What you want in a module

[Tortoise]

Finally, and this is a biggie that lots of would be reviewers brush under the rug: avoid plot bottlenecks. This is especially true for heavily event based adventures, but I have also seen it in segments on dungeons and linking events in hybrid site/event adventures. If there is a single event/occurance/puzzle/observation that the players are required to overcome, if there is any chance that they will miss it, you are setting the GM up for a headache. Worse yet, if you put several seemingly easy challenges in series, you make it much more likely that the PCs will not do/acheive one of the steps. Try putting challenges in parallel -- this increases the chance that the pcs will be successful and give the players options.

Psion,

(and everyone else) You offer some great advice, but I was wondering if you could expand on your comment about putting challenges in parallel. Can you give a couple of examples to help clarify a bit?

While I'm fairly certain I understand your point, I'm sure having examples would help all of us.

DM's may now rejoice as we have some great advice being posted here. Now we need to get PC and Old Oone, and some others in here too.

 

[Lothaire]

A great deal of this is repeating what others have said, but why not add my voice to the chorus.

Generic gods / plots. This makes it easier to drop into any setting.

Reasons for the enviornment exisiting. Monsters need food sources / water / light / other resources.

A mock up of basic movements. People don't stay in one spot all day, neither should sapient monsters. Where / how do they travel about the complex.

Don't make the plot saving the world. That is so cliche and overdone. Also, give PCs of all alignments viable reasons for undertaking the adventure. Neutral charecters might not care about saving the village, give them another incentive.

 

[KnowTheToe]

I would like to reinterate length. I have all but stopped buying adventures, because so many only take one or two nights of gameplay. Even after expanding role playing opportunities, they never take more than 3. I want something my players can get invested in. I work and have a family, I don't have time to create involved campaigns.

 

[Walter_J]

Hi, All,
I've been reading thread like this, in addition to letters and actual conversations, for two years. When I put NRP together, I kept a lot of "what gamers want" in mind and here's a FEW of the features I worked into the products I'm writing:

1. Adaptability--in the introductory section I include a bulleted list of items GM's may need to change for setting reasons and where in the module those items can be found.

2. Flexibility--I believe a product should be as useful to the GM as possible. I covered a range from multiple hooks and reasons why adventurers may want to get involved, incorporating the product into a campaign and what elements could be used to "form" a campaign, an optional encounter table for higher level PC's (or for variety), a "Bringing to life" section to loose that static feeling and for "site based" adventures with multiple entrances/exits, which entrances are good for what levels and what plot hooks/goals.

3. Modular--I've made every effort to develop a "site" (be it dungeon, town or forest) or portion of a module so that the GM can yank out what they want and put it where they want. In the very near future I'll be including an "Impact" section which will describe what happens to an area when you put a particular adventure site there.

4. NPC's -- they have personality, motivation and goals of their own.

5. The OnGoing Campaign--for those that want something longer, 90+% of our products have what I titled "The OnGoing Campaign" which allow GM's to link together various products by following one or more story threads WITHOUT having to follow a linear path (i.e. you don't have to go from A1 to A2. You could go from A1 to A2, C1, X3 and so forth depending on the story line you want to follow).

Those are a few of the items I can come up with off the top of my head. In the very near future I'll be developing a more complete list and posting it on our web-site. Forgive the shameless plug, but these types of threads are a big part of why NRP was formed. That and I lost my day job yesterday due to "economic reasons" and really need to promote the company : )

Good gaming!
Walter

 

[Heretic Apostate]

Look at Fiery Dragon. Their modules include an Alertness Factor. For instance, if the characters do such-and-such in the area, the monsters surrounding have different levels of preparation. This can easily be discarded by the DM, but for experienced DMs, it's a way to penalize characters who think that each room is a separate encounter.

Look at Thunderhead. They have their remarkable scaling system. They provide scaling for parties that are higher level, lower level, stronger in divine magic, stronger in arcane magic, heavy on trapspringers, and so on. Mind you, not for every encounter, but it's nice seeing that parties that are different from the standard can be accomodated.

I don't know if you can use these ideas, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Voadam]

Harloch's point about writing up character reactions is a good one. Describing the sensations of a scene (sights, sounds, smells etc.) is evocative, leave reactions for the players. Telling them how they react/feel is poor description unless there is emotion inducing magic involved. Like writing an essay, "show, don't tell."

I like lots of short adventures because then I have options to deal with PC choices. My PCs have often decided "screw it, we're out of here, we are done with this." I could see them, for instance, leaving half way through RttToEE and not going back. My group did that with the original, spending months on the moathouse and nulb and then packing up and leaving the area, never having set foot in the temple.

Long superadventures are great, but they can either lock you in or get derailed easily.

 

[mmadsen]

Some of my favorite points so far:

• A coherent plot and premise. Is there a reason a band of four misfit mercenaries is invading the goblin kingdom without an army of the Duke's men alongside them?
• Site-based modules ("dungeons) need a reason for the site to exist and a logical layout (places to sleep, entrances and exits, etc.).
• A good plot synopsis, so you do not have to read the whole adventure to get the big picture. And important plot points should be well-labelled, so you know what you can and cannot modify.
• Maps, especially reusable maps (castle, village, etc.).
• Artwork, including handouts -- but no "spoilers" on the cover, please.
• Include results of common skill checks (e.g. Gather Info) and reactions by NPCs to common questions, propositions, etc.
• Modular/Portable/Flexible.
• Notes on raising or lowering the power level. Is it important that room 6a contains Gnolls, or are they just a convenient challenge, and Goblins or Ogres could work just as well?

 

[Snoweel]

Length...I think gamers like 320 page adventures more than they like 32 page adventures. Less work in gluing a campaign together, if you're not inclined that way, and easier to get excited about. Even if they don't want to run such a big adventure, they can rip components out for use elsewhere if it's somewhat modular, especially if there are suggestions on how to do so in the front.

Yes.

Big adventures/mini campaigns are few and far between these days.

I mean, except for the maps and monster stats, most small adventures are just useless if they don't fit the flavour of your campaign.

So rather than give us something that's gonna either require 40 hours of work to fit into our gameworld or ruin our campaign, why don't you just give us the seeds of an entire campaign.

 

[Snoweel]

Simple, as a DM, as a Player, what do you want in a module? And what have you seen in modules that you like/dislike? I for one dislike the amount of dissorganization and lack of fluidity I always see.

Hello mmadsen!

 

[Larry Fitz]

Hmmmmm

I'm not going to bother reiterating what's been said, though there have been excellent points brought up. I am intrigued by something here. Two different people have indicated a desire to have not just modules but pre-made campaigns. If you could buy a campaign world and then purchase a series of linked adventures that would require little more than personalization to your PC's how many of you would be interested in that sort of thing? I remember running the old module series' with the Giants and the Drow and they were fun, but are there a significant number of GM's who would like their creativity minimized and their execution emphasized?


"It's not called Dungeons and Rangers, kid."

-Lincoln, a Copper Dragon, responding to a Ranger that wanted to know how great it felt to be a Dragon.