Monday, April 28, 2014

A Note to OSR Adventure Designers

This is a simple note to people who write OSR adventures.

DON'T USE BOXED TEXT OR READ-ALOUD TEXT IN MODULES.

I listened to a long review on the Save or Die Podcast (a podcast I enjoy very much) talking about an intriguing module/mini-setting called Whisper & Venom. The SoD crew waxed poetic about the art, the maps, the production values, the boxed set, the hardcover, the adventure and NPCs and locations; but they said two words that killed it for me: boxed text.

I don't care if it's a TSR module or OSR module; I don't care who wrote it, or what ideas it has. I will not run a module that contains programmed text meant to be read aloud by the referee. I'm no longer going to buy or support modules that I know contain read-aloud text from OSR publishers. It's a holdover from tournament modules, which aren't fit for campaign use, and should not be used as a model for designing adventures today.

Read-aloud text should never have been a part of an exploration game. The whole concept of D&D is that player characters are discovering what is in a previously unknown environment through their characters' actions. Either read-aloud text is made of clues about the room, in which case it has to be listened to carefully and parsed line-by-line by players, or it doesn't and it is just a waste of time. If I'm running a module, I need a concise description of the room that I can convey to the players as their characters explore it. All clues should be in the room description, not some in the boxed text and others buried in the other description paragraph.

This is a foot-down issue for me. It's 2014! Stop making modules with boxed text.

11 comments:

  1. I heartily share your distaste for Tournament creeping into campaign play.

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  2. I can say I agree somewhat on what you're saying, but I can also see the point in boxed text for less experienced DMs. For some, this is a very useful tool, especially for those who are still doggie-paddling in the shallow end. The key here, as I see it, is to not get locked into a habit of need for the boxed text, but to use it to learn the basics of description and develop your own style.

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    1. That was the reason they used it in B3 Palace of the Silver Princess, but MANY more players came into the hobby through B2 Keep on the Borderlands than any other module, and that didn't have boxed text. (There was a read-aloud bit, which is a bit silly, but it's just one part at the beginning.) If players with B2 could manage it in '81, then newbies in 2014 will be able to manage as well.

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    2. I think you're right, but it's also worth noting that B2 was intended to be a mini-campaign modular sandbox, and B3 was very clearly in the Known World (née Mystara).
      I think a better comparison might be B1, which is considerably more fantastic and less lethal than B2, but did not coddle players or feed the DM a line. It can also be dropped in any remote wood in the Universe.

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  3. I agree that for experienced DMs boxed text is a waste of space and for inexperienced ones, a crutch that can hurt their style and make their handling of "entering an area" more awkward. Descriptors are great, but having to read them verbatim from a passage generally feels unnatural.

    That said, refusing to ever use a product that has any boxed text at all seems like a baby-with-the-bathwater overreaction. Modules are always full of something or other that the DM wants to cut, add to, or alter in order to fit their campaign world or the immediate needs of play. The whole point is to get a resource that you feel provides you with enough material to be worth the cost.

    To put it another way - if I'm playing online, generally illustrations in a module are useless, as the pictures provided don't always match up with what's in my head and even when they do I can't effectively show them to the players. But I wouldn't refuse to ever use an illustrated module! Use the good; ignore the bad.

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  4. I'm confused about your stance on boxed text.

    ;)

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  5. I find it extreme to never use something simply because of box text. It's your call of course but seems like an overreaction.
    Hell, just ignore it like we all do we running an old module that contains it.

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    1. I could go down into an RPG doomsday bunker and run adventures for months before I had to run a duplicate adventure. I'm just serving notice that, as somebody who buys a lot of OSR stuff (and if you sell OSR stuff you should recognize my name and address) that I'm cutting off the people who use boxed text.

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  6. It does seem like your loss (especially in the case of Whispers & Venom) more than that of the writers and publishers of gaming material, and of course your choice. But I do agree with Confanity and some others - there is no extra charge for the boxed text, and it is easily ignored. However, if this is where you choose to make your stand, so be it. I myself might soon refuse to buy OSR materials that do not include chocolate chip cookies. Let THAT be a notice to publishers!

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