This next question is hard for me to answer in any meaningful way as it addresses Modules and I don't really use Modules. I haven't in over 25 years, except in rare nostalgia moments. That said...
Question #12 comes from my pal Andrew Rodriguez one again.
What are the key factors of building a module?
I have no idea.
No seriously. I've had one or two game companies ask me to submit some manuscripts for RPG Modules and I simply couldn't do it. I don't use pre-made adventures and I certainly don't write any myself. Like most RPG hobbyists, I did use Modules when I first started gaming but even back then I would significantly modify them.
The very idea of a Module, defined as a 'pre-made, often self-contained adventure scenario', isn't something I am particularly interested in or fond of. For one thing, it is usually designed with the idea that anyone can play it and that the adventure neither requires nor reflects the particulars of any specific campaign or characters. This is quite the opposite of many of my adventures, which are created with the players, their PCs, and the type of campaign we are running in mind. Since the creator of the Module doesn't know me, my players, or the game we've come up with, how are they to write a scenario that fits what we're doing? How can I write one for others when I also lack that sort of knowledge?
Simple, you write something that is bland and generic, generally applicable to anyone and everyone, which means it lacks anything that would get me excited to run or play it. That's not to say there haven't been some great Modules throughout the years but they are few and far between and much better suited for GMs early in their 'career' who don't have a handle on how to run adventures just yet. Additionally, I always customized the Module scenarios I ran, often heavily, added a main villain [if it lacked one], a reason for going into the adventure beyond getting rich, connections to one or more of the PCs, and usually a climactic battle location/set piece to finish off the whole thing.
My favorite Modules of all time are therefore the one easiest to modify. Ones where there are openings for the GM to add or substract their own ideas and work the adventure into something more their own style. I suppose all Modules can work this way given enough effort but some are simpler more inspiring [to me] than others and therefore make me want to alter them as opposed to just ditching them and doing everything from scratch.
Finally, there's the fact that as I've mentioned in the past, my own adventures are, generally speaking, for open-ended and flexible by nature. I have a thing happening, characters involved, and conditions created as a result but there is no 'way to go about it'. I have no idea how the PCs will solve the mystery, find the villain, or right the wrong. That's entirely up to the players. Hard to write that up as a Module.
AD
Barking Alien
I find modules are useful in games that have some characteristics:
ReplyDelete- The adventures deal heavily with locations (such as ruins to explore) or mysteries (be it murders or spatial anomalies).
- The PCs are part of an organisation that sends them to different locations and they don't always have a saying in what missions they take.
- The setting is focused on some common elements that are prevalent wherever you go, and of interest to most characters.
Examples:
- A team of Rebel Alliance operatives is sent to steal a weapons shipment from an imperial base.
- A Federation starship picks up a distress signal from a frontier colony suffering a sudden plague outbreak.
- A Chaos cult is murdering imperial officers aboard a voidship.
- Orcs have occupied a ruined fortress and are taking captives there.
Some things that I value in modules:
- Generic is good for modules. Don't put the orc fortress in the sands of Far Harad, no matter how original that sounds. Don't make it revolve about a treaty that may exist or not in a specific campaign.
- Make it as reusable as posible. It is better if the fortress can be rebuilt as a base for the PCs. The local starport and contacts should still be interesting after the imperial base has been sabotaged.
- PROVIDE: Maps, art and portraits. These are the things people have difficulty creating themselves.
- PROVIDE: Different ways to get the same clues.
- DON'T PROVIDE: "The Pcs can do either X or Y" scenarios. They are a waste of space that still doesn't cover A-W or Z.
- DON'T PROVIDE: Mission-critical characters. They will die, or, worse yet, you will bend the rules to keep them alive.
- DON'T PROVIDE: Lengthy, literary descriptions, nor imperial system measures for every piece of furniture.