Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980894Oh, I know my opinion is in the minority.

I'm not sure about modules. When I've played through them they were usually pretty ordinary, but that could have been the DM, not the module - it's not the tool, it's the tool using the tool. And in all honesty I've rarely run them myself.

I'm uncertain whether it's just the modules I've got, or it's something inherent in modules. It may be that the most fun is that randomness and back-and-forth around the game table, and that you can't really prepare all that ahead of time in a text. Or it might be they're just badly-done. I just don't know.

In the meantime I just roll everything up.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980906Universal Brotherhood!

THat's a good module yeah. For Shadowrun.

Quote from: Itachi;980919THat's a good module yeah. For Shadowrun.

People whine to this day about Tomb of Horrors, heh, send them through Missing Blood or Queen Euphoria.

I wonder if I'd make any money with a module called "Rocks Fall!  Everyone Dies!" that does exactly what it says on the tin.

In other words, "32 pages of TPKs."

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980942I wonder if I'd make any money with a module called "Rocks Fall!  Everyone Dies!" that does exactly what it says on the tin.

In other words, "32 pages of TPKs."

Some, but not much.

Out of curiosity is that 32 pages of rocks falling or are you planning some variety in the method by which the DM kills all the PCs?

32 pages of "Gronan's Big Boys' and Big Girls' Big Book of Big Ways for Big TPKs."  In other words, as many different ways as I can think of.

Back to "why do people overrreact to all kinds of dumb shit" --

The human brain is really good at pattern matching.  Maybe when somebody, for example, writes "rollplaying" your brain connects it to every other time you've seen "rollplaying" and you experience them all again on some level.

Sort of like the old "when you connect to a computer, you connect to every computer that has ever connected to that one."  So "the same old shit" carries more and more baggage in our brains.

Just a hypothesis.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;98094732 pages of "Gronan's Big Boys' and Big Girls' Big Book of Big Ways for Big TPKs."  In other words, as many different ways as I can think of.

I'd buy it (a pretty rare thing these days), just for the comedy value. And for the counterpoint to all the annoying other GM advice I've seen recently.

Q: "How do I balance every encounter so that the players get just the right amount of challenge, but never get bored or sad or upset in any way?"
A: "You don't. Look around for a better GM to replace you as GM, and learn from them. If there is none, use the encounter tables and what is in the world to determine what they encounter. If they stupidly fight things that are stronger than they are, see if they are smart and fortunate enough to escape with some of their lives and limbs, or not."

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980949Back to "why do people overrreact to all kinds of dumb shit" --

The human brain is really good at pattern matching.  Maybe when somebody, for example, writes "rollplaying" your brain connects it to every other time you've seen "rollplaying" and you experience them all again on some level.

Sort of like the old "when you connect to a computer, you connect to every computer that has ever connected to that one."  So "the same old shit" carries more and more baggage in our brains.

Just a hypothesis.

I think that was my reaction to reading T. Foster dismiss OD&D as the 'beta version' and B/X and BECMI as the 'kiddie version' of D&D. Reminded me of those assholes who hung out in game stories in the 80s using the exact same insults, who usually convinced a few members of your play group to parrot the same bullshit.

I wouldn't dismiss all those complaints about random tables, unfair TPKs and the like, these mechanics were often implemented poorly by young, inexperienced or just plain asshole DMs. I think everyone has some of those experiences when they start out, what I don't understand is why anyone continues to play with those DMs long into adulthood.

The concerns about white room balance though you still see being debated when it comes to 5e, strikes me the types who think it is an issue are more theorycrafting number-crunchers rather than actual GMs with groups.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;98094732 pages of "Gronan's Big Boys' and Big Girls' Big Book of Big Ways for Big TPKs."  In other words, as many different ways as I can think of.

The Kickstarter for the collection of Grimtooth's traps pulled in over 170k, and I recall a number of those were practically instant-kill affairs for either single adventurers or entire parties. So there's no limit to what people will buy if it's entertaining to read.

I was thinking the same thing. I just picked up the Grimtooth Traps in a Bundle of Holding.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980896I remember this vividly.  When I pointed out that the intention of the game was that you didn't know if you were Conan or Taurus of Nemedia until the game was over, I got slagged.

Voros and Nexus can run around with bags over their heads and their thumbs up their sphincters pretending to be the gurus of right-thinking and rectitude, but that's exactly what it was like for a long fucking time on most of the mainstream gaming forums. It's not, like, my opinion, man - it's in the archives of EN World and Big Purple and RPGeek and it's trivially easy to find, once you stop pretending it isn't there and have the intellectual honesty and integrity to go looking for it before talking out of your browneye.

And I'm fucking sick to death of dickless self-appointed thread nannies and tone police telling anyone how they should express themselves. All you're doing is admitting to the entire gawdamned world that you don't have a fucking ounce of control over your own emotional state when some idiot on the intretubes shows you his arse. Fuck you and your fucking self-righteous indignation, you emotionally stunted mole-rats.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980867But to follow that analogy, modules are the shriveled dried-up hamburgers under the heat lamps at the local all night gas station at 2 AM.  Even McDonald's would be infinitely better.  Hell, even White Castle would be infinitely better.

I've never read a single module I liked, all the way back to G1.

Nah, modules span from the greasy spoon to the Red Lobster and up. But like all else in gaming. One persons going to think my idea of the greasy spoon is their ideal Red Lobster.

Im rather picky about the modules I like and out of about a hundred spanning the early era of D&D I can count about 10 I really like and some more I think are at least ok with some tinkering.

Keep on the Borderlands and Isle of Dread are still my go-to modules as they hit a great balance between focus and freeform. Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and The Lost City I like for its focus, yet freedom of action therein. Theres a couple of others like the 2e Darkness Rising series that stand out.

And thats not counting the many rather nicely done mini-modules in Dragon and Dungeon, and more in magazines like early White Dwarf & Imagine.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980896I remember this vividly.  When I pointed out that the intention of the game was that you didn't know if you were Conan or Taurus of Nemedia until the game was over, I got slagged.

In that or another similar thread there was much bitching about things like Ear Seekers "fucking over players for doing what they were trained," and "Gygax making the game less fun."

Apparently, many people want to "activate standard Door Opening Procedure" and have it always work flawlessly.

1: Or point out the various times Conan nearly dies and only lived due to absolute dumb luck, and/or, a desperation move.

2: Or traps in general. Or anything that actually harms the PC in a few of the extreme cases.

3: Some people really should be playing board games instead. And some board gamers should be playing RPGs instead. And a few should stay the hell away from both.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;980906I have united everyone into telling me why modules are awesome.  Universal Brotherhood!

Kumbiya, my Lord, Kumbiya...

Well if its any consolation. I think most modules arent awesome. They might be maybee ok. But theres alot of rather boring modules out there spanning the entirety of TSR. Never seen a Pazio module so cant say on their quality. But to hear you and others describe them. Doesn't sound like many are interesting. Which is par for the course with modules, RPGs, whatever.