Below are two layout styles, completely opposite of one another.  the first has flavor text that is clearly called out, and the second has no flavor text to be read to the players at all, leaving that up to the DM.  There is more white space in the first, and very little in the second.  Which of the two do you prefer, or if you could do a hybrid of the two, what would it be like?

Personally, even though I was a fan of the boxed flavor text (and this adventure is trying to emulate the old school modules), I prefer the second, except making the pic a full half page and get rid of the text wrap around it.

I prefer the first page. I can look down at the page and know in an instant where to find the information I need to run the encounter.

//Panjumanju

I don't need canned text to read to the players, but the second layout is a wall of text.  I like layouts that let me scan for the pertinent information really quickly.  Paragraph separation, or sub-headings would be really useful.

(Then again, I have no trouble describing things, so just seeing the word 'overgrown' is preferable to detailed descriptions.)

You know, it occurs to me that when I'm having the experience as a player, I want sensory first impressions, second impressions, details, and so on.  Dark cave mouth, a latrine stink wafting out on cold air, a scratching noise, a high-pitched mewling cut short.

As GM, I want to know the main factors, more or less in order of overall significance.  Dark cavern, 14 lizard-folk living in squalor. Open latrine directly next to their (unlit) camp fire. They're starving but have learned to fear open confrontation with the island lords.

I  am actually fine both approaches. The first is a lot easier to use during play, but the second can get me more inspired and excited prior to play. The second also requires more study before hand. Bug I can happily run both.

what about something like this.  The text blocks aren't flavor text for the players (necessarily), but contain the physical descriptions of the encounter that would be important to the players, while the non blocked text contains all the mechanical information.  That way the DM can easily find which section that he or she is looking for.

Those text boxes look a bit funky with the outlines to me.

The second would be unreadable on a tablet, so the first.

-clash

Me too.  What about this.  I reduced the size of the pic in this example just to show how all the text info would look, but final pic size would be 1/2 page.

Quote from: flyingmice;743187The second would be unreadable on a tablet, so the first.

-clash

That's a good point.  Perhaps a pdf version for mobile devices, as well as a more traditional sized PDF

Quote from: Sacrosanct;743188Me too.  What about this.  I reduced the size of the pic in this example just to show how all the text info would look, but final pic size would be 1/2 page.

I quite like an approach like this. It allows me to sit down before hand and read at a more relaxed pace but looks like it it will be way to find what I need during play.

Second question:  What about just omitting interior artwork, and instead putting them all as handouts in an appendix? I already have about two dozen specific handouts (puzzles, etc), but I'm on the fence about including all artwork as handouts so when the encounter happens, the DM isn't the only one who sees a visual reference.

I prefer a walkaround layout so I can stay with my train.

* looks around *  Oops, wrong forum, sorry...

We had a tangential discussion about this awhile ago. Zak S had a lot of good points about how the noise to signal ratio was problematic in modules. Several others like misterguignol expounded on the criticism. Basically brevity, highlighting, and editing were prized for their direct use at the table.

As I have been digging through tenfootpole.org and "horde & hoard" google docs for module examples, I find it hard to disagree. Often the traditional module editing and formatting is a hassle during play. Both of these examples you gave  are inconvenient, but for different reasons (annoyingly redundant descriptive filler in page consuming format v. wall of text obfuscation).

I think this is a topic worth discussing again, though I understand if you are close to print it'd be unhelpful for this immediate project. So let me put my best example from that post and people can thread back to read the tangent. I do like show not tell description in theory, but I favor highlighted and bulleted simplicity during play. Hopefully this helps brainstorm new approaches for you.

Because my quote-fu is weak, I fail to add Dirk's inspiring example before this:

Quote from: Opaopajr;625714That's roughly how I'd do it.

I'd probably retain a Familiar v. Unusual section just to give GMs a heads up of what works off of familiar tropes and what's going to need more attention.

I really like your "Special" section inclusion. Kinda works differently than my"Recommendations" because it tags the recommended idea to an object or section of the room first, instead of the room itself and then localize. That way it hotkeys potential to descriptions as they are being described. Mine makes those room highlights still optional, and presents it in a list format in case people want to use it as a randomized table. I like both formats actually, they each serve a purpose.

And I must absolutely applaud you for bolding key words. It's such a simple thing, but boy does it help when GMing.

Here's how I think I would retain my format for such a list of rooms. (I moved familiar and unusual because this is a cluster of sub-rooms for one main room complex.) I'm adding more, 'cuz it's fun:



Region: Giant's Food Rooms
Familiar - Medieval era. Fireplace cauldron, butcher table, pantry, larder, cellar, dining room, cold storage, smoke & BBQ rooms, etc.
Unusual - Everything is Large sized.

Regional Mobs: Giants, Orcs, Bobcats, etc.

Regional Treasure: Signet Ring, giant-sized butcher tools, etc.

12 (a) Giant's Kitchen, main room
1. Cauldron is simmering with human hand stew. If tipped over (requiring a successful Open Doors roll) everyone within 20' in the direction it's tipped must save vs. wands or be scalded (2-12 damage).
2. Butcher table has two whole cows atop, along with giant-sized butcher tools. These tools may be used as -1 to-hit improvised weapons. (e.g. cleaver as voulge, trimming knife as bastard sword, etc.).

12 (b) Giant's Pantry
1. Climbing or shaking the pantry risks food avalanche (5+ on 1d6). Save v. wands to get out of the way and take no damage.
 1-2 Flour: Crush 1-4 hp in 10' sq., creates Fog & asphyxiate 1 hp round in 40' radius, may explode from static or fire. Buried may smother.
 3-5 Potatoes & Onions: Crush 2-12 hp in 20' square. Save is 1/4 bruise damage from bouncing food. Area is now slippery. Buried may smother.
 6 Cheese Wheel of Doom!: Crush 4-16 hp in 5' square, then rolls in one direction (1d12 clockwise) for 1-4 hp. Reeks, but no gas damage.
2. Domesticated bobcats stay here. Wary, low morale. Often seeks Giant owners when attacked.

12 (c) Giant's Larder
1. Among whole cows are several human corpses hanging on hooks. One still wears a signet ring -- a son of a local noble who is offering a reward to find him or his body and ring. Suggested reward: 500 gp or one noble favor.
2. Gelatinous Cube Head Cheese, corralled in a metal half box. Still alive and thoroughly delicious!
3. Massive sausage rope leading to a top shelf of whole dragon whelp jerky. Gutted and skinned, but teeth and claws still intact.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;743192Second question:  What about just omitting interior artwork, and instead putting them all as handouts in an appendix? I already have about two dozen specific handouts (puzzles, etc), but I'm on the fence about including all artwork as handouts so when the encounter happens, the DM isn't the only one who sees a visual reference.

This is a very interesting idea. The problem I have is a) loose leaf folio art getting lost from the rest of the module, or b) tedious repeated referencing to back page art from body content. One has deteriorating value due to threat of everyday use, and the other becomes a pain like maps without keyword-ed referencing.

However some GMs are bad at description and a picture is worth a thousand words. To enable "kindergarten teacher showing the book's pictures" is a tempting function. Perhaps keep the art within the body text for GM reference and mood, but have "enlarged to a single page" art reprints in the back, with page indexes at the bottom. Gets best of both worlds.

Quote from: Opaopajr;743227We had a tangential discussion about this awhile ago. Zak S had a lot of good points about how the noise to signal ratio was problematic in modules. Several others like misterguignol expounded on the criticism. Basically brevity, highlighting, and editing were prized for their direct use at the table.

As I have been digging through tenfootpole.org and "horde & hoard" google docs for module examples, I find it hard to disagree. Often the traditional module editing and formatting is a hassle during play. Both of these examples you gave  are inconvenient, but for different reasons (annoyingly redundant descriptive filler in page consuming format v. wall of text obfuscation).

I think this is a topic worth discussing again, though I understand if you are close to print it'd be unhelpful for this immediate project. So let me put my best example from that post and people can thread back to read the tangent. I do like show not tell description in theory, but I favor highlighted and bulleted simplicity during play. Hopefully this helps brainstorm new approaches for you.

Because my quote-fu is weak, I fail to add Dirk's inspiring example before this:

Interesting, but to be honest, a bit too outliny for me.  That looks like how I'd format an adventure when I'm creating a video game, not a tabletop game.  You don't have to abbreviate or notate everything.  Whatever happened to the power of a full sentence or paragraph?

Too each their own