhead" data-source="post: 8233300" data-attributes="member: 6796661">Yeah, it is interesting when you read the history how Gary Gygax didn't see the need to publish adventures until he saw the success of third-party products, such as Judge's Guild &quot;Play Aids&quot;.&nbsp; So it was &quot;dungeons&quot; (which you were expected to create yourself, perhaps with the help of TSR &quot;Geomorphs&quot;) and then &quot;Play Aids&quot; or &quot;Supplemental Materials&quot;.&nbsp; &quot;Modules&quot; is a very Gygaxian term, which I am almost certain he took from military wargames, where &quot;module&quot; has been used as the term for settings and scenarios:From: UK Ministry of Defense Development, Concepts and Doctrine Center, Wargaming Handbook (2017)&quot;Module&quot; meaning &quot;any more or less self-contained unit which goes to make up a complete set, a finished article, etc.&quot; is a relatively modern usage of the term, starting around WWII. By the 1970s it was a term of art used in writing and editing: &quot;1977&nbsp;&nbsp; F. K. Baskette Art of Editing (rev. ed.) xiv. 293&nbsp;&nbsp; A module is a unit or component of a whole (or a page)..[and it] clearly separates and features a story inside it.&quot;&nbsp; As I remember it, &quot;modules&quot; in the 1970s were less about taking a party through a story and more about providing the locations and hooks within which stories could evolve. You were generally buying a map, a key, wandering monster tables, some adventure/quest hooks, and some background information. Many were design for replay-ability.&nbsp; The evolution seemed to be (1) geomorphs to build dungeons on the fly, (2) pre-created maps with keyed areas and concise text for what was there--or tools for populating rooms yourself, (3) cities and wilderness locations, (4) kingdom / continent spanning settings.&nbsp; Eventually this all developed into adventure stories with plot and lore-rich settings. But the early materials assumed DMs would fill in the gaps and and that what DM really wanted was a way to save time on map making, populating rooms, organizing stat blocks etc.&nbsp; The story is what the players did in the playground provided.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="MNblockhead, post: 8233300, member: 6796661"] Yeah, it is interesting when you read the history how Gary Gygax didn't see the need to publish adventures until he saw the success of third-party products, such as Judge's Guild "Play Aids". So it was "dungeons" (which you were expected to create yourself, perhaps with the help of TSR "Geomorphs") and then "Play Aids" or "Supplemental Materials". "Modules" is a very Gygaxian term, which I am almost certain he took from military wargames, where "module" has been used as the term for settings and scenarios: From: UK Ministry of Defense Development, Concepts and Doctrine Center, Wargaming Handbook (2017) "Module" meaning "any more or less self-contained unit which goes to make up a complete set, a finished article, etc." is a relatively modern usage of the term, starting around WWII. By the 1970s it was a term of art used in writing and editing: "1977 F. K. Baskette [I]Art of Editing[/I] (rev. ed.) xiv. 293 A module is a unit or component of a whole (or a page)..[and it] clearly separates and features a story inside it." As I remember it, "modules" in the 1970s were less about taking a party through a story and more about providing the locations and hooks within which stories could evolve. You were generally buying a map, a key, wandering monster tables, some adventure/quest hooks, and some background information. Many were design for replay-ability. The evolution seemed to be (1) geomorphs to build dungeons on the fly, (2) pre-created maps with keyed areas and concise text for what was there--or tools for populating rooms yourself, (3) cities and wilderness locations, (4) kingdom / continent spanning settings. Eventually this all developed into adventure stories with plot and lore-rich settings. But the early materials assumed DMs would fill in the gaps and and that what DM really wanted was a way to save time on map making, populating rooms, organizing stat blocks etc. The story is what the players did in the playground provided. [/QUOTE]

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