I'm looking for some people to look over my adventure and tell me where I messed up. If your interested send me an email address via private message. That will allow me to send you a code to download the adventure for free. All I ask is that you give me feedback (and if you want post a review on www.drivethrurpg.com). I can only give away about 10 of them, so if your interested in a free adventure just for telling me what you think about it, this is a good chance.
Since you aren't getting any bites, I'll give you my impressions as a shopper and leave others to check out overall design of the module. I personally didn't see anything wrong with the Preview pages. They gave me just enough information to feel like this will be a good action module for low level parties.
(My grumble about the inside is a minor one. I lost track of where the NPC introductions ended and the adventure began. The graphic bars that you used to decorate the starts of various sections threw me off, too. IMO, they should have been above the section heading, not below it, to mark the end of a section and the beginning of a new one. Those are things, however, that someone who did not buy the module would have no knowledge of, so you may take it as you will.)
So on to product placement. I found it about six or seven pages in on RPGNow, which I believe is tied to DriveThruRPG. Given the products around it, it stands out well enough, but being that far in, there's a lot to distract a browsing shopper on the way. If someone has a bit of time, they might get that far in, but a lot of people go in knowing pretty much what they're looking for. It's not necessarily a killer for a product, but it's not a big help, either.
I guess the biggest advice I can give you is to change the name of the module. As I said, it's too close to "Raiders of the Lost Ark", which tells potential buyers that this might be little more than a D&D version of the movie.
(For my personal assessment, I'd also suggest a printer friendly version. I am NOT blowing all that color ink!*
)That's my current take on "Raiders". It may not be the answer that propels you to the lofty heights of Gygax and Arneson, but it's something! I hope you don't find it too harsh. (I'm sort of the Paula Abdul of game critiquing, only minus the painkillers...:D )
*At least I can copy/paste into Word and then do a bit of formatting.
Okay, I finally got my treasonous computer to download it, and I'll tell you right off the bat, I'd change the title. My first thought was that it was an Indiana Jones story.
Since you aren't getting any bites, I'll give you my impressions as a shopper and leave others to check out overall design of the module. I personally didn't see anything wrong with the Preview pages. They gave me just enough information to feel like this will be a good action module for low level parties.
(My grumble about the inside is a minor one. I lost track of where the NPC introductions ended and the adventure began. The graphic bars that you used to decorate the starts of various sections threw me off, too. IMO, they should have been above the section heading, not below it, to mark the end of a section and the beginning of a new one. Those are things, however, that someone who did not buy the module would have no knowledge of, so you may take it as you will.)
So on to product placement. I found it about six or seven pages in on RPGNow, which I believe is tied to DriveThruRPG. Given the products around it, it stands out well enough, but being that far in, there's a lot to distract a browsing shopper on the way. If someone has a bit of time, they might get that far in, but a lot of people go in knowing pretty much what they're looking for. It's not necessarily a killer for a product, but it's not a big help, either.
I guess the biggest advice I can give you is to change the name of the module. As I said, it's too close to "Raiders of the Lost Ark", which tells potential buyers that this might be little more than a D&D version of the movie.
(For my personal assessment, I'd also suggest a printer friendly version. I am NOT blowing all that color ink!*
That's my current take on "Raiders". It may not be the answer that propels you to the lofty heights of Gygax and Arneson, but it's something! I hope you don't find it too harsh. (I'm sort of the Paula Abdul of game critiquing, only minus the painkillers...:D )
*At least I can copy/paste into Word and then do a bit of formatting.
Thank you for the honest assessment. I genuinely appreciate it. I really did kind of do the title as a kind of pun, but I see your point and may re-release it as something else with a little note that it was formerly "Raiders of Los Arch". when first released it shows up on the 4E page of www.drivethrurpg.com pretty close to the top, so it gets plenty of exposure. That was when I had my highest sales. Did you think the price was reasonable for a 34 page product?
Oh, and I will probably create a black and white image free printer friendly one just as soon as I get some time.
10 cents a page is what your original price was. It's probably a fair price for a new face. I never really took the time to see how the pricing system stacks up. I'm notoriously scotch when it comes to parting with my money, but if I needed a good introductory module for new players, yeah, I'd pay it.
Judging by the comments I saw, the maps seem to be your weak point. You may want to improve those as well as change the name. In fact, I'd tout the improved maps above the name change.
Okay, it's on Page 2 of Drivethru if you search on 4e only. (I tend to search strictly by price and adapt what I like to whichever system I'm running!) Still a noticeable cover, stark B&W illustration on a dark brown cover, good call on that.
10 cents a page is what your original price was. It's probably a fair price for a new face. I never really took the time to see how the pricing system stacks up. I'm notoriously scotch when it comes to parting with my money, but if I needed a good introductory module for new players, yeah, I'd pay it.
Judging by the comments I saw, the maps seem to be your weak point. You may want to improve those as well as change the name. In fact, I'd tout the improved maps above the name change.
Ok, I'll do that when I get a chance. Then I'll post here
Be sure to make the print friendly version something that gets downloaded along with the full color version and not a separate download. Paul Jessup bundled full-color and print-friendly versions with The Magpie Codex and I was very happy with still having ink in my printer at the end of the day!
Ok, all updated and ready to go. Did everything that was asked, and upgraded the difficulty of the combat encounters. And created a printer friendly version within the same document. (it starts around page 39)