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What does well designed mean?
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<blockquote data-quote="olshanski" data-source="post: 3699301" data-attributes="member: 7441"><p>What do I consider a "well designed" module?</p><p></p><p>In order of importance</p><p></p><p>1: Portability (It should be "mudular", able to be used in my game with little modifications) This includes appropriate creature stats, environmental effects, and enough information to adjudicate most likely encounters.</p><p>2: Logically consistent (No 15' tall creatures in rooms accessable only by 5' high doorways, not having 10 orcs in room A, a unicorn in room B, 10 gargoyles in room C, a merchant caravan in room D, and a Gorgon in room E... and all of them located underneath the small town's tavern).</p><p>3: Engaging story: Should be interesting, but not railroading. Find a healthy balance between allowing players freedom to choose what to do, and having some limits in order to make the game easier to run. </p><p>4: Creative NPCs and encounters: things that I wouldn't normally think about... one NPC has a harelip, another NPC pines after a different NPC... a strange but logically consistent environmental encounter. This is also where the author's voice comes in... humor, clever writing, etcetera. In "the crypt of Srihoz", a picture of a trap that involves a long fall, and then a slide and a second long fall into crashing surf has a diagram for the DM with the text "the end of a very bad day" in the final landing area. In "Lost City of Barakus" the NPCs have some of the most engaging descriptions that I've read in any fiction.</p><p>5: Bells and whistles: player handouts and pictures are a bonus.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="olshanski, post: 3699301, member: 7441"] What do I consider a "well designed" module? In order of importance 1: Portability (It should be "mudular", able to be used in my game with little modifications) This includes appropriate creature stats, environmental effects, and enough information to adjudicate most likely encounters. 2: Logically consistent (No 15' tall creatures in rooms accessable only by 5' high doorways, not having 10 orcs in room A, a unicorn in room B, 10 gargoyles in room C, a merchant caravan in room D, and a Gorgon in room E... and all of them located underneath the small town's tavern). 3: Engaging story: Should be interesting, but not railroading. Find a healthy balance between allowing players freedom to choose what to do, and having some limits in order to make the game easier to run. 4: Creative NPCs and encounters: things that I wouldn't normally think about... one NPC has a harelip, another NPC pines after a different NPC... a strange but logically consistent environmental encounter. This is also where the author's voice comes in... humor, clever writing, etcetera. In "the crypt of Srihoz", a picture of a trap that involves a long fall, and then a slide and a second long fall into crashing surf has a diagram for the DM with the text "the end of a very bad day" in the final landing area. In "Lost City of Barakus" the NPCs have some of the most engaging descriptions that I've read in any fiction. 5: Bells and whistles: player handouts and pictures are a bonus. [/QUOTE]
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