zich's page

zich wrote:

I am currently preparing to run this adventure path. First of all, this seems like a really fun adventure. Simple setup, ongoing motivation to adventure onwards, coherent plot. Everything an adventure like this needs.

But I am writing this to raise awareness on an ongoing issue that sadly also plagues this adventure. The way the information is laid out is atrocious. This really is relevant to every Paizo adventure I have ever run or read, but I won't post it on each one, because that would be silly.

Let's get into some details: (this is supposed to be a list, but the formating doesn't work, so dashes it is)

- The layout is way, way more dense than it needs to be. Everything is prose (and some stat blocks, admittedly). It's impossible to skim for important information during a session, because every important tidbit is hidden in some paragraph of meandering text.

- The page borders are very pretty, but too busy. They draw the eye way more than anything in the actual text I am trying to extract information from.

- But most importantly, information is scattered everywhere. For example, there is more than 1 page of continuous text under the heading "The Azlanti Engine". But most of it is just the scene where the party finds it. What it is and what role it plays throughout the adventure is scattered through the entire book and hidden within random paragraphs. Similarly, NPC stat blocks, portraits, motivations, roles and backstories are just on random pages.

- The Adventure Toolbox is mostly used for side topics that frankly belong in a Lost Omens book. Why does it have to have a 5 page essay on Camazotz? Why do we need 2 pages for an underdeveloped archetype? Why do 2 NPCs get 2 pages of text each, while the rest are just hidden away on some random page again? They're well written in and of themselves, but is this what I need in my toolbox for the adventure?

These are adventures that are supposed to be run and played. Information needs to be clear and obvious enough that

...

I was not expecting a reply, much less a prompt one. Thanks for listening to my feedback. I'm sorry it was tainted by my mood at the time of writing, but I do mean it as constructive feedback.

I am currently preparing to run this adventure path. First of all, this seems like a really fun adventure. Simple setup, ongoing motivation to adventure onwards, coherent plot. Everything an adventure like this needs.

But I am writing this to raise awareness on an ongoing issue that sadly also plagues this adventure. The way the information is laid out is atrocious. This really is relevant to every Paizo adventure I have ever run or read, but I won't post it on each one, because that would be silly.

Let's get into some details: (this is supposed to be a list, but the formating doesn't work, so dashes it is)

- The layout is way, way more dense than it needs to be. Everything is prose (and some stat blocks, admittedly). It's impossible to skim for important information during a session, because every important tidbit is hidden in some paragraph of meandering text.

- The page borders are very pretty, but too busy. They draw the eye way more than anything in the actual text I am trying to extract information from.

- But most importantly, information is scattered everywhere. For example, there is more than 1 page of continuous text under the heading "The Azlanti Engine". But most of it is just the scene where the party finds it. What it is and what role it plays throughout the adventure is scattered through the entire book and hidden within random paragraphs. Similarly, NPC stat blocks, portraits, motivations, roles and backstories are just on random pages.

- The Adventure Toolbox is mostly used for side topics that frankly belong in a Lost Omens book. Why does it have to have a 5 page essay on Camazotz? Why do we need 2 pages for an underdeveloped archetype? Why do 2 NPCs get 2 pages of text each, while the rest are just hidden away on some random page again? They're well written in and of themselves, but is this what I need in my toolbox for the adventure?

These are adventures that are supposed to be run and played. Information needs to be clear and obvious enough that you can look at the document during a session and actually find what you are looking for. But they are written like novels. There's pretty prose in here, sure. But is that really what we need?

And it doesn't have to be like this. Bullet points and white space aren't rocket science. The Adventure Toolbox could have actually useful things to look up during the session, like a list of NPCs with a short description or a section on the Azlanti Engine and its various upgrades. Subsystems could have formating like Research does. For that matter, so could any important checks.

I am tentatively looking forward to Paizo's switch to having adventures in a single book. But I hope they take that chance to fix some of the other issues that the AP format is plagued with. And this is imo one of the biggest.

And no, the irony of writing a wall of text about presenting information is not lost on me. I can't get this forum's BB code to work. If you want proper formating, give me literally any other option.

Thanks for reading. I'm sure we will enjoy this adventure a lot. But preparing it is needlessly painful.

Paizo owes the CUP everything. They often say how PF2E’s success saved the company, but the tools created under CUP are what saved PF2E from failing amidst the pandemic. And in the future, no new ones can be created.

(end of quote. quoting doesn't work)

Both Paizo and the community have gained much from these tools and the policies that allowed them to exist. For example PF2e on Foundry is easily the best digital RPG experience in existence. And it cost Paizo (as far as I'm aware) nothing.

Walking these policies back is inexplicable to me. It made me look up the opposite of "future-proofing" and it seems that doesn't even exist.

So ... why? I've read speculations and none of them look good. Until today, I thought it was just a mistake. But now it's clear that wasn't the case.