Li Shenron
Legend
Tell me more about this hypothetical direct-to-run adventure!
You have an ongoing campaign, presumably, so do you need to know how to integrate it into your game? Or does it stand on its own merits and any necessary modification is left up to you?
Also, presumably, you come across sections where you realize you want more information to understand the big picture of the adventure (e.g. a key NPC's motives)... How does this hypothetical adventure accommodate you there?
In short, tell me about the details of this adventure that allow you to do what you say!
Just brainstorming thoughts here...
- I would like the adventure to stand on its own. Modifications can always be done on a voluntary basis. Avoid instructions to do so, they are always obvious.
- It could be either setting-specific or setting-generic, depending on the adventure. In the latter case, I would prefer it to remain local i.e. to introduce maybe small towns and NPCs, but not kingdoms and organizations or new monsters, because these would alter the setting. Setting-generic should really mean "droppable" into any setting that allows basically everything in the core books, without adjustments needed. OTOH if setting-specific then of course the adventure can refer to the larger scale.
- It better be complete, no "fill this room with something" blanks. I don't know why this idea was ever so popular. Complete is better because the DM can still substitute anything with something else. If something's blank instead, this works against the purpose of being usable without preparation.
- "Read aloud" boxes will probably be the key and they should be plenty. Without them, the DM has to read stuff in advance and then figure out what to say based on that. Thus to make the adventure runnable in real time (without reading in advance), I would imagine to be able to just read the "read aloud" box which would also tell me stuff for the first time, and then after the box I can find the DM-only information to read silently while the players comment with each other about what I have just read aloud instead.
- A possible idea to improve usability is keying the different scenes, for example at the end of a section have a short list of the most likely PC's decisions or outcomes, with a key number to skip to the next section to use. Something like: if the PC's battle or confront the orcs go to section #4, if the PC's avoid battle and pursue the orcs go to section #7... then in section #4 you'd have encounter details (MM page ref. for Orc, stats for the unique Orc leader, checklist of Orc's motives and knowledge in case the PCs choose non-combat confrontation...) and more keys to continue depending on how the encounter ends. This helps navigating in real time through the adventure material without having to read everything between.
- If the story is non-linear, perhaps add a chart that tries to summarize the most likely paths depending on major PC choices.
- Maps are always good. Better if detachable or even printable (e.g. via a web enhancement) or something else so that you could (if wanted) keep them visible on the table without exposing the book. Ideally I like "mute maps" that show stuff which is safe for the PCs to know (such as terrain and major cities) while not showing other stuff that is supposed to be discovered during the adventure, and is added later by the DM on top of the map.
- As I mentioned before, avoid introducing new monsters. There are already plenty of creatures in the MM, there is no need for every adventure to increase the catalogue... and it forces the DM to add those monsters to the setting. It also requires page space for the new monsters stats. I would rather have adventures that make my MM feel useful and worth its money. Some important NPCs can have their own unique stats however, but try to keep these to a minimum, and favor additions rather than complete design when sufficient (e.g. the Orc leader could be just "use the standard MM Orc, add Battlemaster's maneuver X at-will and feat Y").
- When you really want something unique, put it in the middle of the scene page only if you expect it to be just killed at the first meeting. Important NPCs usually stay around for the whole adventure are thus are not nailed to a single specific scene, in which case I'd prefer their stats to be available in the appendix, so that they can either be detached or photocopied. Same for unique magic items descriptions, I like to print them out on small pieces of paper, I don't want them to be buried in the middle of a page.