The swinging boundary between good and bad in writing an adventure
In theory, I should have continued with the 'Where to run a KUP game' series to describe the game setting, but today I'm focusing on an aspect I've been pondering for quite some time.
While writing the first three adventures for VI·VIII·X, besides the usual feedback on style, errors, inconsistencies, and so on, I've also gathered 'indirect' feedback, which I deduced from questions or comments about the adventure.
I got confirmation on something that might seem obvious but is often overlooked (or not considered by those who want to theorize about RPGs, but that's another story…): RPGs are not as numerous as the titles available on the market; they are as numerous as the GMs who use them. I believe it's impossible to find two gaming tables where the RPG is played in the same way.
Errr… I've reached the conclusion of the post before writing it... this is another confirmation that I'm not great at communication. It's better if I start the reasoning back from the 'indirect' feedback: during the revision/proofreading phase, several fellows asked me questions related to the plot, characters, or certain situations. The questions arose for various reasons: pure curiosity, interest in the setting, attention to NPCs, and so on. Precisely because of the different nature underlying these questions, I realized it's impossible to write an adventure that suits all readers. Each person who reads an adventure does so with a different mindset, position, and purpose from the previous one and, consequently, will have different needs. Some want to know the plots behind every character, even the least important one; some want to understand how the world works, and some want the minimum number of sentences to read to manage a gaming session with that adventure. How can you find a solution that fits all needs? The answer is simple: there isn't one.
If I wanted to include details about every single NPC to give all characters a detailed background, I would receive negative feedback from the GM who doesn't want 'non-essential' details. On the other side, if I avoided giving information about these NPCs, I would receive negative feedback because I don't provide enough depth to the characters. (Please note: I would also receive positive feedback in the same terms!)
The conclusion is again simple: I write the adventures in a way that satisfies my requirements. I trust that I am an average GM and have an average need for information: in this way, I believe I share the pros and cons of those who want more and those who want less equally.
My guidelines for writing an adventure are few and simple: the adventure can be used as a one-shot or part of a campaign; in the first case, not too many details are needed about 'who is it?' or 'why do they want something?'; in the second case, my underlying assumption is that it's the GM managing the campaign who thinks about hooks, plots, purposes, and other details to add to the adventure so that it can be played as part of the campaign. I've often (if not always) modified details of NPCs or pre-stated situations to adapt them to my campaign... after all, if a GM thinks about a campaign villain, he will have to modify the underlying adventure to fit the villain's general plan within the campaign. The conclusion for GMs or readers who are not satisfied by the lacking info in an adventure module is one only: don’t ask the adventure author details you don’t find in the text, just create your own to complete your picture! Use your imagination at the highest grade!
For this reason, when I write an adventure (which, as a GM, I use and play in a campaign), I remove any references to my campaign's plot from the adventure's background. For example, the extra-planar creature in 'A Bullies’ Threat' is an NPC with a general purpose and a specific goal in that adventure related to my campaign. Precisely for this reason, I haven't written who the creature is and what its purpose is: the idea is that the GM 'fits' the adventure into their own campaign by writing his own identity and purpose for that being!
...and besides: if I had included all the details of my campaign, I wouldn't be in the position to publish the mega-module in a few years that re-proposes the same adventures of the campaign I'm playing and earn additional zillion of revenues!!!