[moved] The Great Project: Adventure Designers ... Assemble

Beoric

8, 8, I forget what is for
Basically what you're saying is that we want a module that doesn't necessarily teach OSR gameplay, but rather good adventure design and game running principles in general.
More like it lures them into the gameplay without their knowledge.

You could include an appendix to let the DM know what you did, and why - or better yet, leave out the appendix in version 1, and send it out with an update later on. I used to get a lot of pushback when I talked about these concepts on the 4e forums, and learned that you need to hide this stuff from "the kids", like when I cram as many vegetables as I can into a spaghetti sauce so my youngest doesn't notice.
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
You could include an appendix to let the DM know what you did, and why
Yeah! Do it with side bars in the margins to introduce things as you go along. Collect the simple stuff in the appendices and expand on more complex ideas in a webspace somewhere.
I like the webspace idea because it allows us to add annotations, comments from our own campaigns, bonus (or possibly game-breaking but super-cool) stuff that didn't make the final cut, bonus material on NPC's for rrrole players and maybe bonus R-rated content to give our bad guys more sinister or grizzly motivations or to dress up the 'club house' in the Bandit Camp etc...
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
No save or die, the player's don't have the tools to deal with it. You can have save or suck, but explain to the DM how to properly telegraph it to preserve agency.
I thought Save or Die was a feature of old school play. Particularly in a low level adventure. Even without the DCC funnel, working your way through a couple of low level guys til you hit one that sticks is cool.
Definitely telegraph the lethality of the situation and set the Save DC at an achievable level though!
 

The1True

My my my, we just loooove to hear ourselves don't we?
Don't start with a hexcrawl
I'd like to see a mini-hexcrawl in the first product, but definitely there should be a couple of introductory activities including at least one small dungeon-style exploration available to the immediate vicinity of all our starting points.
 

Beoric

8, 8, I forget what is for
I thought Save or Die was a feature of old school play. Particularly in a low level adventure. Even without the DCC funnel, working your way through a couple of low level guys til you hit one that sticks is cool.
Definitely telegraph the lethality of the situation and set the Save DC at an achievable level though!
Baby steps, so as not to scare them off. Save it for lower dungeon levels, or a later dungeon.

Of course, this only matters if the project is intended to be a teaching dungeon to draw 5e players into old school play. Which isn't what it is looking like right now.
 

DangerousPuhson

Should be playing D&D instead
Of course, this only matters if the project is intended to be a teaching dungeon to draw 5e players into old school play. Which isn't what it is looking like right now.
That sort of stuff is added with text boxes and sidebars and small design elements - it doesn't look like it right now because nothing is even written yet, but it will be in there (and I say this as a 5e player with no real desire to be converting people to the old ways of gaming). There's even a Task for it.
 
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