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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GX.Sigma" data-source="post: 7695698" data-attributes="member: 6690511">That's just one example of the (terrible) format that WotC and TSR have been using since forever. Write everything in a big wall of text, force the DM to read it all the way through before running it, waste huge amounts of page space to say something that could've been communicated in one sentence (like "there is nothing important in this room"), present facts the DM has to learn and reference rather than opportunities for the DM to be creative, etc. The fact that they even felt the need to explain the ceilings at all is pretty offensive, because any answer made up by the DM on the spot would be just as good. Those words have absolutely no reason to be there. It's just a waste of the reader's time.Also a lot of weirdness specific to that adventure--like the only way to get to the basement is through the attic? And leveling up in the middle of the first session, with no corresponding in-world action, based on arbitrary criteria that the PCs have no way of knowing? Like, are they supposed to have their 2nd-level character sheets ready to go before they even start playing their 1st-level characters, or are you supposed to stop the game so everyone can look in the book? It all adds up.I mean, I'm sure it's fine on the TSR/WotC grading curve (right up there with Keep on the Shadowfell, har har).Well, that's by no means all. But it's probably the biggest issue. It's not just "better maps;" it's better information design and fewer words.Here are a few blog posts that state the problem, show egregious examples of the problem, and provide a manifesto:<a href="http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-write-10000-pages-of-gibberish.html" target="_blank">http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2015/12/how-to-write-10000-pages-of-gibberish.html</a><a href="http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2013/03/this-is-why-ruins-of-undermountain-is.html" target="_blank">http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2013/03/this-is-why-ruins-of-undermountain-is.html</a><a href="http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/03/arrows-and-boxes-and-columns-and-bullet.html" target="_blank">http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/03/arrows-and-boxes-and-columns-and-bullet.html</a>tl;dr:By the way, the dude who wrote all that is also the author of the product I mentioned: <a href="http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/91110/Vornheim-The-Complete-City-Kit" target="_blank">http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/91110/Vornheim-The-Complete-City-Kit</a></blockquote>

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