Maybe I don't read enough modern modules, but I was surprised to see something to this effect. Here is the text introducing an NPC description:

"She looks like Theda Barda. If you don't know who that is, do a Google Search."

My immediate response to reading this is that is some lazy and unprofessional writing. That said, I don't buy a lot of modules. Would this put you off? What if you hired someone to write a module for your game system and they submitted this?

My initial response would be similar to yours, but verbally describing someone is tough, in this day and age it's trivial to do a search, and she does have a very distinctive look. It's a concise way to convey information, and it also gives more agency to the GM, because instead of having to remember a long list of physical characteristics (round face, close-set eyes, etc...) or focusing on a single notable trait, the GM can look a photo of her and describe her however they want.

Quote from: Lynn on May 18, 2021, 11:44:37 AM
Maybe I don't read enough modern modules, but I was surprised to see something to this effect. Here is the text introducing an NPC description:

"She looks like Theda Barda. If you don't know who that is, do a Google Search."

My immediate response to reading this is that is some lazy and unprofessional writing. That said, I don't buy a lot of modules. Would this put you off? What if you hired someone to write a module for your game system and they submitted this?

That particular one? Google doesn't even give any reasonable search responses. It seems to think it means Big Barda from DC Comics? Is this a DC comics module but they can't actually have an image of Big Barda for some reason?

Maybe searching for Thera Bara (Arab Death) will give better results.
She appeared IIRC in one of the first CoC scenarios as an NPC; at least that's where I heard the name first, in the 80's, and had to make up my own image of her for lack of a proper Search Engine at the time.
Edit: replaced with a smaller image

Was: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/29/a5/16/29a516940181d725896cf98e3a41281d.jpg

If it said, "Theda Bara" I'd know who they meant. Adding a note that she was a Silent Era movie star who played vamps would be useful.

Seems lazy to me.  Some description might help.
Also, being so old, I doubt there is any copyright infringement worries.
The module creator could have just grabbed a pic and thrown it in, without really needing to reference her at all:  a picture says a thousand words and all that.

If I paid money for that module, I would be rather upset.  This is why I check out rpg products before I pay money for them.  I got hosed on a few purchases back in the day.

Is it really too much to include a picture?

So not only is the description lazy, it's also condescending. This is what happens when people have access to professional-level production systems for literally pennies instead of having to mimeograph their zines after hours in the school library.

  I would have fucked that one up, and given a description of Big Barda.

QuoteMaybe I don't read enough modern modules, but I was surprised to see something to this effect. Here is the text introducing an NPC description:

"She looks like Theda Barda. If you don't know who that is, do a Google Search."

My immediate response to reading this is that is some lazy and unprofessional writing. That said, I don't buy a lot of modules. Would this put you off?

It's lazy, condescending and unprofessional. No question.

QuoteWhat if you hired someone to write a module for your game system and they submitted this?

As a publisher, they'd be getting a stern rebuke for such lazy, condescending and unprofessional writing, and would be told in no uncertain terms to provide a proper, usable description. If they refused, they'd be fired from the project.

If you're trying to make your way as a writer of any kind, the ability to describe and communicate that description is fundamental. Telling the reader to go and look up a description on the internet is as piss-poor as it gets, and is tantamount to the author saying "You don't know as much as I do, and I can't be bothered imparting a description. It's your fault you don't know who I'm referring to, so you should go away and educated yourself because frankly it's beneath me."

Ok, that makes it clearer, thanks Godfather Punk. And sure, this description was not the best, but I mean, what do we want here? Do we want paragraphs of purple prose and super long adventure modules? Or do we want something shorter and usable without a bunch of unnecessary detail? Here is the physical description of the head priest in the Caves of Chaos from Keep on the Borderlands:
That's right, absolutely nothing. Not even a picture either. The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh had a more mystery-driven approach to D&D adventuring, and the NPCs here have names at least, but physical descriptions only ever mention their armor/clothing, weapons, magic items and valuables. The exception might be 'Foul' Frithoff, for him we at least get that he only has one hand and the other has been replaced by a hook, and that he wears an earring.

A bit more detail can be found in N5 Under Illefarn in the late 80s, but it isn't much. "Kelson Darktreader is only beginning to get some silver hairs among the gold which have adorned his head since his youth." That's it for Kelson's appearance (but there's a drawing of him at least), and that's pretty much the maximum level of detail about their appearance any of the important NPCs in the module have. Most have less. How much do we really need?

Giving the GM freedom to describe the characters as desired is fine too.

Quote from: Lynn on May 18, 2021, 11:44:37 AM
Maybe I don't read enough modern modules, but I was surprised to see something to this effect. Here is the text introducing an NPC description:

"She looks like Theda Barda. If you don't know who that is, do a Google Search."

My immediate response to reading this is that is some lazy and unprofessional writing. That said, I don't buy a lot of modules. Would this put you off? What if you hired someone to write a module for your game system and they submitted this?

For a published adventure, if they were concerned about conveying what the NPC looks like, they should have paid an artist to do an illustration.
This just smacks of both laziness and cheapness.

Quote from: Godfather Punk on May 18, 2021, 12:55:31 PM
Maybe searching for Thera Bara (Arab Death) will give better results.
She appeared IIRC in one of the first CoC scenarios as an NPC; at least that's where I heard the name first, in the 80's, and had to make up my own image of her for lack of a proper Search Engine at the time....

(after some research) No wonder I remember her name: it was the very first White Dwarf I bought (#79), in the scenario Ghost Jackal Kill. This was at a time WD was mostly an rpg magazine, of course, and as I was quite new to the hobby and Cthulhu, I must have read it cover-to-cover.  It didn't have a picture nor description, but then the author didn't have to say 'look her up in the library' or something; we were used to doing our own homework.