Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alphastream" data-source="post: 6120162" data-attributes="member: 11365">I think it is important to note that, historically, this didn't start with 4E. We can thank 3E for the beginning of a design movement toward very encounter-based adventures with a poor narrative. If you take a look at some of the 3E adventures such as the Fantastic Locations series, we can see the exact same take on adventure writing as in the initial 4E adventures (I can argue the 4E ones have a better narrative). Heck, we can see this in various adventures throughout D&D's history (the Thunder Rift series, for example), but it really does seem to have been a dramatic change in 3E rather than something 4E cooked up.Edit:Going a bit deeper on the topic...As a further example, there was a quick-start 3E adventure "Into the Darkness" that was even worse. It was three boring rooms (undead somehow used as guardians, then kobolds, then a half-orc and his pet shocker lizard). No story beyond a thin premise. I'm completely agreeing that we need better introductory adventures for D&D Next. And we already have them. Blindengstone is miles ahead of what late 3E and early 4E offered. I think most people will really like what they experience at the upcoming Game Day and Gen Con. And I do really see a renewed interest in good adventure writing at Wizards. DDI was mentioned. The adventures there have often been spectacular - industry leading. If I think on the adventures I most admire, many of them come from DDI over the past two years. Wizards has a far closer relationship between freelancers than in the Paizo or pre-Paizo years, and I think that will continue to create good results in the future. It is also worth noting that Wizards has increased its relationship with those involved in organized play. Current freelancers (and WotC staff!) now include a lot of people with organized play experience. There seems to be a better recognition that organized play can help writers hone skills. We have seen DDI issues where more than half of the contributors have written for Living Forgotten Realms, for example. Organized play authors have been authors on several 4E published books, as well as written for programs like Lair Assault and Encounters. Many of the prolific freelancers (Townshend, Merwin) have deep experience with organized play. That creates a lot of strength around adventure writing, just as Paizo's programs now create a nice feedback loop between PFS, Superstar, and sourcebook/adventure path authors. And, we should mention that Paizo and WotC staff often switch teams or work for both. That strengthens our hobby as well. We see Townshend working for 13th Age, Paizo, and Wizards, which increases what each company learns from the writing process.</blockquote>

Verification