Hi TR, thanks for the suggestions! I've checked out both modules for a bit, but they don't quite seem to offer the same level of creative area design, story depth and/or professional polish that I'm looking for.
Like Cain Maris said, I've set the bar quite high, so it's really hard for a module to meet my demands, but it's also not that easy to describe what they actually are, apart from comparisons to other modules. But I'll give it another try:
- Regarding the
looks, the module should be as far removed from the standard design of the "vanilla" OC as possible. I've played so many modules and for such a long time that the default tilesets have begun to really bore me unless the author did something ingenious to make them more exciting (e.g. very clever lighting, very creative use of placeables, very gripping story to distract from it etc.). In any case, I'm not that fond of "spartan" area design, that is big maps with little of interest in it. I prefer smaller areas that are able to tell a story without words, if that makes any sense. Something that makes exploration rewarding.
- Regarding the
story, I prefer it to involve personal matters of the PC as opposed to making the PC your average goody two-shoes hero who solves other people's problems without a clear connection to them or a motivation to help them. I like a good reason why I'm doing the things I have to do. I prefer stories to start in the middle of things, without long and slow expositions. And I like some mystery mixed in, maybe something uncanny.
- Regarding the
polish - I think I'm mostly referring to the writing here, assuming the rest of the module works ok -, I prefer concise dialogues that manage to convey the essential without too much confusion, repetition or long-windedness, and in the best of cases without too many spelling errors.
A module doesn't have to fulfill all of these three criteria to arouse my interest, as long as it excels in one or two of them (e.g. Blackwall Keep didn't have the most exciting story, but its original area design and use of custom content really encouraged exploration). Does that make it any clearer or is it still rather obscure?
In One-Eyed Wolf Trading Post, for example, I liked the general premise, some ideas like the security measures around the lodge and the mention of Ju-Ju, but it wasn't quite enough to make up for the tedium I felt with the spartan area design (e.g. several forest maps with nothing of interest but one or two wandering animals in it).
In EOB2 I approved of the design of the Dungeon Master area at the start, but the inn and the city were too reminiscent of the OC and the areas were too big for my taste and filled with too little of interest. The first conversation I checked out was very long (which is curious for a multiplayer module) and could have used some editing.
That's not that bad per se, and maybe they'll get much better later on, the crux of the matter is just that at the moment I'm looking for something closer to the preferences listed above, something that amazes me and draws me in right from the start.
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Modifié par olivier leroux, 28 janvier 2014 - 07:35 .
