After a year of so of GMing many of the PFS adventures, spanning all the seasons I find my list of stuff that just don't make any sense getting long enuf to share with y'all.
Mind you, I'm at looking this at a novice viewpoint from the players perspective of 1-3 Tier level sessions with a bit of humor and touch of cynicism. Veteran players who experience the recurrence of NPCs, know the geography and politics of factions through constant playing may not have these concerns nor do I when running such players. But for the 1st level adventures, some stuff jez make no sense...
1) Overly complicated plots- for a 4-5 hour session many of the background story elements don't see the light of day and many of the players really don't care or simply don't know enough to care. Some of the dialogue is simply terrible as well...
2) Silly Maps- adventure specific maps are too complicated to redraw effectively unless you follow a You Tube video to reprint the map? The little map full of colorful details looks great on the text page of the adventure, but of what use to the GM who cant' draw well enuf to make the PCs appreciate the tiles and chairs, shrubs etc, etc.
Anyone who plays my games know I do my best using a combination of tile sets, pre-printed maps and such- but to get the right translation it takes a lot of arts and craft time. Something many GMs may not have time for.
3) Not enough player handouts- the above issue could be easily solved with more player handouts. Maps, NPC portraits, monsters picture would make the interaction with the PC and adventure more visual thus more interesting. Pictures embedded within the adventure limits the GM to do a show and tell across the table! Especially city maps and creature pics!
4) The covers of the adventures give away too much info or don't match the adventure inside at all and many of the pictures don't reflect what is described in the text or the bestiary.
5) No rest for the wicked? Some adventures just seem to be a march between encounters with little respite or occasion to use the complicated plot points and such. Not every party has a cleric or a healer and potions of healing are rare than a third nipple in many 1st level adventures. On the average there are 3-4 encounters- the 1st level fighter with a healthy 8 HPs, gets hit with a spear wielding orc for just 4 HPs on his first encounter is left with 4 HPs for next several encounters...
This is just a short list of things that make me scratch my head at times. It doesn't take away from the fact the majority of times we have a great time and I tweak things well enough to make things make sense. I appreciate the creativity and hard work the writers do when creating these adventures and would not dare say I could do a better job. But did you ever meet that person who seems more impressed with his own story than those who are listening?
