Do you run the adventures that you download?

[Yaztromo]

I just read the below in a thread about a great author that got an adventure published and then never had any real evidence that other people actually played that adventure in thirteen years (while the adventure had several thousand downloads):

this is the very first in-detail report I’ve been getting in thirteen years. (Not complaining, just saying…)

This resonates with me as, like many amateur, I published some amateur adventures (in amateur websites, not in official publications like the author quoted above), I know that many people downloaded them and I got no comment about them. I only know that people kept downloading the new amateur adventures I published in that same amateur website, but I think I will never know if they were ever played (by some roleplaying group not involving myself). I asked the webmaster of that reputable website that published "quality" amateur adventures and he told me to set my expectations about getting feedback as low as I can: usually, if you get any feedback at all, it involves swearwords and death threats.

Said that, I would like to try to understand if downloading adventures (after paying them or not) is becoming a kind of compulsive disorder that doesn't actually involve playing them or if you read what you download and, if you like it, you run it or you ask somebody else to run it for you.
I'm saying this also in connection to the absolutely egregious initiative of publishing the MMRPG on they website: there are precious little comments or requests for suggestions / help that may make you think that people is actually playing the MMRPG, after having it downloaded (for free).
I think that RPG authors write their adventures to be (role)played and not to be entombed in a hard disk, never to be played.

[finarvyn]

I think that I sometimes download and archive stuff thinking, "I may need this someday." In the case of the MMRPG stuff from this site I downloaded it years ago and finally started a new campaign set in Blackmoor so I immediately went to my folder of modules and looked for plot arcs that I might use. Then I ran them. Many times I download and then forget that the files exist, however.

The place where I really TRY to give feedback is if I offer to playtest something. I've playtested rules sets like C&C and DCC RPG and 5E Amazing Adventures, and each time I have supplied pages of thoughts and suggestions. I playtested a dozen or so DCC modules and did the same. I figure that if someone is going to give me early and free access to a RPG product, it's my duty to give the best feedback that I can. Especially when I read so many blogs and such where authors complain about NOT getting that feedback. If I say I will playtest I feel I owe that person my reactions, unless for some reason it's so bad that I can't use it.

[RobJN]

Since I don't actively role play these days -- as in, I don't have a face-to-face group, or go to local "drop-in" events -- I don't play anything I download. I read that material partly for inspiration, partly for lore tid-bits.

That being said, I hear you on the "feedback?" issue. Having put out a few fan-based adventures (complete with email, blog, and twitter links to make commenting easy), and heard precious little in the.... eight...? Six...? years since the material has been available... its a bit disheartening. Especially so for my premiere ACTUALY-GOT-PAID-FOR-IT W.O.I.N. adventure for the designer's Patreon magazine. :|

[Havard]

I see what you mean.

In my experience, people give more feedback on half completed works or drafts. It could be that this way they feel like they are contributing more. People love to have completed works, but with only so much time to play, I am sure that many works are read through and then saved for a later time.

I don't think that means that our work is wasted. I think most of the material is read and can provide inspiration. But if its not actually played as such, it might be hard to give detailed feedback.

-Havard

[Rafael]

Hey, all!

Thank you for your kind words, Yaz! That said, I hope the context is clear: I'm not complaining. Also, to keep things real, I *did* receive some feedback over the years, just not in any all too elaborate and detailed ways. Happy to report that the feedback was always friendly and constructive, just usually not at all detailed, which is of course what you like - and need - as someone who tries to better himself at the craft.

I think it's also quite inevitable that people don't play or close-read 90% of their RPG stuff, especially these days: The Blackmoor MMRPG documents, for example, that are out there are 70++ PDFs alone. If each of them is just 20 pages long, then we're already at a number that's probably higher than what an average person reads in a year. Or, to put this into perspective, a recent charity sale at DTRPG contained twenty single books, divided into probably fifty single files. That's a lifetime of roleplaying right there, already, if you like it to be.

Now, what people actually, usually do instead is that they enjoy having a big library, but will usually really only cherrypick what they even consider to read, let alone to run as a game. So, downloads and sales can be pretty deceptive, as the act of purchase alone is not yet a guarantee that people will even make it beyond the cover. - Not that there was anything wrong about that way of managing your library, by the way - it's just a different way than we grew up with: In the 1990s, every form of media was a treasure, from your friends' mixtapes, to the rare comic book you got at the skateshop, to the OOP D&D book that you found in a dusty corner of your local bookstore. Today, it's more like "you are looking into to get into [insert name] - cool, here's a USB stick with 50 GB of the most integral data". That, in itself, can be a thing of beauty as well, but it surely devaluates each content creator's individual contribution; unless you really write a lot, and a lot of stuff that connects with people, you don't get ahead in the business.
50 years ago, one good short story or article could make you a personality of note to the general public; today, we have well-selling, prolific authors that follow a steep publishing schedule that can make a living through their art... And that nobody outside their respective bubble knows because the market is so big.

I don't have an answer to this, other than I generally think that good work never goes entirely unnoticed. It's just not a linear ground-level-to-top-level journey, any more, and mouth-to-mouth, viral propaganda is way more important, these days.

This whole new way of managing content is also a reason why I still resist digital books, at least to some degree. You buy something for the e-reader, it's a piece of data. You buy a phyiscal book, it's an item that will belong to your household, and that this way will probably develop a certain life of its own - even if you never run or read it.

"Rafe, have you really read all of Hermann Hesse's stories? Oooooh, intelligence is so sexy!" - "Oh, yes, oh cute and easy-to-impress doctorate student. It's not AT ALL like the collection was for sale at the 0.99 store and I felt it would make me look smart if a book lay next to the dumbbell rack. Now, let me tell you all about why 'Steppenwolf' was really the best DC movie villain..."

Aaaaaaaaaah.

Ahem.

- R

[RobJN]

"Rafe, have you really read all of Hermann Hesse's stories? Oooooh, intelligence is so sexy!" - "Oh, yes, oh cute and easy-to-impress doctorate student. It's not AT ALL like the collection was for sale at the 0.99 store and I felt it would make me look smart if a book lay next to the dumbbell rack. Now, let me tell you all about why 'Steppenwolf' was really the best DC movie villain..."

Aaaaaaaaaah.

Ahem.

Kids, this is what happens when Germans attempt humor. Let us learn from this example.

[Rafael]

[Greg]

I can speak from experience: I download a lot of adventures, maps, images, tokens and other content for use with RPGs, and unfortunately I rarely read, review or use any of them. The RPG community is filled with collectors, and I suspect that many people collect these downloads for future reading or use, but they never get around to doing so.

Some of the Blackmoor materials I have found here are exceptions. I have used a number of these to learn more about Blackmoor, and I've read through some of the sourcebooks or adventures and have made heavy use of various maps. But it will be a long time before I can ever read through all the MMRPG adventures or potentially use some of them.

Someday I hope to read more of my RPG collection for inspiration or use some of it in running games. But I've been busy playing in a 5E Greyhawk campaign for the past few years, and I don't have a lot of spare time to run my own games or read RPG content for pleasure. I suspect that I won't have a chance to do that until I retire. :lol:

However, whether I'm able to read and use all of these materials or not, I always greatly appreciate the time, effort and care that has been put into them. And I hope many people have been able to enjoy them or will eventually do so.