What Makes A Module Fun?

[helium3]

There are lot's of threads lately about what makes an adventure well designed. Fun is often brought up, but some people have said that good design principles and fun are not necessarily related. So, stripping out all opinions regarding visual design, readability, accesibility, information organization and mechanics problems and issues, what makes a module fun to play and run?

 

[frankthedm]

Run: A hint of lovecraftian horror. The room that the Bad Guys avoid. The creature they don't let out.

Play: A way to use the foes resourses against the enemy.

 

[Hussar]

That's going to vary a whole lot. Fun is a very nebulous term. What I find fun and what you find fun are quite possibly very different. For example, if I like historical accuracy in my games, then a module which emulates a particular period is going to be fun for me. While for someone else, who likes fantasy and couldn't really care how much a long sword weighs the same module would be not so much fun.

For me:

Play - fast (ish) pacing, interesting story, reasonably detailed.

Run - Well organized, interesting story, reasonably detailed.

 

[Lanefan]

Run: simple to understand and interpret, well-mapped, some ideas for monster tactics, a basic enough premise that it can be dropped into my game/world with minimal change, boxed descriptions that don't give away too much, challenging for the PC's.

Play: a much tougher question. The modules I have the fondest memories of playing are probably not the "best" modules by any quantifyable standards, but happened to have the right combinations of players and-or characters at the right time, were challenging enough to provide some edge-of-the-seat gaming (where we didn't all survive), and had some well-designed set-piece encounters or battles that left memories long after the adventure was done.

Lanefan

 

[Quasqueton]

I would say that the DM and the Players have more to do with making an adventure fun or unfun than does the module text itself. A well designed adventure module can set up the potential for fun, and can make running the game easier for the DM, but whether it ends up fun or not depends so much more on the group.

Quasqueton

 

[Mycanid]

I would say the answer is a mix between Lanefan and Quasqueton. Both sides of the screen must be engaged ... then it (almost) doesn't matter what they are playing.

The catch is to get both sides involved. An adventure can do that. A single person or players can spark this. Sometimes it's just that rare "magical" moment, unexpected. Sometimes these are the best.

 

[Abraxas]

Play - beer
Run - beer

Actually, there are two things that make modules fun for me to play/run...

One is variety. Nothing gets un-fun as fast as slogging through the same stuff session after session.

The second is Fit. Does it fit the players and characters - for example, it gets un-fun real quick when you are plodding through a trap filled lair when no one is playing a character that can find or disable them.

 

[rounser]

I know they're unpopular here, but puzzles. People value a module with them in Neverwinter Nights, and actually comment on the lack of them....I'm not sure why they're frowned on and so rare in paper and pencil D&D. Maybe it's concerns about verisimilitude or dodgy riddles?

 

[Treebore]

The DM makes the module fun. The DM tailors the adventure to fit the players styles, tactical aptitude, and party composition. The DM is also responsible for giving the PC's fair warning through either divination and/or sagely personages.

I have turned many a module that people have said sucks into adventures that my groups have talked about for months afterwords. With a smile on their face and excitement in their voice. The "money" for a DM's work.

They often, to my surprise, remember many NPC's, and not just the "bad guys". They have remembered quirky blacksmiths adn apothecarians, the brooding armor smith, the grouchy old jeweler, and many others. I had no clue as to how much my players liked such characters until they revisit the town they were met in and then go look them up. I once used it as a excellent adventure hook. When the party finally found the gem cutter I initially had him dead, but when I saw how upset the expressions on my players faces became he suddenly had a barely perceptable pulse.

 

[reanjr]

Intriguing story. Encounters that make sense in the context of the adventure and are exciting encounters with something special that sets them apart (alternatively, they can be short). Bonus points for sneaking in a puzzle that actually makes sense existing (not an easy feat). Something for everyone to do.