Things I learned from reading 100 Dungeon Mag 3.x adventures
Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 9:54 pm
Ok, so I'm been camping something in FFXI and had the time to read through my Dungeon Magazine collection. Specifically, my 3.x mags.
Now, some of these are products of the rules, some are a product of Paizo, and some are just the consequence of assuming the DM can wing any problems he finds, but all are interesting in my mind.
Here is what I've decided:
1. Low-level adventures almost invariably suck. I mean, you could have a low level adventure where you jump through a fixed planar gate and explored a fantastic ruined city and meet exotic locals, but the vast majority of low level adventures consist of "go into the woods and fight some orcs/dire bears, because they are evil".
You see a lot of evil druids in low level. I don't know why.
2. You level like 2-4 times per adventure. To put enough encounters into a narrative to make the minimum of a narrative arc, you need to have enough fights that the XP gains force leveling several times.
This is probably a product of a combat system that takes hours to resolve battles, so the metric of leveling once every three times you meet means you get through an adventure every 4-8 times you meet.
3. NPCs like +1s. OK, so almost all the NPCs and monsters have plus items, and not items with real abilities. Now, I understand that this makes a monster harder to run as you now have even more abilities to consider, but at the end of the day it makes you wonder why you wouldn't just tweek the numbers to eliminate all the +1s and make magic items cost more and thus be worth more as treasure.
4. The villain's plot cannot be replicated by the rules in any way. Hands down, no villain plot has rules regarding it. It doesn't matter if it's a plot to cast spells on an elemental ice artifact to keep it from cooling down that part of the continent to summoning a demon horde to gaining godhood, the villain's plot always involves the DM saying "yes, it would work if he did it, but you can't. Ever."
5. Toss-away monsters require too much page space.[/i] Seriously, I think the easiest way to add word count to an adventure is to add in 2-3 new monsters (or monsters from MMs people probably won't have). Statting them out and explaining what their unique abilities do sucks page space like no one's business.
And this is for speedbump mobs like harpoon spiders.
6. Short indexes for maps is beyond their imagination. Ok, when I run an adventure, I need to know where things are and what they do.
So the maps have letters or numbers on them for lists of what's there, and what I want is a little list (a quarter of a page will do) to remind me what is where. I mean, I seriously don't need to flip for several pages if the room the PCs are going into is the Pantry (Area D5). A little list next to the map saying "D5 Pantry" under "D4 Cathedral" and before "D6 Throne Room" would speed up my life considerably since I've read the adventure and have a good idea of what's in places, but can't recall what E23 is to save my life.
7. Rarely do people plan out what happens after the adventure. Find a trap that tosses tons of iron balls at people? Awesome! But what do people do if they happen to sell those balls for GP?
What happens if the PCs decide that a underground lair connected to a well in the heart of the city is super awesome and decide to make it their own? What happens if the PCs decide that a demon-summoning sword is super neat and decide to kill evil crap with it to summon demons for Good and don't toss it into a volcano?
Heck, what further adventures could I use this map key and NPCs for?
8. Unique items abound. Not just the "plot device artifact", but there are lots of unique items added in for plot or just kicks. Sometimes it's small like alchemic items that burn cold and not hot, and sometimes it's an abusable magic technique, spell, or item that does not follow the established rules of item creation.
Sometimes it's just books. Lots and lots of books show up, and they do thing as mundane as "+5 circumstance bonus when researching demon lords" to opening access to new powers or giving unique abilities. One great book permanently gives the spell-like to cast Dream, but causes Wis damage every day for the rest of your life..... so if you are a cleric, you just do it.
9. Higher the level, the more likely to get the unique reward. Hey, want a free and permanent +2 profane bonus to your highest stat? Awesome! You just need to let the Queen of the Succubi kiss you and you get it!
Mid-level rewards tend to be things like "and if you are ever in Middlehost, Joe NPC can show you around and introduce you to people who can give you adventures."
10. No sandboxing. Almost to a fault, there is a linear progression to the plot that forces certain events(and yet no one ever writes this plot down in a little list so you remember how it is supposed to work). This means the adventure goes off the rails pretty quickly if you react incorrectly, and the statted our parts of the adventure don't lend themselves to sandbox style play in that mapset.
Now, some of these are products of the rules, some are a product of Paizo, and some are just the consequence of assuming the DM can wing any problems he finds, but all are interesting in my mind.
Here is what I've decided:
1. Low-level adventures almost invariably suck. I mean, you could have a low level adventure where you jump through a fixed planar gate and explored a fantastic ruined city and meet exotic locals, but the vast majority of low level adventures consist of "go into the woods and fight some orcs/dire bears, because they are evil".
You see a lot of evil druids in low level. I don't know why.
2. You level like 2-4 times per adventure. To put enough encounters into a narrative to make the minimum of a narrative arc, you need to have enough fights that the XP gains force leveling several times.
This is probably a product of a combat system that takes hours to resolve battles, so the metric of leveling once every three times you meet means you get through an adventure every 4-8 times you meet.
3. NPCs like +1s. OK, so almost all the NPCs and monsters have plus items, and not items with real abilities. Now, I understand that this makes a monster harder to run as you now have even more abilities to consider, but at the end of the day it makes you wonder why you wouldn't just tweek the numbers to eliminate all the +1s and make magic items cost more and thus be worth more as treasure.
4. The villain's plot cannot be replicated by the rules in any way. Hands down, no villain plot has rules regarding it. It doesn't matter if it's a plot to cast spells on an elemental ice artifact to keep it from cooling down that part of the continent to summoning a demon horde to gaining godhood, the villain's plot always involves the DM saying "yes, it would work if he did it, but you can't. Ever."
5. Toss-away monsters require too much page space.[/i] Seriously, I think the easiest way to add word count to an adventure is to add in 2-3 new monsters (or monsters from MMs people probably won't have). Statting them out and explaining what their unique abilities do sucks page space like no one's business.
And this is for speedbump mobs like harpoon spiders.
6. Short indexes for maps is beyond their imagination. Ok, when I run an adventure, I need to know where things are and what they do.
So the maps have letters or numbers on them for lists of what's there, and what I want is a little list (a quarter of a page will do) to remind me what is where. I mean, I seriously don't need to flip for several pages if the room the PCs are going into is the Pantry (Area D5). A little list next to the map saying "D5 Pantry" under "D4 Cathedral" and before "D6 Throne Room" would speed up my life considerably since I've read the adventure and have a good idea of what's in places, but can't recall what E23 is to save my life.
7. Rarely do people plan out what happens after the adventure. Find a trap that tosses tons of iron balls at people? Awesome! But what do people do if they happen to sell those balls for GP?
What happens if the PCs decide that a underground lair connected to a well in the heart of the city is super awesome and decide to make it their own? What happens if the PCs decide that a demon-summoning sword is super neat and decide to kill evil crap with it to summon demons for Good and don't toss it into a volcano?
Heck, what further adventures could I use this map key and NPCs for?
8. Unique items abound. Not just the "plot device artifact", but there are lots of unique items added in for plot or just kicks. Sometimes it's small like alchemic items that burn cold and not hot, and sometimes it's an abusable magic technique, spell, or item that does not follow the established rules of item creation.
Sometimes it's just books. Lots and lots of books show up, and they do thing as mundane as "+5 circumstance bonus when researching demon lords" to opening access to new powers or giving unique abilities. One great book permanently gives the spell-like to cast Dream, but causes Wis damage every day for the rest of your life..... so if you are a cleric, you just do it.
9. Higher the level, the more likely to get the unique reward. Hey, want a free and permanent +2 profane bonus to your highest stat? Awesome! You just need to let the Queen of the Succubi kiss you and you get it!
Mid-level rewards tend to be things like "and if you are ever in Middlehost, Joe NPC can show you around and introduce you to people who can give you adventures."
10. No sandboxing. Almost to a fault, there is a linear progression to the plot that forces certain events(and yet no one ever writes this plot down in a little list so you remember how it is supposed to work). This means the adventure goes off the rails pretty quickly if you react incorrectly, and the statted our parts of the adventure don't lend themselves to sandbox style play in that mapset.
). Seriously. I didn't have to look for any adventures, so I never bothered to check what was good and what wasn't.