I like the presentation format of late Dungeons and Dragons: Third Edition (3E 📖) and Dungeons and Dragons: Fourth Edition (4E 📖) D&D adventures; One encounter per two page spread. The information for that encounter is self-contained.
What I did not like was that all of these 2 page encounters that I read and saw were for a combat set piece. There were
- Large monster blocks (three monster types would chew up a large section of a page),
- A half-page map of a single location with unique terrain
- A traps section
- Blah blah blah not very memorable
But the format worked for the medium. Two pages is the limit without page flipping (or printing fold out pages). I have all of the basic information I need to run that encounter.
However I have no sense of how that encounter relates with other encounters and pieces of the adventure. The camera is always zoomed in on the action sequence and fails to pull back for a scenic panoramic image of where everything is happening.
Does anyone have an example for how this might be done zoomed out one level. A region of the adventure with the 2 pages conveying connectedness of the parts of that region; ie relationship graphs, maps, stat blocks, descriptions, etc. Then that format repeated a few times in the same adventure?
I consider myself to have a solid memory and ability to juggle numerous concepts but having run a handful of adventures “by the book” I find it frustrating.
Most adventures, as written, seem to require reading through the entire adventure. Then holding that in memory as I reference the adventure at the table during play. It is that reference during play that I’m looking to optimize.
Hyperlinks are helpful but distracting in the moment; Clicking and jumping to another section means that I must parse the new information. I want a quick scannable 2 pages.
Zzarchov Kowolski’s Scenic Dunnsmouth helps mitigate these challenges by encoding adventure preparation with procedures for generating the village. I can see this exercise helping me remember more about the adventure so I can focus on running it without distraction.
The One Page Dungeon contest is an exemplar in conveying information as well. I would appreciate references to specific adventures submitted to various One Page Dungeon.