"When an annoying dwarf goes missing in Ruinspoke, nobody really cares."
and
"Sometimes things are exactly as they seem."
In a very counter-intuitive sense these blurbs actually rope me in (as well as make me laugh.) I haven't played TYMA 1-5 yet so no spoilers please.
What do the rest of you like in blurbs? Which are your favorites? Are we over-analyzing LFR? (Okay, don't answer that last one, I know that's a yes.)
BALD 1-2 The Night I Called the Undead Out
CORE 1-13 The Fate of Camp 15
As for blurbs that I responded well to ...
CORM 1-2 Gangs of Wheloon: The blurb made it pretty clear it clear that the adventure was based off of the movie Escape from New York, which is cool.
Most of them are just so-so. I'm OK with that as long as they give me some idea of what the theme is. I don't want to read a blurb that implied a city based investigation and have it turn into a forest based combat fest for example.
"When an annoying [-]dwarf[/-] goes missing in [-]Ruinspoke[/-] , nobody really cares."
I thought that was the default blurb for one-third of all LFR adventures? :P
My favorites are the blurbs that are either nonsensical, or are so vague they are meaningless:
Westgate is a dangerous city at any time, but today it’s about to live up to its name.
You mean the city is going to be a gate in the west?
So when mercenaries offer protection for a fee, does it matter that these were the old enemies of the past?
Nope, doesn't matter at all. We trust those guys implicitly.
Things that are lost, however, do not always stay so and some things hidden refuse to remain in darkness.
Well, that's helpful. I certainly know what this adventure is all about, now.
Lost or deceased, it’s up to you to find him!
This one is much funnier if you read it in the Robocop voice.
But how exactly does one verify the contents of a book over 2,000 years old?
History? Arcana? Consult Mystic Sages?
... this is a good chance to learn about the fate of Unther… and meet the new neighbors.
You mean the guys who have been living there for the last 100 years? Yeah, nobody knows anything about them.
= = =
Of course, I mean all this in a joking way. Not trying to be malicious.
Thanks, mod.
"It always seems like you're in the wrong place at the wrong time when this kind of thing happens."
Oh man, I love that one!
I think it needs to be announced in the stentorian movie-trailer-announcer-guy voice:
"In a world ravaged by darkness... one group of heroes dared to stand against evil... they always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time... but this time... it's personal!"
< cue adventurers running towards the screen in slo-mo while a huge fireball explodes behind them >
LURU1-1 Slivers of Eaerlann
Things that are lost, however, do not always stay so and some things hidden refuse to remain in darkness.
Um, which LotR movie was that from...
Um, which LotR movie was that from...
Careful! You might be seen as suggesting that D&D has some sort of similarity to the writings of a certain British war vet. Or further, that there are in fact so many similarities that they could be both called members of the same "genre."
(Don't get me wrong, I grew up on Tolkien and will love Middle-Earth forever. D&D wouldn't exist if not for LotR, as it draws a huge amount of concepts from it. Then again, Tolkien grabbed a huge number of concepts from mythology. So if we have to constantly credit Tolkien for the genre, maybe we should credit bored shepherds from ancient Greece bandying stories around a campfire as well. Or we could blame George Bush Sr.'s infamous "Thousand Points of Light" campaign speech for why FR has turned into a "Points of Light" setting.)
One could also argue (as many have) that modern fantasy is just a retelling (or with more 4th ed lingo: a reflavoring?) of the same old story told countless times since before the dawn of civilization known as "The Heroic Cycle." Mostly though, I think thoughts along these lines are a waste of time.
Insane rant aside, this thread may have been more ideally placed in the SLFRT. Eh....
How bout this as a blurb: "When hired in a tavern for item/person retrieval, will you brave the abandoned temple of a random diety to fight semi-dangerous monsters on inexplicably complicated and interesting terrain to receive unsurprising rewards?"
(To which the answer is, of course, yes. )
How bout this as a blurb: "When hired in a tavern for item/person retrieval, will you brave the abandoned temple of a random diety to fight semi-dangerous monsters on inexplicably complicated and interesting terrain to receive unsurprising rewards?"
(To which the answer is, of course, yes. )
I think we can do even better:
"Will you take the heroic quest into the unknown?"
or
"Will you face the threat that has invaded your known place?"
Pretty much every story known to civilization, right there.
aka
"Just take the bloody hook, okay?"
LURU1-1 Slivers of Eaerlann
Things that are lost, however, do not always stay so and some things hidden refuse to remain in darkness.
Careful! You might be seen as suggesting that D&D has some sort of similarity to the writings of a certain British war vet. Or further, that there are in fact so many similarities that they could be both called members of the same "genre."
Actually, in this case, I was suggesting that the "exact words used by the LFR author" sounded like they were the "exact words used in the introduction of a recent movie."
I meant no vague resemblance or stylistic similarity, I was suggesting flat-out plagiarism.
I could be *wrong*, but the thrust of my accusation was not unclear.
"It betrayed Isildur to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost.
History became legend, legend became myth, and for two and a half thousand years, the Ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared a new bearer."
Vs Luru blurb:
"Things that are lost, however, do not always stay so and some things hidden refuse to remain in darkness. "
Yeah these are pretty close to each other, along the lines that almost every fantasy epic is pretty close to others. Definitely not plagiarism though. Sorry if I offended you though as that was not my intention.
Unless the author is writing his own proposal (quite rare these days), the blurb has already been written when the author begins working and is quite difficult to change in all of the places it has been recorded (other than on the adventure itself). Believe me, I've tried.
Sometimes, I laugh at the grammatical errors I see in blurbs, oftentimes for adventures I've written.
"You are presented with the opportunity for adventure. This is a very boring adventure if you do not take it."
Along those lines, I have to say I appreciated a line in the opening encounter for a certain adventure:
"The adventure ends for those who do not wish to assist , unless the PCs decide to just go out exploring on their own, in which case by the miracle of circumstance they could end up discovering the same ruins where disappeared."
You don't like the adventure hook NPC? Cool, looks like we finished our slot three and a half hours early!
I'm definitely borrowing the Heroes of Rokugan blurb for one of my adventures, though.
To get this somewhat back on topic, the blurb for IMPI 1-1 probably catches my attention the most:
"Impiltur is not a safe country for those who are alone. When a young woman’s father dies, can you resist her cry for help?"
Especially considering that
Show
once the initial encounter is over, nothing else that happens in the adventure has anything to do with the young woman's dead father or her plight, at least until it's time to pass out treasure
Unless the author is writing his own proposal (quite rare these days), the blurb has already been written when the author begins working and is quite difficult to change in all of the places it has been recorded (other than on the adventure itself). Believe me, I've tried.
I don't know what gave you that idea? The blurb is somethign we send in with the sumamry, but it is not actually published anywhere until the final version goes to HQ and is edited. We are not allowed to publish it, so it should be possible to still change it (in fact, I am pretty sure we have done that before).
Note that while quite a few adventure outlines may be set (at least, I have a fair idea of elements I wish to see), I generally let the prospective author make the initial proposal, as well as blurb. I then go over it several times with the author until we have something that fits the storylines and has the problems/questions worked out (and that is readable to Chris).
Of the nine adventure summaries so far, two were proposed by authors and adapted to fit the plotlines, two I wrote myself, and five are summaries worked out (or being worked out) from an initial outline.
I don't know how other WDs work (except for Dragoncoast ands Cormyr).
I have a specific (long term) plotline in mind, so the way I work with summaries may be a bit different from other WDs.
Gomez
I don't know what gave you that idea? The blurb is somethign we send in with the sumamry, but it is not actually published anywhere until the final version goes to HQ and is edited. We are not allowed to publish it, so it should be possible to still change it (in fact, I am pretty sure we have done that before).
Note that while quite a few adventure outlines may be set (at least, I have a fair idea of elements I wish to see), I generally let the prospective author make the initial proposal, as well as blurb. I then go over it several times with the author until we have something that fits the storylines and has the problems/questions worked out (and that is readable to Chris).
Of the nine adventure summaries so far, two were proposed by authors and adapted to fit the plotlines, two I wrote myself, and five are summaries worked out (or being worked out) from an initial outline.
I don't know how other WDs work (except for Dragoncoast ands Cormyr).
I have a specific (long term) plotline in mind, so the way I work with summaries may be a bit different from other WDs.
Gomez
I guess my experiences have differed from the norm, then. Every time I've re-written a blurb for one of my modules (from the original blurb when the module was initially proposed), the revised version never appeared anywhere except the cover.
The release schedule (the listing of adventures, blurbs, and release dates that appears on the LFR/RPGA website) is built months in advance of the completion of the actual adventures. So in most cases, changes that might get made to the blurb between WotC approval of the outline and the final version of the adventure will not make it into the published release schedule.
The problem stems from the fact that everyone uses the adventure release schedule as a resource for blurbs when advertising adventures, so the fact that they may have changed doesn't really mean much
