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Do you Prefer Detailed Adventures or "Overview" Adventures?

Started by RPGPundit, September 23, 2017, 04:45:00 AM

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Pat

#15
September 23, 2017, 04:39:40 PM Last Edit: September 23, 2017, 04:45:01 PM by Pat
It would be nice to have every detail spell out, but it doesn't work. Because once your throw a group of players at a plot, it'll end up off the rails. All those hyper-specific scenes that were prepped in great detail become a waste of time and paper.

But overviews are useless, too. What I want is a situation, that spells out, in a reasonable amount of detail, how things start, the major players, their motivations, their plans, their relationships, and the locations where this will likely go down; and lots of tools like stats and tables and handouts and maps that make it easier for me run.

wombat1

#16
September 23, 2017, 04:56:29 PM
For a Call of Cthulhu scenario or any sort of mystery where getting the clue right is important, it should be fairly detailed.  For other sort of fantasy, an overview can work, though I am always happy to have details that can set my twisted little imagination moving in directions it shouldn't go.

AsenRG

#17
September 23, 2017, 07:22:18 PM
Quote from: Pat;995216It would be nice to have every detail spell out, but it doesn't work. Because once your throw a group of players at a plot, it'll end up off the rails. All those hyper-specific scenes that were prepped in great detail become a waste of time and paper.
True, but you can describe the locations we're likely to visit, the key NPCs and their entourage, such things:).

QuoteWhat I want is a situation, that spells out, in a reasonable amount of detail, how things start, the major players, their motivations, their plans, their relationships, and the locations where this will likely go down
That's what I want, too! I just don't want to have to check details on Portuguese regal/nobility clothes when the players are meeting the king of Non-Iberia;).
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Philotomy Jurament

#18
September 23, 2017, 08:08:10 PM
Overview, with enough detail to be useful, but not so much that it's a chore to consume/prep (and that I have to change a bunch of stuff to fit my game and my tastes).
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WillInNewHaven

#19
September 23, 2017, 10:04:57 PM
I never ran anything purchased except "The Keep on the Borderland" and that was long ago, but I think it was detailed. I have bought adventures, read them, deconstructed them and mined them for ideas. Since I usually found only detailed ideas useful, I guess detailed is the answer.

JeremyR

#20
September 24, 2017, 03:25:01 AM
If I buy a module, I want the grunt work done. NPC descriptions and such, stats, etc.

Ideas are the most common thing in the world. Even if you can't come up with your own, there's no shortage of things to rip off. It's taking that idea and doing something with it that takes work and that's what adventures modules are for.

S'mon

#21
September 24, 2017, 05:20:17 AM
Quote from: Pat;995216It would be nice to have every detail spell out, but it doesn't work. Because once your throw a group of players at a plot, it'll end up off the rails. All those hyper-specific scenes that were prepped in great detail become a waste of time and paper.

But overviews are useless, too. What I want is a situation, that spells out, in a reasonable amount of detail, how things start, the major players, their motivations, their plans, their relationships, and the locations where this will likely go down; and lots of tools like stats and tables and handouts and maps that make it easier for me run.

That sounds right. A vague "overview of adventure - you do the work" is no more use than any media inspiration. But tight scene by scene plotting is bad too. What works is a bottom up approach where I get the base details and the actual plot/story develops in play, not pre-plotted. Sort of like a lego or mechano set.

soltakss

#22
September 24, 2017, 05:34:09 AM
Quote from: RPGPundit;995086If you're buying a published adventure, do you prefer adventures where everything is detailed meticulously, with all the stats, and even speeches by NPCs written out for you to read out?

Or do you prefer adventures that are more broad overviews of what happens, and leaves it up to you to add details?

I used to prefer the former, now definitley the latter.

I can use a broad overview better and can adapt it easier to my current campaign. If I use a detailed scenario, I tend to use the ideas and not follow the detail anyway.
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ffilz

#23
September 25, 2017, 10:06:42 AM
Quote from: Pat;995216It would be nice to have every detail spell out, but it doesn't work. Because once your throw a group of players at a plot, it'll end up off the rails. All those hyper-specific scenes that were prepped in great detail become a waste of time and paper.

But overviews are useless, too. What I want is a situation, that spells out, in a reasonable amount of detail, how things start, the major players, their motivations, their plans, their relationships, and the locations where this will likely go down; and lots of tools like stats and tables and handouts and maps that make it easier for me run.
Yea, this is where I'm at. I play sandbox games, so ultimately, the situation is what matters, how or even if, the players engage with the situation is up to them, so I don't need details of how the NPCs will react to specific PC actions, way more useful would be the information that will help me run things in any scenario.

Note that situation CAN include some initial scene setting text, but it needs to be short.

Maps should be detailed so that when things go sideways, I know other places the NPC villain might bolt, or other entities might become involved.

Frank

ffilz

#24
September 25, 2017, 10:12:21 AM
As to detailed stats and such, if I am running the system the adventure is designed for, that may be of great use (I especially loved the earlier RuneQuest adventures where each monster was individual). Even if I am running a different system, the mechanical detail may help me in statting out the NPC for my system. I find "generic" stats not very inspiring, I don't think I ever used the stats in Flying Buffalo's City Books and I find Judges Guild's "generic" stats frustrating to use.

Justin Alexander

#25
September 26, 2017, 12:04:16 AM Last Edit: June 23, 2018, 02:02:06 AM by Justin Alexander
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#26
September 28, 2017, 01:03:48 PM
I personally lean a lot more toward "overview".  Detailed can be good, IF it's detailed in the right way; huge sections of boxed text you're supposed to read out loud to players is definitely not the right way.
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#27
September 29, 2017, 07:17:42 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;996555I personally lean a lot more toward "overview".  Detailed can be good, IF it's detailed in the right way; huge sections of boxed text you're supposed to read out loud to players is definitely not the right way.

Boxes for reading to players feels very forced to me... I only used them when I started in the hobby and didn't really have the confidence for making my own descriptions up on the fly. Good for poeple starting out or summat'.
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Tod13

#28
September 29, 2017, 08:11:16 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;995086If you're buying a published adventure, do you prefer adventures where everything is detailed meticulously, with all the stats, and even speeches by NPCs written out for you to read out?

Or do you prefer adventures that are more broad overviews of what happens, and leaves it up to you to add details?

I want details about the rooms and things lying around. I can fill in NPC personalities and stats (stats are trivial in my home system). But I like having nice "read this to the players"  sections, as for whatever reason, that's where my creativity tends to lag. But I can do personalities and sometimes weird random accents. It would be nice if the "political ecology" of dungeons was laid out in a manner conducive to players meddling in it. (A hates B. B hates C. D is confused. And everyone is afraid of E.)

Tod13

#29
September 29, 2017, 08:24:41 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;996555I personally lean a lot more toward "overview".  Detailed can be good, IF it's detailed in the right way; huge sections of boxed text you're supposed to read out loud to players is definitely not the right way.

I like boxed sections of room description. I'll sometimes tweak it. But while I can do people/monsters, room descriptions just don't happen.

I don't like boxed sections of people/actions/talking. LOL Go figure.
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