You know what I hate?
- Thread starter Master of the Game
- Start date
der_kluge
Adventurer
Psion said:Heathens. Heathens, all of you!
I like to create. I like giving my own ideas stage time. I feel hemmed in by adventures that give you no flexibility, no elbow room.
And Undermountain rocked.
Stop deluding yourself. Undermountain sucked ass. Lots and lots of ass.
I ran it for some friends in college. I borrowed it from a buddy, and my friends all wanted to play, so I decided I'd pull out undermountain and we'd play that. Imagine my horror when the PCs went right instead of left and the room they entered was completely empty. Aaargh!
+5 Keyboard!
First Post
To the OP,
Just to take you on to the other side of the module... the writer's side. Most writing assignments have a word count cap that they have to adhere to. Speaking for myself, sometimes a really cool encounter pops into my head and I develop it, but when I get finished with the manuscript, I'm way over the word count. I end up having to go back through and edit it as good as I can without taking any actual material out other than extra words here and there. But then this often isn't enough, so I have to make the hard decision of what parts need to be cut that won't affect the overall theme and story.
It's these instances that can lead to the kind of thing you're talking about. Rather than get rid of the idea all together, sometimes I give a brief description and some ideas, but have to leave it to the reader to decide if he/she wants to develop it on their own.
And it's quite often not even the writers responsible for this. Sometimes it's the editors that do the chopping and leave you with a little snippet with instructions to develop the idea further on your own if you like it.
Anyway, sorry to hear about your frustrations. Just know that not being able to write up full details on those ideas that kinda leave you hanging isn't usually the choice of the writer. If given a choice the writer will write it for you.
Just to take you on to the other side of the module... the writer's side. Most writing assignments have a word count cap that they have to adhere to. Speaking for myself, sometimes a really cool encounter pops into my head and I develop it, but when I get finished with the manuscript, I'm way over the word count. I end up having to go back through and edit it as good as I can without taking any actual material out other than extra words here and there. But then this often isn't enough, so I have to make the hard decision of what parts need to be cut that won't affect the overall theme and story.
It's these instances that can lead to the kind of thing you're talking about. Rather than get rid of the idea all together, sometimes I give a brief description and some ideas, but have to leave it to the reader to decide if he/she wants to develop it on their own.
And it's quite often not even the writers responsible for this. Sometimes it's the editors that do the chopping and leave you with a little snippet with instructions to develop the idea further on your own if you like it.
Anyway, sorry to hear about your frustrations. Just know that not being able to write up full details on those ideas that kinda leave you hanging isn't usually the choice of the writer. If given a choice the writer will write it for you.
DM_Jeff
Explorer
>>And it's quite often not even the writers responsible for this. Sometimes it's the editors that do the chopping and leave you with a little snippet with instructions to develop the idea further on your own if you like it.
And I'll post from the writer's side too, but in a totally different perspective. When AEG asked me to do 3.5 rework and rewrites of their Adventure Keep modules for the Adventure I & II compilation books, one of the things I argued for, and won, was increased word count. Specifically so I could fill every darn empty room from the previous author with something, anything other than sucking air.
-DM Jeff
And I'll post from the writer's side too, but in a totally different perspective. When AEG asked me to do 3.5 rework and rewrites of their Adventure Keep modules for the Adventure I & II compilation books, one of the things I argued for, and won, was increased word count. Specifically so I could fill every darn empty room from the previous author with something, anything other than sucking air.
-DM Jeff
kenmarable
Hero
There's a difference between "flexible" and "unfinished". I certainly love some flexibility in adventures as well and have reworked entire sections in nearly every one I've run. However, I prefer to choose want I want to replace, not be given a bunch of unfinished ideas and told "put your stuff here".Psion said:Heathens. Heathens, all of you!
I like to create. I like giving my own ideas stage time. I feel hemmed in by adventures that give you no flexibility, no elbow room.
And Undermountain rocked.
Mind you, I never bought Undermountain, but from what they are saying above, I'm glad I never did. That ain't flexible, that's unfinished. I certainly hope the new version is better, but with the "delve format" I'm not sure how they'll manage that.
Undermountain
Undermountain came in handy for me with one of my old groups. They had a tremendous fear of "railroading" and wanted to be able to go anywhere in the dungeon at any time. I didn't bother with making any plot per say. I filled most sessions with encounters that I could plug into any room in Undermountain, so no matter where they went I had something prepared, but they didn't feel locked in to a linear plot. I used Myth Dranor to much the same effect with the same group. To give the "campaign" some sense of coninuity I would have some foes escape and plague them later on. It worked for that particular group, but it doesn't work for everyone.
Undermountain came in handy for me with one of my old groups. They had a tremendous fear of "railroading" and wanted to be able to go anywhere in the dungeon at any time. I didn't bother with making any plot per say. I filled most sessions with encounters that I could plug into any room in Undermountain, so no matter where they went I had something prepared, but they didn't feel locked in to a linear plot. I used Myth Dranor to much the same effect with the same group. To give the "campaign" some sense of coninuity I would have some foes escape and plague them later on. It worked for that particular group, but it doesn't work for everyone.
catsclaw227
First Post
DM_Jeff said:And I'll post from the writer's side too, but in a totally different perspective. When AEG asked me to do 3.5 rework and rewrites of their Adventure Keep modules for the Adventure I & II compilation books, one of the things I argued for, and won, was increased word count. Specifically so I could fill every darn empty room from the previous author with something, anything other than sucking air.
FYI -- I loved those compilations. I use them often, along with the old Mystic Eye Games' Foul Locales. Didn't you do some work on the Warlords of the Accordlands as well?
/threadjack
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