Why don't you buy modules?

[Davelozzi]

I sense a lot of frustration here with the modules currently out there, but very few people here have picked up any of my books, it seems.

I know that they say don't judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it's hard not to. I haven't checked out any of your modules, although now I've heard enough that I'm curious, but I'll admit that for a while I was put off by the covers. I know that you're going for an old school feel but in my opinion, they just look overly generic, cheap even.

By comparison, check out Necromancer's covers. They also go for the 1e feel (as I'm sure that you're aware) and the they carry the letter-number designation and the little diagonal banner to nod to the old days, but then they add bigger art, borders, and gloss it up a little. The end result is something that effectively brings up the nostalgia while still showing a little bit of polish. After all, many of the early modules may be classics, but it's not the shoddy production and washed out maps that we're nostalgic for.

I hope this doesn't come across wrong, it's my intent to provide some helpful feedback. Of course, this is a personal opinion, so mileage may vary and all that.

As I said, I've heard good things about your stuff so hopefully one of these days I'll get a chance to dive in and give it a more thorough look.

 

[jasper]

You poll does not cover my choices. I open to any company, any size or any length. Hardbound is out.
If you want my money. I need more time to play. Less players who want to DM. Less players buying the module to cheat.
But a quick brainstorm of ideas.
Smaller borders on the pages.
Maps show which way door swing.
Tiny stat blocks on unimportant monsters. Ex Room 1 2 Orcs Ac 15,16 BaD +1,+2 (the rest I can look up in the manual.)
A little bit on sample tactics. (Ex Orcs from room 2,3, and 5 will enter combat 1d20 rounds if they hear combat in room 1. ) Some personality’s quirks for main villains.
Less color to keep cost down. Some suggestions like Sunless had with meepo.
I nearly agree with vocenoctum a nice synopsis but just a thumbnail sketch of background.
The easy of translation depends on how thick the module is. Ex. I can drop a lot of Kalamar flavor stuff out of their coin series and not lose a lot. Now I am going to rebuy the Judges guild city state series just for ease of swapping it out with my current JG locations in my world. So updated reprints of classics would be okay if soft cover.

One module series I like is pocket module ones. I have seen two or three companies doing this. And it great one night game.

 

[Arnwyn]

I sense a lot of frustration here with the modules currently out there, but very few people here have picked up any of my books, it seems.

I've never seen them in my LGS (and I never, ever buy a module without flipping through it).

 

[Ed Cha]

I know that they say don't judge a book by its cover, but sometimes it's hard not to. I haven't checked out any of your modules, although now I've heard enough that I'm curious, but I'll admit that for a while I was put off by the covers. I know that you're going for an old school feel but in my opinion, they just look overly generic, cheap even.

No offense taken. Your point is something to think about and consider in the future.

You should know that we use digitally-colored cover art done by Storn Cook. Also, if you take a look at the interior artwork, you'll see that it is very good, too.

In addition, the content is very high-value. Open World Press uses one of the smaller fonts and narrowest margins in the RPG industry. So if you pick up Thumble, for example, it's a 72-page book, but really contains 96 pages of text. Even in Oester, the last chapter's font size is reduced so that it can all fit into the 64-page format. If we did otherwise it would probably be 80 pages.

Also, if you look at the product itself, it's very different from what you typically see out there. Gary Gygax himself called the series "innovative" and that word has been used often by others, too. They're what I call "adventure settings", not typical adventures. Check them out for yourself and be the judge!

 

[Ed Cha]

I've never seen them in my LGS (and I never, ever buy a module without flipping through it).

That's too bad and a problem that I'm very frustrated about. A lot of poor to mediocre-quality stuff is out there in every store, but higher quality products are not. I guess it's the same in any industry. After all, the best-selling movies are not the best-quality.

Tell you what, just for you, if you order the book through the EN World's RPG Shop and you don't like it, just return it to me with e-mail receipt of payment and I'll refund the money.

 

[caudor]

You should know that we use digitally-colored cover art done by Storn Cook. Also, if you take a look at the interior artwork, you'll see that it is very good, too.

Wow, player opinions do differ widely sometimes. For me, it was the cover that initially drove my interest in the series. In my opinion, the cover tells me you went through extra effort to round up good talent. The my examination of the content confirmed this.

I'm currently working on an adventure for Dragon Claw Games, and I've finally got a taste of just how much effort it takes to put together a good adventure. It's a lot work...more work than I had expected.

Just from a economical perspective, one would think adventures would sell well simply because they are the disposable part of the game (you use them up and need more). The posts here have shed a lot of light on the topic.

 

[Treebore]

Ed,

Distribution is definitely a problem. i had to look around quite a bit to find it in my usual buying locations. I still haven't found Oester.

 

[The_Gneech]

I love and adore modules ... I buy them in way larger quantities than splatbooks, worldbooks, etc. Just about the only thing I like as much as modules, is monster books.

However, I do try to be selective -- to get my $20 or less, a module should have:

* An intriguing premise, or at least an exciting blurb on the back

* Fit my own particular tastes, which include barbarians, owlbears, dragons, and trolls, but NOT demons, devils, anything involving extraplanar travel, or steam-powered ANYTHING.

* Good artwork and decent layout. The interior can be b/w, that's aces by me. But the artwork must not suck. Fairly large type and adequate use of white space is vital. Competent typesetting is a must.

Added goodies (such as large maps, counters, or cardboard standups) are a BIG bonus. But they aren't a deal maker/breaker.

My favorite 3.x adventure so far, bar none, has been "Rana Mor" in Dungeon magazine.

-The Gneech

 

[Ed Cha]

Thanks, Caudor! I'm sure Storn will be happy to hear that you like his artwork.

Treebore, it's a problem in this business. Just getting on the shelf and getting retailers to re-stock items. I can't blame them too much though.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

...Is it DM style? IS it just tastes are different? Are those knocking the modules I like actually being fair? In other words, did they really look/read the whole module? Are they just so unrealistic as to expect a module to be dumped into their, or anyone's, camapign without alteration. What do they see as being wrong that I don't get?

I think DM style makes a lot of difference in how individuals perceive the value of a given module. Tastes are also different - some like steampunk, some don't. Some like drow, some don't. I like certain NG modules, because they're more sourcebook than adventure. Others don't like that type of module. I won't say anyone is necessarily being unfair, though. No module will appeal to everyone equally.

As to dumping into a campaign without alteration, I doubt any GM expects that. But how much alteration is required is a valid consideration. A module tightly tied to a major campaign setting will be more difficult to adapt to a homebrew. An adventure set in a major port city, which is not detailed within the module, may require that the GM have such a city (or similar location) before the adventure can be used. Those are valid considerations when deciding whether or not to purchase a module.

...I also get a lot more bang for my buck with modules. I get a setting and series of events that I can put right into my campaign at any time, whether it is a manorial estate, a city, a mine complex, a dungeon complex, a tavern, or what have you. I use 80 to 90% of most modules. With source books I rarely use more than 30% and it is often more like 20% and less.

In this case, you're using modules much the way I like to. I don't necessarily need ideas for adventures, but a module that gives me tons of npc's, locations, items, etc. can save me a lot of time in preparing a custom adventure for my group. But again, it depends on the campaign. The npc's of a given module may not fit the theme or style of everyone's campaign. In such a case, they would not be of much use.

...Another difference I have noted between myself and many others. Even modules I considered crappy, I got lots of use out of them just for the NPC's and maps. Even if the module story sucked the idea of it was usually very good, it was just the execution was lacking, so I changed it to what I consider to be good.

Personally, I have so many adventure ideas, that I don't need to buy modules to get more. In fact, time wasted on lousy modules is time I'm not spending with the good stuff. What constitutes a lousy module is, to an extent, a matter of taste, but we all know of some that are universally panned. The sheer volume of modules available works to discourage purchasing any, as there are a lot of bad modules mixed in with the good. Even with reviews, it's not easy to tell if I'll like a module until after I buy it - by which time, it's too late.

...I find altering modules to my tastes to be much easier than altering/mining a sourcebook or making homebrew from scratch to fit my needs.

To me, modules are the best resource for building/adding to campaigns. Not sourcebooks or other campaign material.

Me too. But then, how many modules do I really need for my campaign? I've identified my weaknesses as a GM (my npc's tend to be the same, I can't draw a map to save my soul) and I purchase books that help me in those areas. With so many free adventures available, if a module doesn't meet my specific needs, I don't buy it.

...I guess it just comes down to a difference in tastes and approaches to running games.

Exactly. There's no one right answer to modules.

BTW, in an earlier thread someone (from NG?) made a very cogent point: we don't use modules the way we used to. Early 1E modules tended to be run stand-alone. The idea of a coherent, consistent homebrew campaign was in its infancy. Nowadays, we often use modules as part of an ongoing campaign, and this changes significantly what we want from them.

Is anyone else sick of the 1st edition retro-style?

Yep. See my comment above about how the use of modules has changed. Except as a one-off adventure, I'm not really interested in revisiting the past.