Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yora" data-source="post: 6232121" data-attributes="member: 6670763">I have to admit that I think pretty much all adventure ever released for D&D 3rd Edition and Planescape are not great, because of a flaw inherent in the rules system.The biggest problem is, that these adventures require that the PCs are of a certain level. There are lots of adventures that look interesting, but are of no use for my campaigns because PCs are mostly 1st to 4th level. I think it's better to only assign roles for the NPCs, monsters, and enemies, and leave it to the GM to select a creature of the appropriate level for his campaign. But since making NPCs and customizing creatures is such a big amount of work in d20 games, having to create them yourself is something that many GMs would probably want to avoid.In a lighter rules system, it's enough to state than an NPC is a Fighter with a level of "Average PC level +2" and a special amor that raised his AC by +4. Because of that, you can easily use any AD&D module for pretty much any group you have, since it takes no time at all to come up with the neccesary stats.Another big problem with the WotC/Paizo-style adventures is their very strict linearity. Virtually every adventure released by them (which means every single one I can remember), is practically a series of dungeons in which there are only one or two routes to the "final room", where the PCs will fight the "final boss" and gain from him a map or letter that tells them where the next dungeon is. Because of that structure, there is no room for failure. If the PCs, at any point, are unable to complete a dungeon from start to end and defeat the final boss, the adventure comes to a stop and there isn't really any way to continue the game. Because players at least subconsciously know this, and also know that the GM wants them to reach the end of the adventure, they know that their characters can not fail. Success is guaranteed and if they fail, the GM will come up with a way to remove the obstacle for them. When you know you will win and can never fail, there is no room for tension, improvisation, creative planning, avoiding fights, or judging the risks. You know that everything you'll ever encounter, you can defeat in straight on battle. There will be no creatures that you can not defeat.The solution here are task-based or goal-based quests. Instead of sending the PCs to storm a dungeon and clear every room of monsters, send them in to kill one specific monster or steal one specific item. And make the opposition strong enough so the PCs will be unable to clear out every living thing in the dungeon.Also, adventures should generally be setting independent. In some cases, where the adventure is about a particular unique aspect of a setting, you have to make it setting-specific. Something involving the warforged of Eberron, defiler magic from Dark Sun, or the planar adventures of Planescape just doesn't work setting independent. But you can still easily adept generic desert adventures to Dark Sun and find a place for most adventures in Eberron. If the adventure does not absolutely require to be set in a specific setting, it shouldn't be setting specific.</blockquote>

Verification