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<blockquote data-quote="payn" data-source="post: 9303634" data-attributes="member: 90374">I believe the modern adventure module is very misunderstood. There are some folks of an old school mind that simply want a 5-10 room dungeon instruction paint by numbers manual. Dozens of them in fact, so they can just drop one in each week as their game moves ever forward aimlessly except for the next dungeon adventure. That isnt how an adventure path works at all. The &quot;excessive prose&quot; serves as part setting and part ever expanding campaign exposition. The AP needs to be read front to back as prep because it allows a GM to be ready when the players inevitably want to go left, right, up, or down. You need to know the NPCs motivations and how they will react, and more importantly, what proactive steps will they take as the adventure unfolds. An AP isnt a single adventure, its a campaign kit. Its high time that folks understand that a modern adventure is not the cliff notes, all the work has not been done for you.Now the improvisational GM may only want maps and random charts and tables. They may believe that the prose is their job to provide which is a fine take. There are still modules like this out there, though, they dont have as much popularity as the adventure path. The allure of a grand campaign has become the bees knees. I think its a real disservice that the differences are not spelled out better by RPG companies producing them. I think there is a lack of good improvisational and prep GMs becasue its all deep end of the pool. You try and improvise with little to no guidance, or you try to jam out a level 1-20 adventure in your GMing teething years.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="payn, post: 9303634, member: 90374"] I believe the modern adventure module is very misunderstood. There are some folks of an old school mind that simply want a 5-10 room dungeon instruction paint by numbers manual. Dozens of them in fact, so they can just drop one in each week as their game moves ever forward aimlessly except for the next dungeon adventure. That isnt how an adventure path works at all. The "excessive prose" serves as part setting and part ever expanding campaign exposition. The AP needs to be read front to back as prep because it allows a GM to be ready when the players inevitably want to go left, right, up, or down. You need to know the NPCs motivations and how they will react, and more importantly, what proactive steps will they take as the adventure unfolds. An AP isnt a single adventure, its a campaign kit. Its high time that folks understand that a modern adventure is[I] not[/I] the cliff notes, all the work has [I]not[/I] been done for you. Now the improvisational GM may only want maps and random charts and tables. They may believe that the prose is their job to provide which is a fine take. There are still modules like this out there, though, they dont have as much popularity as the adventure path. The allure of a grand campaign has become the bees knees. I think its a real disservice that the differences are not spelled out better by RPG companies producing them. I think there is a lack of good improvisational [I]and [/I]prep GMs becasue its all deep end of the pool. You try and improvise with little to no guidance, or you try to jam out a level 1-20 adventure in your GMing teething years. [/QUOTE]

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