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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 5438406" data-attributes="member: 18280">IMHO, good modules present a situation rather than a plot, and allow the players to devise a plan to deal with it.&nbsp; This is not to say that NPCs cannot have plots and timelines; it is to say that the whole thing does not follow a storyline where the PCs must X at Y at time Z, and where the encounters must occur in a set manner and/or order.For what it's worth, IMHO, a good adventure is not a story or a series of encounters. It is a setting or a situation that naturally spawns good stories and encounters. If the encounter must occur as the designer envisions it, well, it leaves the GM in a hard position. Does the GM constrain player action so as to perseve the encounters as written, or does the GM rewrite the encounters on the fly?Some other points I agree with:A good module should never have the characters bystanders while major NPCs perform the real heroic actions, unless the characters, through their own inaction, have made it so.&nbsp; And, if this does happen, it should in no way be certain that the NPCs will not die horribly for their pains!Ethical problems for me are fun, but not mandatory.Player handouts, artwork (evocative over beautiful, FWIW, and useful over evocative), and counters (for some games) are extras.&nbsp; I can take them or leave them.And, may I add, encounters with more than one way to start!&nbsp; I.e., no encounter where the troll must be standing at Location A, no matter what the players do, no matter how long they wait, no matter how they try to lure him out.This alone is a strike against many, many recent modules!&nbsp; (IMHO, of course.)(for systems that require a scaling side bar, anyway.&nbsp; The flatter the power curve, the less you need a scaling side bar.RC</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 5438406, member: 18280"] IMHO, good modules present a situation rather than a plot, and allow the players to devise a plan to deal with it. This is not to say that NPCs cannot have plots and timelines; it is to say that the whole thing does not follow a storyline where the PCs must X at Y at time Z, and where the encounters must occur in a set manner and/or order. For what it's worth, IMHO, a good adventure is not a story or a series of encounters. It is a setting or a situation that naturally spawns good stories and encounters. If the encounter must occur as the designer envisions it, well, it leaves the GM in a hard position. Does the GM constrain player action so as to perseve the encounters as written, or does the GM rewrite the encounters on the fly? Some other points I agree with: A good module should never have the characters bystanders while major NPCs perform the real heroic actions, [I][B]unless the characters, through their own inaction, have made it so[/B][/I]. And, if this does happen, it should in no way be certain that the NPCs will not die horribly for their pains! Ethical problems for me are fun, but not mandatory. Player handouts, artwork (evocative over beautiful, FWIW, and useful over evocative), and counters (for some games) are extras. I can take them or leave them. And, may I add, encounters with more than one way to start! I.e., no encounter where the troll must be standing at Location A, no matter what the players do, no matter how long they wait, no matter how they try to lure him out. This alone is a strike against many, many recent modules! (IMHO, of course.) (for systems that require a scaling side bar, anyway. The flatter the power curve, the less you need a scaling side bar. RC [/QUOTE]

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