Regional Geomorphs

Why does every campaign you buy have to be an entire continent? Half the fun of being a DM is creating worlds so why steal that? There is the time issue but that's not really an answer. I don't think published modules should cover so much territory in such limited detail. 

I'm thinking of Regional Geomorphs as the title says. IMagine if TSR had develop a micro-setting (like the wilderness in B2 but a bit bigger) then dropped B1, B3 and B4 and others into that setting to really populate the Regional Geomorph with adventure and create a sandbox. Then develop a micro-setting for C1, C2, etc. That second setting could be next door or miles away. Encourage the DM to create a world but enable them to drop these microsettings into their creation.

This is a far more useful level of information for a DM to work with. The DM could then handle the big picture (or not, do adventurers really need to know the extent of the continent in most cases?

If the idea happened now DMs could homebrew their own and make it available (for sale or free, you do you). A DM then starts with one and chunks together a greater world when the players start to explore near the edges.

The only sticking point would be Gods and the Cults that worship them. Cult Geomorphs is another place it would have been nice if the DIY side of the hobby had explored. Imagine if DMs wrote up their religions and posted them online for free, or sold them, and other DMs would have the ability to pick and match however they saw fit. 

I'm imagining a buffet approach to world building and I think it would be better than what we have now with the Meh Forgotten Realms dominating a massive section hobby.

Footnotes & Endnotes

Idraluna Archives had an post on Footnotes in RPGs that grabbed my eye. My degree was in Graphic Design and usability is a big thing with me. The article didn't seem to allow comments so I thought I'd spew forth here on my own blog. The point Idraluna Archives is about making the flow of the prose, of a dungeon key, easier to read and uses the Gygax wall of text vs a minimalist example from the Cairn house style(1) and Idraluna Archives believes using footnotes would solve the readability problem.

I think the Idraluna Archives picked a bad example as dungeon keying is not about flow and readability(2) but about quick access to information at the table and dumping all that information into footnotes would make the footnotes massive. For use at the table the Cairn house style is nicely written. It does attempt to utilities a multi-level 'information hierarchy' except unlike footnotes that make you hunt for the information it drops the info right there where you can skip it or not (depending upon how curious the players are). Just read the bits without the bullets and it should flow very smooth. Add the bullet points and you get extra information on different aspects that were highlighted in the first sentence. They act like footnotes but are placed closer for easier readability. They also have a third-level of info, presumably to help the GM if the players keep asking questions or do a Perception test(3). This is really good design, maybe not for someone that wants to read read read but from a usability stand-point it is well thought out.

So by choosing dungeon keys as an example Idraluna Archive is asking for design that actually hurts the functionality. What they should have picked was game books. The core rules that is. And instead of Footnotes which as they pointed out are difficult in a modern word processing program they should have narrowed in on Endnotes. The industry could really use some love for Endnotes.

An RPG rulebook should have design notes and examples to help make understanding easier to understand (and as a good way to add humor). These are things you don't need to read often and that will make the prose clunky if mixed in with the text. The reader would be better served if they were dumped into the last chapter of the book. That way if you know the rules well you can ignore the little numbers but if not you keep one thumb at the end of the book and flip back and forth to ensure you understand. Also if written properly you can just read the End Notes as a design chapter and if linked backwards(4) will have examples from the text.

So Idraluna Archives, thanks for the design experiment. You got me thinking and made a good point, you just used the wrong example(5).

Thoughts on Storm King's Thunder

Giants crushing Phandelin (or they should be)

259 page adventure that takes players from 1st to 11th level, or 5th to 11lth if you enter from Lost Mines of Phandelver and skip the first chapter. And there you have a good example of the first problem with this module, throw away content. The thing is 300 pages but:

1. 16 pages is skipped if you started with Lost Mines of Phandelver
2. Chapter 2 has you pick one of three attacks to involve the party so you use 6-9 pages out of 25.
3. 60 pages is a gazetteer of the Sword Coast and not really specific to this module.
4. The bulk of the Campaign has you pick one of five paths, each of which average 10 pages so we're throwing away another 40 pages here. 

So you are skipping half the book. Yes some might run it again and use the skipped parts but for most that's a huge waste of content. That might have seemed like a good idea to the wealthy folks at WotC but that's just crazy. Also I think as an adventure path its falls apart at some point. 

How I Would have Designed it Differently

1. I would have removed the gazetteer section entirely. That should have been added to another product, along with the maps and info for Nightstone, Bryn Shander, Goldenfields, and Triobar. DMs using the Forgotten Realms could use this sort of reference info and shouldn't have to buy an adventure module to get it.
2. I would have loosened up the structure a lot. Removed the adventure path and left it as a bunch of site based mini-adventures that aren't necessarily linked into one grand campaign. 
3. I would have dumped the Great Upheaval and started the thing at 5th level as one of two followups to Lost Mines of Phandelver (Phandelver and Below the Shattered Obelisk* being the other). I would move Dripping Caves to Phandelver and Below as well.
4. I would create a Southern Giants Mini-campaign. Fighting against Hill Giants with the Stone Giants there as a possible addition. Take the Goldenfields attack and rewrite it to be an attack on Phandelin. The PCs presumably have some investment in saving the place. Set it up so the players have to figure out how to defend the place or lead the Giants off or whatever. The players can then track the attackers back to the Den of the Hill Giants (which has a great map) to free captives, scout out the area for greater powers, or whatever they think might work. Lastly I'd yank Steading of the Hill Giant Chief (the old G1) from Tales from the Yawning Portal (released a year later) and put it here with better maps. The Canyon of the Stone Giants would be there as well, these two might be wound into the mini-campaign as another threat, or allies that could be used against the Hill Giants.
5. Next I would create a Northern Giants Adventures. This would include Berg of the Frost Giants and Forge of the Fire Giants (both of which have great maps) as well as G2 Glacial Rift of the Frost Giant Jarl and G3 Hall of the Fire Giant King (both with cleaned up maps and removed from Yawning Portal where they don't belong). This mini-campaign is just a bunch of stand-alone adventures easily justified by Giant raids. When Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden was released 4 years later it would include notes on how to include the Northern Giants Adventures into the mix. Also whichever product had a better map of Bryn Shander would get it.
6. The Cloud and Storm Giants would be stand-alone adventures. Just sort of bonus content for a really high level challenge. 
7. I would take a note from Tales from the Yawning Portal and include a bit about where the different adventures might be located in Forgotten Realms or in Greyhawk or other settings.

It might not have been a perfect 259 pages my way but I'd be happy to dump the Cloud Giants or even the Storm Giants if we need space or add a second Stone Giant adventure if we need to bulk it up a bit. The point is that all the giant modules should be in one product and they don't need to be connected. I'd probably add Mountain Giants and ettins and other Giantkind to the adventure to show how they fit into the mix. There is also a 4E product Revenge of the Giants that could be looted and updated for 5E if it has anything worthwhile.

Interesting bits I found in D&D Adventures League modules

 A friend gave me a couple of old D&D Adventurers League Modules and I have a few things to say. I mentioned yesterdays post that I really like the way two of the modules used a neighborhood  map. The map is simple, beautiful, and the perfect scale and running a few adventures in the same neighborhood to give a nice sense of the area. Here is the one from Gangs of Waterdeep.

Neighborhood that doesn't exist in other Waterdeep sources

In addition to that Gangs of Waterdeep has a nice use of the skill system. I don't think they are using DC right (I haven't really read the DM's Guide on the matter), and they don't explain what they are doing, but its clear enough to me and I think 5E should have done a lot more of this. In fact it reminds me a lot of my 1-page rules I've been doing, really using the idea that the better the roll the better the result. Yay Gangs of Waterdeep! I'd give the authors props if only they hadn't ruined the great read with a silly coach with ejector seats in the same module.

The issue I really decided to write a post about though was from the module Once in Waterdeep. We all dodged a bullet that this one didn't become the style of 5E. For example:

The plot is a railroad which I can forgive because the module has a time-limit, and most convention modules are a bit railroady. But if time is an issue why waste it creating plot points with the players instead of just having them written up already?  The determining plot points with the players make this basically a Storygame. It doesn't feel very D&D at all. Here's more.

So it is not only story-gamey but it's like a lame school assignment when you had to get into groups and make some kind of presentation. Guess I just don't like/get storygames at all.

 

Dungeon Corridors

 Just read an old blogpost by DIY and Dragons about numbering corridors in a dungeon. Instead of commenting on an 5 year old blogpost I'll write my response here. 

Corridors should feel dangerous. Most adventurers move around quietly hoping to take out the dungeon denizens in small groups. Corridors provide the danger of discovery. The PCs are exposed with nowhere to hide and potentially multiple doors for enemies to pour out of. Fighting is also constrained in a narrow area that could make combat far more interesting

Because of all that I think the way most games handle dungeons is sort of wrong. It creates a static environment. Adding numbers to hallways just adds to that static feel and does nothing for times the players return to a corridor later.

Long ago RuneQuest had a different system. They had the GM roll for every room and listed which inhabitants were there depending upon the results. This was a bit too much. My answer is somewhere in between.

Imagine two things:

1. Random encounters are written up with as much care as a room encounter except any dsecriptions will likely be of the encounter moving around. So encounters aren't just weird monsters that don't fit the theme of the normal dungeon denizens but instead are mostly watchful patrols and groggy beasts looking for the bathroom or off to where they prepare food. 
2. Maps have notation (star or something) that you drop on the map everywhere you want the GM to roll for random encounters. Remember there is always a decent chance no encounter is present. We want the surprise of popping out in the hallway and ... is it safe? We want notations because some corridors are going to be busy and others isolated. If you don't have a notation, or you linger in an area you follow normal random encounter roll frequency. 

You could even have different notations for different Random Encounter tables creating a ripe environment for factions or providing 'action' for the encounters that is encounters in the rear of the dungeon and near the entrance have the same actual encounter table but near the rear all indicate encounters are waddling off the bathroom full of beer while near the entrance they are likely ready to go out on a raid and ready for battle. 

Hopefully that sort of thing gives the place life and a feeling of danger with minimal overhead, at the table at least.

If I Ran Phandelin Over Again

With a new group, that is. I've run them through a blend of Lost Mine of Phandelver with the Dragon of Icespire Peak from the start (both were pretty cheap on Roll20). I mostly like the adventures and combining the adventures gives you a lot of choices and allows you to toss the mediocre bits. 

Foreshadowing

Since the adventure ends with the players at 5th level you then have a few options for the players to choose from. I'd like to better setup the options ahead of time. The three likely options:

1. Option 1 is to go into Phandelver and Below: the Shattered Obelix. Shattered Obelix contains the Lost Mines of Phandelver so it's an easy transfer.
2. Option 2 is to continue into Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak extra Adventures. The extra adventures were designed to continue on from Dragon of Icespire Peak so it should be an easy transition as well.
3. Option 3 is to continue into Storm King's Thunder. The module has lots of notes on how to continue on from Lost Mines of Phandelver including skipping the first chapter.

Backstory - I'd give the players more of a backstory. When set up from the Starter Set you don't get much backstory. I noticed a lot more going into Storm King's Thunder so I'd use that to help link the two (if things go that way). Backstory that links one or two players with the Harpers (the chosen faction because they appear in the movie and so have some recognizability right away) or the Lord's Alliance or have a player that grew up on Butterskull ranch or in that area. 

Initiating Mission - Caravan guards is to bland. The PCs are doing that, but actually the Harpers in the party are going to Phandelin to figure out why the Harper representative isn't reporting back (Sister Garaele is missing from Lost Mines, why?). Any Lord's Alliance members are sent to look for what happened to Iarno Albrek. 

Re-arranging, combining, and dumping Missions - I hate fetch-quests and both adventures are filled with them which has them journeying here and there and back again. It feels very video-gamey and I'd try to get away from that by bundling them into a few mini-campaigns. This means I don't need rationals for 30 mini-adventures but only for 3 or so which makes them feel more important. Also the order of adventures is odd as the mission to save their friend gets put aside for a bunch of level-up fetch-quests. There should be a ticking clock to save their buddy, then after that there is time. The re-arranged sequences follow:

Goblin Troubles

So we start with Gwyn, the Rockseeker brothers scholar friend that appears in Phandelver and Below traveling with the party. I want her introduced early in case they segway into that adventure. She's also a useful resource as a scholar to give the PCs info. The order goes:

1. Goblin Arrows
2. Cragmaw Hideout
3. Cragmaw Castle

So the first two run as normal. Gwyn starts with the group, she can take the wagon to town and get reinforcements. If the party is beat up dealing with the Cragmaw Hideout she could have returned with help, and perhaps a healing potion or two, otherwise they are free to continue to Cragmaw Castle uninterupted. 

Changes The only real changes to the first two adventures would be the addition of dead Goblins hung near the entrance of Cragmaw Hideout. These Goblins have strange tattoos (the mark I'm giving to all the Sawplee Goblins from Phandelver and Below). Helping to set them up a bit, early on. The elongated heads are silly. 

I'd also include a captive Sawplee Goblin (if it survives the onslought through the Hideout, which is no sure thing) that can provide guidance to Cragmaw Castle and basically answer any questions the party has about Goblins or Orcs. At this point problems between Sawplee and Cragma Goblins should look mostly like tribal conflict. This Goblin would be a bit like Golum, not really trustworthy but in the end he doesn't try to deceive them. He will not help in a fight, but won't double-cross or anything either. 

I'm not one for a lot of funny voices but this guy gives the opportunity for lots of that. He's not a big fan of the Sawplee Goblins (he was drafted) and hates the Cragmaw Goblins. He also really hate the Orcs. If set free he'll head to Butterskull Ranch where he might be met later. If he's brought to town it's likely he'll be hung as a bandit and marauder.

More Changes Spider is a weak villian so he's gonna be a minion of Glasstaff. 

Phandelin

The time pressure is off. The party are heroes of the town.

4. Phandelin & Redbrand Hideout

This part should play out mostly as written. There are a few changes to the town.

New Faction Dwarven Ultra Patriots: The Miners Exchange is filled with Dwarf miners and they have a mine directly below the exchange. That mine is the economic heart of the town. The non-Dwarfs in town like the Dwarf coin but the Dwarves don't spend much which is a problem. Human miners mine the streams and rivers and sell their gold at the Exchange but don't think the Dwarves give a very good rate of exchange. So there is a bit of tension there. The Dwarves think the whole area is there as they once had a great kingdom here and they want it back. The Rockseeker brothers are sympathetic with the Dwarves but not as Zealous about their long-term plans. The races of the Forgotten Realms is to friendly.

Changed Faction The Redbrand Ruffians. They don't just beat people up. They are a proto-Thieves Guild that has set up gambling in the Sleeping Giant Tap House. A lot of the human miners have gambling debts and are occasionally beaten to get them to pay. Pretty standard stuff but the locals are hoping the heroes in town will deal with the problem for them so they are mostly mum. One might let it slip once Redbrands are gone, otherwise the paperwork in Glastaff's office might give it away. It may not matter. Glasstaff's paperwork will also show he is looking for Wave Echo cave without luck. He has a whole Grail Diary of info on the Wave Echo Cave and if given to Gwyn she can sort through it and provide hints and info to the party as they go. Also Glasstaff.

Other Changes Obsidion. There is a giant shard of obsidian at the Shrine of Luck. There are also shards of Obsidion flecked with color at different spots throughout town (Cornerstorne of Miner's Exchange, and embedded in the counter of the Sleeping Giant Traproom. These bits set up things alter, foreshadowing of sorts for Phandelver and Below.

If the party hasn't decided to remove the Red Brand Ruffians on their own, Sister Garaele will return and any Harpers in the group will be requested to do so. Any Lord's Alliance members will be told Iarno Albrek is Glasstaff.

Changes to Redbrand Hideout Glasstaff should survive if at all possible so he can replace Nilron Darlost in Storm King's Thunder and links things to Frost Giants. If he doesn't survive then Nilron Darlost can be himself. Otherwise the hidout plays out the same. 

Dwarves & Wave Echo

So now the rest of Lost Mines is silly fetch-quests and Wave Echo Cave. The party has still not found it. If you want to cut things short the location could be found in Glasstaff's notes and the party could go right there. Otherwise they go to Dwarven Excavation to see if they've found anything that might indicate the location of Wave Echo Cave. 

5. Dwarven Excavation
6. Axeholm/Wyvern Tor
7. Wave Echo Cave

Now we are jumping to Dragons of Icespire Peak for a bit. No changes to Dwarven Excavation and the Dwarves there haven't learned anything. They suggest Axeholm which has a map room of old Dwarven Kingdom but warn it's been owned by Orcs for generations. They may just be being difficult as Dwarves wouldn't want others to find the Cave, and sending the party to Axeholm may be a sort of suicide suggestion depending upon the DMs mood and how the Dwarves were treated. 

Changes To Axeholm Axeholm's Ghouls will be replaced with Orcs and Ogres from the Wyvern Tor adventure (which had no map anyway). The Banshee can stay, and maybe be talkative if the GM likes and the players are reasonable. Perhaps Sister Garaele gave her silver comb and asked her question, except now it's in Axeholm and not Agatha's Lair.

Changes To Wave Echo Cave The only real change is the location. I'd place it beneath the Ruined manor, at the bottom of the ravine in the Redbrand Hideout. Maybe Glasstaff knew it was there and has been trying to open some Dwarven doors to allow access, while keeping the site secure, maybe the Dwarfs at the Miner's Exchange know and are actually tunneling to get around Glasstaff. Either way putting it there removes an additional journey.

Morglum's Marauders!

So now the Lost Mines main adventure is over. If the DM wants to continue it a bit further Sister Garaele can have them go to Triboar with the art and other stuff they've accumulated. And to tell the Harpers there that Wave Echo was found and its a bust, and all that. 

8. Ruins of Thundertree/Conberry 
9. Butterskull Ranch (part 1)

On the journey the party pass through Conyberry a ruined town sacked by barbarians long ago. I'd use the Thundertree map and adventure. The players can get involved or not depending upon their whims. 

Changes To Thundertree/Conberry The dragon is Cryovain the White Dragon. If the players manage to kill him here, that of course would change or eliminate the need for killing it later. 

Changes To Butterskull Ranch (part 1) The cowboy hat is gone! It's embarrassing and stupid. The first time through the area the ranch is peaceful. The players meet Alfonse Kalazorn, he's a pleasure and puts them up for the night.  

Alfonse also has a Cow named Butterspout. The Cow was given limited intelligence and the ability to talk by a passing Elf Wizard. The Elf also gave the cow amazing tasting milk (which is used to make the Butter that Butterskull ranch is famous for). The Cow replaces the intelligent Crab from Tower of Storms. It can be used for comic relief (it proudly pushes milk and butter products and is very proud). The cow might even fall in love with an Elf if any are available, or a horse if none are.

Eventually the party makes it to Triboar, meets with the Harpers representatives. I now own Storm King's Thunder which has maps and details of Triboar. The PCs can exchange things of value and perhaps buy up a magic item if they'll need help when they eventually fight the dragon. They will learn about the white dragon that has been driving Orcs out of the mountains, and about the Dragon Barrow where the great dragonslayer and her sword were buried with suggestions the sword might be helpful and tokens to keep the spirits of the dead tranquil as long as the dead are not actually disturbed.

On the return trip they go to Butterskull Ranch again only to be overwhelmed by Orcs.

10. Butterskull Ranch (Part 2)
11. Shrine of Savras
12. Circle of Thunder (optional)

Morglum and his Orcs comes from issue #110 of White Dwarf. His maurders are Warhammer Greenskins full of malingering and screwing around. This was long before Pathfinder did their Gremlins take on Goblins and I like it a lot better. Also I'd have them wearing Talos symbols and chanting Talos a lot to help set up Talos cultists if the adventurers go into the Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak extra Adventures.

Changes To Butterskull Ranch (part 2) The party is dining with Alfonse when the Orcs attack. It should be a battle with the players able to select defensive positions and make a go of it. Possibly escaping to snipe at the Orcs. It's twilight and during the dark the Orcs can see nicely. In the end Butterspout the cow has been taken, along with a ranch-hand. The trail will be easy to follow in the morning, they were taken to the Shrine of Savras.

Changes To Shrine of Savras The main difference is the party is there (if they decide to get involved) to rescue the talking cow Butterspout. Otherwise the adventure should play out the same except some Orcs will escape at the end, leading to the Circle of Thunder where there will find re-enforcements.

Changes To Circle of Thunder (optional) The location is moved to a mile away from the Shrine of Savras. Circle of Thunder is optional because the players may not chase the fleeing Orcs. If they do, they can catch the orcs long before they arrive at the Circle of Thunder but will notice Orc footprints leading them clearly to the Circle of Thunder. Otherwise the adventure is the same.

13. Dragon Barrow

14. Icespire Hold

Dragon Barrow and Icespire Hold should play out mostly as written. I'd give the Sword a personality. Make it annoying and full of elitist "I will not allow that!" talk but basically it's all talk.

Segway to the next Tier of Adventure

So now you need to figure out where you are going with the adventure. Are the characters sick and tired of Phandelin, or are they protective of the place. Either way the 5th level portion of both Phandelver and Below and the Storm King's Thunder start with an attack.

15. Goldenfield (Storm King's Thunder) / Paths of Peril (Phandelver and Below)

Changes To Goldenfield The attacked city is Phandelin. I think Goldenfields is a lame location and nothing about the attack is really specific to the location. Hillgiants are my favorite Giants, and the lowest level giants, so they're gonna attack Phandelin instead, from their the Harper Sister Garaele can send the party to Triboar to inform them the giants are acting up. While there the PCs can be in the middle of the Triboar attack and are well into the Storm King's Thunder storyline.

Changes to the Paths of peril storyline. None, we've set up things nicely for Phandelver and Below.

If they go for Beyond the Dragon of Icespire Peak, nothing happens and they head to the coast. 

GM Mischief The GM can drop hints, or let the players figure things out for themselves. If going forward with Phandelver and Below then the Spider was working to stop the Mind Flayers, but he was stopped/killed by the party before he could. If going forward into the Storm King's Thunder it can be stated that Dragons and Giant are enemies, and hinted that a single white dragon near Phandelin would have stopped the Giant attack on the city that occurred prior to the goblin attack. A bit of guilt can help motivate PCs to push forward and do the right thing.

You Missed a Few Adventures?

There are a handful of mini-adventures in the Lost Mines of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak that haven't been used yet. 

Umbrage Hill, Logger's Camp, and old Owl Well can be repurposed for adventures along the road. Random encounters are dull, better to have something a bit more planned out from time to time.

x. Umbrage Hill (Manticore) 

x. Logger's Camp (Ankheg)  

x. Old Owl Well (Necromancer and zombies)  

Changes To Old Owl Well The Necromancer will sense/notice Glasstaff's staff if the players have it. He doesn't like Glasstaff so that could go either way depending upon how the players handle it.

The rest of the adventures I don't like. If you want wererats have them attack as a faction in Phandelin, otherwise get them out of there. 

x. Agatha's Lair (Banshie)

x. Falcon's Hunting Lodge

x. Mountain's Toe Gold Mine (wererats)

x. Gnomengarde (Mimic)  

x. Tower of Storms (Talking Crab)

x. Woodland Manse

Conclusions

This whole post is about how I would blend and inter-connect a module with other modules. In general I like Lost Mines of Phandelvin and Dragon of Icespire Peak. I think they made a mistake when they made Phandelin & Below instead of officially combining the two modules into a big low level sandbox with foreshadowing of The Shattered Obelisk. Then have shattered Obelisk as its own thing for levels 6-10.

The crazy way WotC handles modules

Most of these comments are based on Lost Mines of Phandelver, Phandelin and Below, Dragon of Icespire Peak (and the additional modules that came with it in Roll20) and Storm King's Thunder. Maybe the other modules change this but it doesn't really look like it. So...

1. Broad, not long

I have a problem is with the way Wizards does modules as a skeleton outline from level 1-20. This maps out a characters entire life. You start with this module and damnit your gonna go all the way... 20 levels is too much commitment. My characters are sick of Phandelin and they've only gone through a mash of Lost Mines of Phandelver and Dragon of Icespire Peak and they are only at 5th level. Space considerations ensure they can't put enough content for proper levelling so they race through levels and the DM has to fill in a lot of adventures along the way. Charitably this could be seen as a way to encourage DMs to home-brew but I don't think it works that way in practice. I think most will lean on DMs Guild content full of mini-adventures or just have them race up the levels.  

Storm King's Thunder showed the way, somewhat  (I haven't finished reading it). The module goes from 1-20 but also starts with a disposable 1st section that takes you from 1-5 and suggests skipping that part if your characters come over from the Starter Set's Lost Mines of Phandelver. I'd prefer the first chapter was skipped entirely but If you must start every adventure at 1st level this is the way to go.

I've also read that Storm King's Thunder and Rime of the Frostmaiden both have great middle-play and flop a bit at the end. If true that suggests, once again that they should be concentrating on the tiers of play. They list tiers of play in the DM's Guide. Write the adventures for the Tiers. A sandbox with a throughline. Then when done the GM can look over the next Tier of play for adventures or pick the one that naturally segways with the previous Throughline. 

I guess the downside is that a crappy adventure will never sell the upper tier, and like TSR found, high level adventures don't sell so well. Well then encourage the DM's Guild writers to concentrate on the upper tiers so the Wizards don't have to spend the time and resources. Let 3rd party folks continue the through-line. It would be great to have multiple companies come up with a high tier conclusion to different adventure threads.

2. Organize Better

I'm a technical writer by trade so organizing information is one of my bug-a-boos. I'm reading Storm King's Thunder and it's driving me crazy. In the Technical Writing World we have a thing called DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture). The idea is to divide types of information (instruction, reference, info) so that different parts can be re-used easily. A simple example of this is the way Wizards has Goblin printed in a module with the Statblock in the Appendix or in the Monster Manual. Saves space. Not the most usable, but it saves a lot of space and makes reading the module far easier.

So in Storm King's Thunder they have a section of detailing a town. Then following that a bit of adventure, then quests. Then detailing a second town. Then adventure, then quests. Some of these quests take you to additional location. So the straight-up location info is great as it could be re-used in a dozen adventures but it's spread out all over the place making it far harder to use that way. It also is stuff that really isn't so relevant for the adventure or the quests. Then in the next chapter they have info on the different cultures and sites throughout the Savage Frontier. Great stuff for running those adventures between the set-pieces but it makes it harder to have them spread all over the place. Then they have a few locations that a blended with the adventure they serve. I'm not talking about those because those are logically combined.  

A better organization would have been to divide the book into three big sections. 

1. The Savage Frontier - Include all the details about cultures, locations (not specific to a one-shot adventure), cities. All the stuff you would want if you dumped the Giant content and just wanted to run adventures in the Savage Frontier.
2. The adventures. A chapter on each attack location and the Quests that follow. Mostly the way things were done in Storm King's Thunder from Chapter 4-12.
3. Appendixes. exactly as they are.

This would make the book easier to read. Easier to run at the table. 

3. Cut the fat

Reading through the town descriptions is a chore because they try to give fun little bits about every single building. for example:

Tl7. ULDINATH'S ARMS

This hilltop smithy across the road from Foehammer's Forge (area T18) is run by Harriet Uldinath (LG female Illuskan human commoner), the great-granddaughter of the establishment's founder. Harriet has known Ghel­ ryn Foehammer since she was a child, and the two are friendly rivals. Harriet sells fine weapons stamped with the Uldinath family glyph, which generally increases their value by 25 percent.

Could have been just...

Tl7. ULDINATH'S ARMS - Harriet Uldinath (LG female Illuskan human commoner) sells fine weapons stamped with the Uldinath family glyph, which increases their cost by 25 percent.

The rest could be included in a table of potential backgrounds for proprieters in that town and saved a lot of time. So now it's all canon but most adventurers aren't gonna go to T17, and if they do are unlikely to talk about the family history, so it's wasted space. Fluff takes longer to read, and makes it harder to find anything. Fluff is bad.

So if I was made lead designer of WoTC that's what I'd concentrate on first. Better modules.

Thoughts on Adventure Design (Part 2)

In yesterdays post I talked about dividing modules to separate the Map and Overview from the Encounters so that multiple Encounters sheets can be drafted for the same Map and Overview. This time I'm thinking about those Encounters and more specifically the use of Monster Manuals. I love Monster Books but they aren't useful in quickly populating a dungeon. This is an idea for a supplement to that. A pdf that would be super-useful in populated an adventure. 

5E srd has some prepared stat blocks that enable a GM to simply state GOBLIN in their adventure. This is a decent start but I don't like it for three reasons. 

1. The Stat block should be in the adventure, you shouldn't depend upon cross-referencing to another book. That is great design to create slimmer books but horrible design for usability at the table. I know some folks like hardcover books but they are limiting as the kind of thing I'm talking about works far better in PDF where you can copy/paste to quickly populate a module.
2. The Stat blocks have too much info. Does the GM really need to know the Knights skills? Or their passive perception? or even all of their weapons when they are most likely to use their most damaging go-to weapon?
3. One GOBLIN is insufficient. Back in 4E's monster manual they listed different varieties of each beast to create variety to the encounter. This is the best thing in 4E and they didn't carry it forward. Imagine if that GOBLIN was actually a page or two of WEAK GOBLING, VETERAN GOBLIN, SKIRMISHER GOBLIN, WARRIOR GOBLIN. So the GM could just copy/paste out one or all to create a group of goblins, or to put a different Goblin in different rooms to customize encounters.

So this supplemental book would be a pdf, full of statblocks, with multiple statblocks per beast. include a table of weapons used by the group, and tactics and you have a very useful entry. Yes this book will be a lot longer, and it'll be a dull read, but it should be super-useful and super-fast when it comes to populating an adventure. 

Yes there are probably online generators that do all of this (they have them for RuneQuest which had far more complicated stat blocks, but I've never seen them for D&D). If there are generators it should be easy to cook up what I'm looking for.

Thoughts on Adventure Design (Part 1)

Most old school adventures had an idea, a map, and 30ish pages of fluff that a GM had to sort through (and often cross-out) before they could use the thing.

All Dead Generations has  post called One Page Dungeon Design that is all about good One Page Dungeon Design. The One Page Dungeon is an interesting concept because in most cases they don't provide enough detail to run right away either, but they basically skip the part where the GM has to hack out the fluff and provide the kernel of good stuff directly so the GM can add in their own details right away (much of which can be improvised) allowing for a bit more usability.

All this got me thinking. Does anyone run modules as written (outside a convention setting that is)? If the answer is no, not really then we should all be doing some thinking on how to fix this. B1 In Search of the Unknown created a starting adventure designed where a GM would populate the dungeon, thus learning how that sort of thing is done. This was a good idea but I don't think it was ever duplicated so maybe it wasn't so good, but I tend to think it was and my mind ran with it, a bit.

Imagine a one-page dungeon with just enough info. Nothing about the encounters, just a bit of history, some notes on the location and traps or dressing or unique challenges. Then imagine 2-3 pages listing the encounter table and contents of each room (with stats). Then imagine another 2-3 pages listing an alternate encounter table and contents of each room (with stats). Then maybe a third for a higher level. The same location could be filled with Orc & Ogres in Option 1, Bandits & Bugbear in Option 2, and Drow & Dueger in Option 3. The GM then picks the option they prefer for their campaign. They might end up using all three options as a campaign goes on over the year. Do it right and you might find half the RPG blogs adding their own option to give a location life again, and again.

Anyway I think that might be a useful way to package adventures.

Note, clearly I'm mostly talking about location type adventures here, anything more than that could be cobbled together out of multiple locations with Encounter Option designed to go together in some way.