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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 5983917" data-attributes="member: 29398">Funny, I was discussing this with one of my players just last night...What makes an adventure good?  A number of factors, most of which most published adventures fail at, sometimes to epic proportions.  Sticking just to dungeon crawl types for now, they are:1 - Choice.  The party has multiple ways in and out, multiple and intersecting paths once inside, multiple connections between vertical levels (with some that skip levels), and can most of the time choose how they approach it all.2 - Replayability.  Tied with choice, this means that repeated use of the same module with different groups gives a different play experience every time.3 - Memorability.  There need to be some specific things or events or battles or whatever in the adventure that will stand out in players' minds years later; usually as "that was so cool!" but on occasion it could be "that was so dumb!".4 - A sense of life.  By this I mean the opponents don't just wait in their assigned places for the party to arrive, and aren't restricted to written tactics if they do move ("the guards in room 5 will respond only to noises in room 3").5 - Easy to run.  This means it is well laid-out with a detachable map, obvious questions likely to come up in play are at least acknowledged if not answered, the monster stat blocks are with the encounter they apply to, etc.Non-dungeon-crawl adventures are very difficult to design for publication, as they very often seem to end up with the party bailing on the adventure and-or missing the next breadcrumb, or the DM leading them by the nose from crypt A to outdoor location B to island C.Some examples of good adventure design:From 1e:The Secret of Bone Hill - perhaps the best module I've ever seen for a combination of points 1-2-3 above; it fails a bit on point 4 but that's not the end of the world; and does just fine on point 5.  There's about 6 or 8 ways in and out of it, not all on ground level; there's choice on where to go and what to do once inside; and there's a few encounters and events in there that - if done right - really are memorable.  Best of all, the map is detachable and most of the more likely "what if they do this?" questions are at least waved at.  I've played it and run it twice each and it's been quite different every time.From 3e:Forge of Fury - does reasonably well on the first 4 points; yes some of the monsters don't move around much but logical reasons are given for it: there's a whole bloody ecosystem in there!  Two ways to get in (three if you're really creative and open up the chimney), reasonable vertical access (though I'd like to see a secret passage from the bottom of the entry chasm to somewhere on the lowest level), quite a few choices on what to do once inside, and some really memorable encounters - the chasm being one, the dragon another, the roper a third.  It fails on point 5, however, due to 3e's publication design: the map is built in and the monster stat blocks are at the back.  That said, it does go into some "what if" answers.Now let's take Keep on the Shadowfell, as you did, and analyze from the same perspective:Point 1 - mostly fail.  There's only one way into the thing, period; then once inside there's only one vertical access point to the lower deck (there easily could be more, the goblin mining operation being an obvious place for one); and while there's a bit of choice where to go once inside it still comes down to a bunch of dead ends. Point 2 - fail.  Though I've only run it once I can't see it coming out much differently if I were to run it again...the same encounters would happen in largely the same order.Point 3 - pass.  There are a couple of parts of KotS that really are good - the final battle vs. Kalarel being one, the battle in the room above that being another - and some others that have the potential to be great including the goblin mines.  It's been 4 years and war stories fronm that adventure still come up now and then - always a good sign.Point 4 - fail.  Nothing moves in there.Point 5 - fail.  While the monster info appears where it should the main map is still built-in and the little encounter maps don't show enough of what is nearby that might interfere if alerted.  But where this module *really* fails is in answering the "what if" questions, particularly in and around the final encounter.  What happens if Kalarel finishes his ritual?  What happens if the party tries to finish it for him?  How does the portal open and can the party do so*?  How can it be closed and can the party do so*?  What if the party start shooting at the tentacled beast*?* - the party did all of these when I ran it...Lanefan</blockquote>

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