tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post593394137410930754..comments2024-03-18T20:22:06.331-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: The Power of IPJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger93125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-40525035877837265632010-09-24T09:35:44.456-04:002010-09-24T09:35:44.456-04:00This is a different hobby, almost like a semi-impr...<i>This is a different hobby, almost like a semi-impro radio play, with preset roles, and each player knowing what was expected from them.<br />Like different interpretations of Robin Hood in movies and TV.</i><br /><br>That's a good observation.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-74920835610799468362010-09-24T04:54:58.575-04:002010-09-24T04:54:58.575-04:00DL1 was a huge success for my group. They absolute...<i>DL1 was a huge success for my group. They absolutely enojed portraying the novel's characters and adding their own twists to them. </i><br /><br />That was my observation as an onlooker.<br /><br />The biggest departure from the novels was to let the players roll their own characters. Only one of them chose one of the pre gens (Tanis) because he wanted to play a ranger and feared to roll stats that would not allow him to.<br />The human illusionst became fascinated with Fistandantilus (so he "volunteered" to take some of Raistlin's metaplot functions). But that was all. Other characters were modeled after Elric, Gulnar (Richard O'Brian's shady shaman/wizard in Robin of Sherwood) and Feirefis (Parsival's brother).<br />We left the plot (and order of modules) with DL4 - there was no breaking of the fellowship in Tarsis.<br /><br />But neatly all other Dragonlance players and DMs I met followed the novel plot, and used the Innfellows as characters. I was fascinated when participants from those groups met in my game store and traded stories, from one Raistlin to another. One particular player even replayed the whole saga a few years later, using a different role.<br /><br />This is a different hobby, almost like a semi-impro radio play, with preset roles, and each player knowing what was expected from them.<br />Like different interpretations of Robin Hood in movies and TV.<br /><br /><i>After my experience DMing Dragonlance, I learned a lot about how _not_ to railroad my players. Thank you, Mr. Hickman. </i><br /><br />Same here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-72837120261947623412010-09-23T14:39:20.506-04:002010-09-23T14:39:20.506-04:00It is indeed something to talk about. I mostly agr...It is indeed something to talk about. I mostly agree with comments from Fitzerman, JEFF, Martin, and Rick Marshall.<br /><br />Regarding the novels, I found them quite entertaining. Although there are some things that drove me nuts (the Gods and magic coming and going, dragons used as flying horses, Tasslehoff appearing almost everywhere...), some characters are very compelling and the story is really inspiring (IMHO).<br /><br />Regarding the modules, we played DL1 to DL3 some years ago. Three of my players had already read the novels, so they knew what to expect regarding the setting.<br /><br />DL1 was a huge success for my group. They absolutely enojed portraying the novel's characters and adding their own twists to them. For me, it was my first experience with a hex crawl, and I really enjoyed it.<br /><br />DL2 had a few problems. For example, the PCs are supposed to be captured by page 5. The alternative is death: the encounter pits them against two old red dragons. I guess we all went along for the sake of the ride, but it was a pretty obvious use of rails. After their escape (again, it was obvious they would escape), they freed the prisoners of Pax Tharkas using the same trick as the characters use in the novels. The alternative: fight a red dragon, this time an ancient one!<br /><br />Anyway, we decided to give DL3 a try because it featured Skullcap. It was interesting because they got to lead a big group of people with internal factions through another hex crawl while the dragon army followed them.<br /><br />The biggest departure from the novels was the death of Raistlin and Caramon in the beginning of DL2 to a random encounter. Poor tactics combined with poor luck dictated their deaths; their players just rolled new characters and we moved on. I guess Mr. Hickman forgot to "prohibit" the main characters' deaths during random encounters ;)<br /><br />We never followed through with DL4 since we moved on to tackle Hommlet and the Temple of Elemental Evil. After my experience DMing Dragonlance, I learned a lot about how _not_ to railroad my players. Thank you, Mr. Hickman.jdebetolazahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16268415411507646640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-89956828286661748642010-09-22T23:40:23.180-04:002010-09-22T23:40:23.180-04:00What is your take on the behind the scenes maneuve...What is your take on the behind the scenes maneuvering at TSR to codify Greyhawk. Where it suddenly moved from Gary's personal world to a default world. Do not think this centralization of IP was happening even then? As I remember the clamor was to have interlocking modules as it was hard to plan out a Campaign with the Old School modules which were bunches of stats (both their beauty and bane)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86729986538843437782010-09-22T21:53:01.625-04:002010-09-22T21:53:01.625-04:00the dungeon you describe and the "choices&quo...<i>the dungeon you describe and the "choices" it represents... are World of Warcraft. Exactly and without the slightest difference. Static, but expansive, and with lots of choices as to how you approach the absolutely unchanging "location".</i><br /><br /><a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/power-of-ip.html?showComment=1285080028251#c2440667237052446057" rel="nofollow">Fitzerman's descriptions</a> were just sketchy examples of ways in which a dungeon is not necessarily a "railroad." But reading those examples, I can't see where anyone would get the notion of a "static absolutely unchanging location." He talks about negotiating, forming alliances, following up on rumors, fleeing to a new locale. In most of these situations, an Old School DM would not necessarily have a pre-planned result for any of the player choices. The fort may exist as no more than a rumor until the party actually decides to go investigate, in which case the DM will begin to flesh it out (perhaps using some random tables to pump his creativity, as well as dynamically incorporating elements that have emerged from previous gameplay). Read James' <i>Dwimmermount</i> campaign for a marvelous, detailed account of an Old School megadungeon-centered campaign that is absolutely not static but rather improvised in response to player actions in a way that a computer game like <i>World of Warcraft</i> never could be.<br /><br />P.S. Good to see some dissenting voices reappear on this blog. As the Chinese say, "Knives are sharpened on a stone; men are sharpened on each other."Matthew Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17343263539473683579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-25793160762767963712010-09-22T21:28:49.224-04:002010-09-22T21:28:49.224-04:00This matches my feeling too, which is why I was ab...<i>This matches my feeling too, which is why I was able to kick off a "Dragonlance" campaign long ago that ditched the pregenerated PCs and deviated from the plot of the first novel. I assumed all the modules would be similarly open-ended and flexible -- how wrong I was!</i> <br /><br />I think the modules went the direction they did because fans were clamoring for more of what made them different, which is all the stuff about them so many despise.<br /><br />In fact, I think that's what makes the modules enjoyable to this day. It's still something no one else has pulled off, turning a novel series into a series of modules.<br /><br />It's also an entire campaign in game form.<br /><br />I've run them, and it certainly is possible to do so without them leading the players. <br /><br />It's an interesting trip of an adventure series. Not really to my taste anymore, but I've ran the entire series several times and players always love it.Vigilancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12302020918798504358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-81072040986366987262010-09-22T18:38:24.388-04:002010-09-22T18:38:24.388-04:00Up to DL3 they were relatively typical AD&D mo...<i>Up to DL3 they were relatively typical AD&D modules, with pre gens, exposition, locations (keyed dungeon and wilderness maps), and events/timed encounters (and the goofy gold-is-worthless/no-clerics/obscure-death intro).</i><br /><br>This matches my feeling too, which is why I was able to kick off a "Dragonlance" campaign long ago that ditched the pregenerated PCs and deviated from the plot of the first novel. I assumed all the modules would be similarly open-ended and flexible -- how wrong I was!James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20243684879530346372010-09-22T18:32:42.215-04:002010-09-22T18:32:42.215-04:00And if my only choice had been to kill the monster...<i>And if my only choice had been to kill the monsters and take their stuff, I probably wouldn’t have hung around in this hobby long enough to see Mr. Hickman’s attempt to bring “meaning” to it.</i><br /><br>Indeed!James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-67441440858488095382010-09-22T18:32:11.635-04:002010-09-22T18:32:11.635-04:00Actually, my recollection was that fewer newbies w...<i>Actually, my recollection was that fewer newbies were drawn in by the sterile offerings of the DL franchise than the number of "oldies" that were deserting the hobby in the face of increasingly predictable, corporate-designed sanitized pap.</i><br /><br>I think you're on to something with this. I myself remember that the gamers I knew who were most excited by <i>Dragonlance</i> were those who were becoming "bored" with <i>D&D</i> as it was in 1984. I have often wondered if TSR didn't recognize the difficulty in retaining some of their customer base and saw things like DL as a way to accomplish that goal.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-15164126628652020342010-09-22T18:28:39.493-04:002010-09-22T18:28:39.493-04:00Also worth noting is that it's easier to sell ...<i>Also worth noting is that it's easier to sell a heavily scripted module, because it reads well - and it's much, much easier to sell sequels to that module because you know where it left off by predetermining its outcome.</i><br /><br>I think there's more than a little truth to this.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-52067716310820540172010-09-22T18:28:11.519-04:002010-09-22T18:28:11.519-04:00Among other things, he argues that a plot is absol...<i>Among other things, he argues that a plot is absolutely not a story. A plot is just a sequence of events. A story is created by a sequence of emotionally charged gaps between what the protagonist thinks will happen when he acts to get what he wants and what actually happens.</i><br /><br>That's a nice way of putting it.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-32315522017792430952010-09-22T18:27:10.397-04:002010-09-22T18:27:10.397-04:00"thought they did"?
I was speaking for m...<i>"thought they did"?</i><br /><br>I was speaking for myself. I was very excited by what <i>Dragonlance</i> seemed to portend. When the first module was released, I was very keen on the idea injecting more "story" into <i>D&D</i> and trying to give the whole thing a coherent, "epic" feel suffused with "meaning." I figured such thing were what the game needed in order to "grow" and hold the attention of gamers.<br /><br />In the end, I got what I wanted and came to realize I didn't want it anymore. That's more or less remained my position since then. I look back on <i>Dragonlance</i> as the harbinger of a movement within gaming I greeted with enthusiasm before I saw what its actually effects would be.James Maliszewskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-84458739335431124602010-09-22T13:40:44.342-04:002010-09-22T13:40:44.342-04:00Also, despite their sins, DL1—at least—I don’t thi...<i>Also, despite their sins, DL1—at least—I don’t think was so bad. It did have hexploration. Within the module, I think players did have as many choices as with most modules. </i><br /><br />That's my take on the early DL modules as well. Up to DL3 they were <i>relatively</i> typical AD&D modules, with pre gens, exposition, locations (keyed dungeon and wilderness maps), and events/timed encounters (and the goofy gold-is-worthless/no-clerics/obscure-death intro).<br /><br />The "sin" was on the side of the novels. They provided an official, "right" sequence of events that was hardly mandatory from the text of the modules. In some places it was even radically different from the modules (Lord Verminaard's defeat), and the modules offered additional possibilities that were to be decided either by a random roll or by DM choice (the true nature of Fizban, the importance of the Green Gemstone Man). <br /><br />But the novels presented an official path, and some DMs were reluctant to stray from that path. That led to the strange effect that players of different campaigns could still discuss about DL in the same way co-workers speculated who shot J.R. <br />But Dragonlance <i>had</i> all the trappings for many similar, yet different campaigns.<br /><br />And DMs playing one of the early DL modules as a stand alone adventure could do so without paying attention even noticing the metaplot restrictions or (imagined) requirements. They needed to adapt the expositions to their campaign settings anyway.<br /><br />With the later modules that changed. They were weaker (less detailed descriptions/maps, broader strokes) and relied heavily on the good impressions/experiences with the first batch.<br /><br />When the saga was rewritten for the Silver Anniversary omnibus edition (dual-statted for AD&D2 and 5th Age) all ambiguities were left out and the story/rails kept close to the one of the novel trilogy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-56258034159372839742010-09-22T11:58:11.833-04:002010-09-22T11:58:11.833-04:00Jason wrote: “Just saying...I can't agree with...Jason wrote: “Just saying...I can't agree with this attitude that the DM's only job is to sit there passively and react to whatever the players want to do, simply interpreting rules as they come up.”<br /><br />Hmm. To me one of the defining characteristics of a megadungeon is that it is <em>living</em>. The DM is constantly adding and changing things. The PCs’ actions shape many of those changes. Wasn’t that even mentioned in the books on occasion?Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-40939276724943337412010-09-22T11:41:38.082-04:002010-09-22T11:41:38.082-04:00It would be interesting if someone with a backgrou...It would be interesting if someone with a background in statistics could analyze <a href="http://www.acaeum.com/ddindexes/modcode.html" rel="nofollow">the data over at the Acaeum</a>. The resale value of modules adjusted by rarity could give an interesting slice on the “popularity” question.<br /><br />Anecdotally, although I and many of my friends read the DL novels, I was the only one who bought any of the modules, and I only bought DL1. we enjoyed DL and D&D, but they were only tangentially related for us. It was also easy and cheap to pick up the others I have second-hand. (And I’m not talking years later.)<br /><br />Also, despite their sins, DL1—at least—I don’t think was <em>so</em> bad. It did have hexploration. Within the module, I think players did have as many choices as with most modules. (I think modules in general haven’t had the most positive influence on the hobby anyway.)<br /><br />Dang it. I said I’d never say anything good about the DL modules again. u_u<br /><br />I like what Rick Marshall wrote above. I tend to avoid the words “plot” and “story” when it comes to RPGs. What’s important to me is the players’ decisions. They need to have real choices. The less restricted their options, the better. Outcomes should be appropriately affected by those choices. That there are (back-) stories that inform those decisions and stories or meaning to be found as a result of them is secondary.<br /><br />And if my only choice had been to kill the monsters and take their stuff, I probably wouldn’t have hung around in this hobby long enough to see Mr. Hickman’s attempt to bring “meaning” to it.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-65346464801716535742010-09-22T09:55:25.125-04:002010-09-22T09:55:25.125-04:00"Newbies that were lured into gaming by the n..."Newbies that were lured into gaming by the novels brought their own (story) expectations to the table."<br /><br />Actually, my recollection was that fewer newbies were drawn in by the sterile offerings of the DL franchise than the number of "oldies" that were deserting the hobby in the face of increasingly predictable, corporate-designed sanitized pap. Games shops that tried to "stay pure" and not chase the customers into new games that they wanted to play (computer games, GW minis) were going to the wall daily by the time DL12 came out.<br /><br />In the end, there was no need for a player to play out the sessions. They could buy the books and find out what happened a lot quicker that way.Nagorahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04934827653905274555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-8032332285819642562010-09-22T09:42:49.807-04:002010-09-22T09:42:49.807-04:00Also worth noting is that it's easier to sell ...Also worth noting is that it's easier to sell a heavily scripted module, because it reads well - and it's much, much easier to sell sequels to that module because you know where it left off by predetermining its outcome.Rick Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01707062453047354335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51196402962429403022010-09-22T09:21:27.304-04:002010-09-22T09:21:27.304-04:00Robert McKee's book Story does an excellent jo...Robert McKee's book Story does an excellent job of moving the discussion of plot versus story and other such issues to a new level of clarity.<br /><br />Among other things, he argues that a plot is absolutely not a story. A plot is just a sequence of events. A story is created by a sequence of emotionally charged gaps between what the protagonist thinks will happen when he acts to get what he wants and what actually happens.<br /><br />Pre-scripted adventures of the kind James and others are concerned about pretend to be stories, but in truth they're at most often stories for the characters but not the players, because the players aren't free to do what they think best in the situation, not free to become truly engaged in trying to solve the problems, because the outcomes are overly predetermined. That is, they pretend to be stories but really they're just plots.<br /><br />Unscripted stories of the kind James and others admire in gaming are quite the opposite. They are described as unscripted and set up as the opposite of stories, but as James has mentioned both in this post and elsewhere they do actually have stories that emerge dynamically from play. Indeed, based on McKee's definition of stories - which is a much more compelling and informed definition than most - there's a cogent argument to be made that ONLY a story that arises dynamically from the players' choices really counts as a story and not just a plot, because only if the players are free to make their own choices will they fully get emotionally invested in the outcome, and only if they are fully emotionally invested can their be a truly emotionally charged gap between expectations and what really happens.<br /><br />So if the characters are to be scripted into a story, then the players are scripted out of it. They can pretend to be engaged, but since they aren't actually making the decisions they make less emotional investment, which drains all the energy out of the gaps.<br /><br />Likewise, if the characters are not pre-scripted into a "story" (plot), then the players are invited in. They have the chance to make any decisions they like in order to achieve their ends because the future appears open to them, free, so they can make their own best, most highly motivated decisions and become emotionally invested in the outcome, which charges up the gaps with energy.<br /><br />In other words, pre-scripted adventures may be stories for the characters on paper in advance of play but they aren't for the players either before or after play, and unscripted adventures may not be stories for either one on paper before the adventure, but they become stories for the players during play. Ironically, in gaming, which is a very different medium from novels or films, pre-scripted adventures can't be stories at all, just plots.<br /><br />This difference isn't academic, and it isn't hair-splitting. It's the crucial difference between plot and story that most people experience in their gut as when they engage with great storytelling.Rick Marshallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01707062453047354335noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-81399837519123385002010-09-22T08:44:50.581-04:002010-09-22T08:44:50.581-04:00As I've said many times before, Dragonlance wa...<i>As I've said many times before, Dragonlance was a success because it gave gamers something many at the time wanted -- or at least thought they did. It spoke to a very real desire on their part and I can't blame TSR for trying to take advantage of that. I just wish that it hadn't come to be seen as the template for all subsequent development of the game. </i><br /><br />"thought they did"?<br /><br />There clearly was a demand for that kind of product and style of writing (and gaming). I remember that the fact that adventure contents could be tailored to specific PCs backstories (Raistlin, Tanis, Caramon) were eye openers for some gamers, and they never looked back.<br /><br />Also, the success of the greater Dragonlance franchise (the novels, the calendars) created a feedback loop of sorts. The novels were hugely successful. In my store we cycled through almost the entire back catalog (of German translations) on a bi-weekly rate. We had to constantly back-order the novels. <br />Newbies that were lured into gaming by the novels brought their own (story) expectations to the table.<br /><br />But I also agree with Frank that the seed was planted earlier (the Slave Lords). Even older school gamers toyed with narrative play (as could be seen in letters and forum columns in Dragon magazine).<br /><br />It seemed that almost everyone on the design and publishing side of things embraced the story paradigm. Where was the competing product, the Dragonlance of hexcrawl or location-based gaming?<br />(Would Necromancer's Wilderlands box have had the power to "wow!" the community?)<br /><br />And I am more surprised that DL didn't become a true template. Even TSR didn't repeat the concept in the years that followed. <i>Two editions later</i> Paizo did, with the adventure paths.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-63924011672984675712010-09-22T08:43:28.486-04:002010-09-22T08:43:28.486-04:00I'd be amazed if the DL modules weren't ge...<i>I'd be amazed if the DL modules weren't genuinely popular in their own right.</i><br /><br />Of course the modules were successful. And how couldn't they be?<br /><br />They had the highest production values of all TSR modules that were available back then, much higher than even single modules that were published in parallel.<br />* slick artwork and covers (Elmore/Caldwell/Parkinson)<br />* slick branding (logo, celtic style borders, iconic characters)<br />* huge maps (High Clerist Tower, the hexcrawly(!) plain between Pax Tharkas and Thorbardin)<br />* visually interesting 3D dungeon maps (Xak Tsaroth, the flying tomb) that marked a departure from the iconic, yet sterile, blue maps<br /><br />Content-wise,<br />* they had stunning vistas: <a href="http://mondbuchstaben.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/das-gesicht-von-dd/" rel="nofollow">a ruined, sunken city, a "Mount Dragonmore" at Foghaven Vale</a>, a floating mountain keep that looked like a fantasy version of the Death Star (an image that was reduced to a floating dwarven tomb in the actual product)<br />* involved innovative set pieces: ice schooners, the inside of an elven king's nightmare<br />* provided the DM with surprises to spring on his players: the truths about Fizban, Fistandantilus, the Blue Lady, and the draconians - D&D's own "who shot J.R." and "who killed Laura Palmer" style events<br /><br />With mind and eye candy like that - what was not to love?<br /><br />Everything else on the market (even inside TSR) paled against that. Monospace type on cheapest paper like in Judges Guild modules?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11029872172712017582010-09-22T02:59:23.256-04:002010-09-22T02:59:23.256-04:00Maybe this is splitting hairs, but I don't thi...<i>Maybe this is splitting hairs, but I don't think a plot is a story either. I have no problem with adventures based around the notion of trying to resolve some problem, so long as there's no assumption that the problem will be solved in a particular way.</i><br /><br />No, this is what I was referring to, and it most definitely is a story.<br /><br />The Lady or the Tiger, which ends with a cliffhanger, is a story. <br /><br />It's a story without an ending but it most definitely is a story.<br /><br />This is the type of plot which works best for RPGs- one which allows for multiple endings, or even NO ending, in the case of an ongoing campaign.Vigilancehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12302020918798504358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-4225593628547121452010-09-21T22:01:48.808-04:002010-09-21T22:01:48.808-04:00Regarding dungeons, though. Will - the dungeon you...<i>Regarding dungeons, though. Will - the dungeon you describe and the "choices" it represents... are World of Warcraft.</i><br /><br />Did I miss something? Where did Will describe a dungeon?Matthew Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17343263539473683579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-36893161709770619372010-09-21T21:53:56.960-04:002010-09-21T21:53:56.960-04:00I am so sick of reading about how my game was noth...I am so sick of reading about how my game was nothing but hack & slash until <i>they</i> came along and showed us all the light.<br /><br />Not to mention the fact that they need to go talk to Dave Wesely and a few other people.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16733274876782876659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46346567131588250822010-09-21T21:50:13.342-04:002010-09-21T21:50:13.342-04:00Jason said: "If your players decide not to ex...Jason said: "If your players decide not to explore that particular megadungeon, guess what?... the DM is left to design another dungeon or adventure."<br /><br />You're probably one of those guys who ignore all the random tables that are the core backbone of D&D.Deltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28975778390285058732010-09-21T20:47:49.452-04:002010-09-21T20:47:49.452-04:00Makes sense, James. I was merely ruminating on th...Makes sense, James. I was merely ruminating on the concept that perhaps some folks bought the module and did absolutely nothing with it other than read it. Simply to have more DL material to devour.<br /><br />From TSR's perspective, sales of the module would still be great, but the impression that it was because of the structure of the adventure itself, rather than the popularity of the novels, might have driven the impetus to mass-produce "story-driven" modules. <br /><br />*shrug* No real way to know. But, I appreciate your responses, as they've got me thinking about a favorite subject in a way that I hadn't considered. <br /><br />(Also, I've been reading your blog for a while, and your Dwimmermount journals bring back my early memories of D&D with striking impact. Thanks for taking the time to share.)JEFFhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07138100699212211784noreply@blogger.com