I'd like to inquire about your favorite scenario layouts (because I'm now formatting mine and others are in the process of writing new scenarios). Please help us out in this poll:

WHAT ARE YOUR PREFERENCES ON THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS?

1. Page Layout: a) Portrait (vertical..paper) ...b) Landscape (horizontal, more easily read on a computer screen)
2. How many columns do you like? a) Portrait, single column (Essay style) b) Portrait, double column (magazine style) ...c) Landscape, double column (magazine style) ...d) Landscape, triple column (Dungeon Magazine, PDF)
3. Format : a) Numbered Encounters ...b) Chapters & Acts ..c) Single Page Summary Only (Savage Worlds) ...d) Background and Combat/Encounter (D&D 4E)
4. Do you prefer to have an "Adventure Synopsis" ? yes/no
5. Where should monster/NPC stat blocks be?: a) In-Line with main text ....b) In a summary at the end ....c) Just reference the page in the Monster Book
6. How do you want your adventure hooks? a) None ...b) By WFRP Party Type ....c) Just a few suggestions
7. Do you want a "Scaling the Adventure" Side-bar for higher-Tier characters? yes / no
8. Do you like to have endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? yes / no
9. How much background do you like? a) only what's going to be revealed to the players ...b) lots, even if it's just fluff that will never be revealed to the players
10. How do you like your Read Aloud Text ? a) None ..b) In a box and short ...c) verbose
11. How rigid do you want the scenario location adaptability to be? a) Location specific (i.e. Middenheim) b) Location Specific but adaptable sidebar c) Adaptable but location suggestions
12. Any other scenario preferences/pet peeves?

...

Here are my preferences

1. Page Layout: .b) Landscape (horizontal, more easily read on a computer screen)
2. How many columns do you like? ...d) Landscape, triple column (Dungeon Magazine, PDF)
3. Format: a) Numbered Encounters - even for pure interactives I prefer this
4. Do you prefer to have an "Adventure Synopsis"? yes ABSOLUTELY
5. Where should monster/NPC stat blocks be?: .b) In a summary at the end
6. How do you want your adventure hooks? ..b) By WFRP Party Type (I'm eager to try this out)
7. Do you want a "Scaling the Adventure" Side-bar for higher-Tier characters? yes
8. Do you like to have endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? yes, I like to reference additional material from old books for background
9. How much background do you like? a) only what's going to be revealed to the players (PET PEEVE when there's a bunch of non-gameplay stuff in there)
10. How do you like your Read Aloud Text? ..b) In a box and short
11. How rigid do you want the scenario location adaptability to be? b) Location Specific but adaptable sidebar
12. Any other scenario preferences/pet peeves? I don't like excess text. I like when the author gives me a good background to work with and then gets to the point!

jh

BTW, the fonts that I'm using:

Crunch Title: Dominican, double underlined, red, 16

Fluff Title: Dominican, single underline, red, 16

Sub-fluff title: Dominican Small Caps, red, 14

GM's Text: DejaVu serif, 11

Read Aloud Text: DejaVu serif, italic, 11

1) Page Layout - (a Portrait

2) How many Columns do you like? - b) Portrait, double column.

3) Format - b) Chapters & Acts

4) Do you prefer to have an Adventure Synopsis? - YES

5) Where should NPC stat blocks be? - a) In-line with main text

6) How do you want your adventure hooks? - c) Just a few suggestions

7) Do you want a "Scaling Adventures" side-bar for higher tiered characters? - Yes

8) Do you like endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? - Yes

9) How much background fluff would you like? - b) Lots, even if not revealed to players.

10) How do you like your Read Aloud Text? - b) In a box and short

11) How rigid do you want scenario location to be? - b) Location specific but adaptable sidebar

12) Any other scenario pet peeves? I dislike when there are no pictures/artwork. This may seem shallow but I like to be able to colourfully show my players what they're dealing with in scenarios. It makes it easier for them to imagine what's going on.

My 0.02 GC's

1. Page Layout: a) Portrait (vertical..paper)
2. How many columns do you like? b) Portrait, double column (magazine style)
3. Format: c) Single Page Summary Only (Savage Worlds)
4. Do you prefer to have an "Adventure Synopsis"? yes
5. Where should monster/NPC stat blocks be?: a) In-Line with main text
6. How do you want your adventure hooks? c) Just a few suggestions
7. Do you want a "Scaling the Adventure" Side-bar for higher-Tier characters?no
8. Do you like to have endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? yes
9. How much background do you like? b) lots, even if it's just fluff that will never be revealed to the players
10. How do you like your Read Aloud Text? a) None
11. How rigid do you want the scenario location adaptability to be? c) Adaptable but location suggestions
12. Any other scenario preferences/pet peeves?

Read Aloud Sections. These belong in introductory scenarios designed for first-time GM's.

Detailed Floorplans: Pages and pages are wasted describing what's in every room of an Inn. Just tell me the important bits.

Dungeons: Can't stand them. I'll make allowances for small, focused dungeons (3-5 rooms) that serve a specific purpose.

Using arbitrary combat encounters to pad things out: Lamest trick in the book when the GM doesn't have enough substance in the scenario... just throw in a "random" combat encounter or two to fill an extra two hours.

Require player's to make difficult and meaningful choices with consequences (good and bad): There should be no perfect solution but compromises

1) Page Layout - (a Portrait

2) How many Columns do you like? - b) Portrait, double column. I'll print out any adventure that I plan to run and don't use a laptop at the table.

3) Format - b) Chapters & Acts for the big stuff, but numbered encounters (location based encounters) have their place too. I'm not talking dungeons, but POI in towns, particular stalls at a Fair, etc. where the PCs only have the opportunity for the encounter if they visit that location.

4) Do you prefer to have an Adventure Synopsis? - YES

5) Where should NPC stat blocks be? - a) In-line with main text is my usual preference to avoid page flipping, but this game's use of tokens on NPC actions/abilities may make that infeasible. At the end where they can be photo-copied out may make more sense in this case.

6) How do you want your adventure hooks? - c) Just a few suggestions

7) Do you want a "Scaling Adventures" side-bar for higher tiered characters? - Yes

8) Do you like endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? - Yes

9) How much background fluff would you like? - b) Lots, even if not revealed to players. As a GM, I still get enjoyment out of material that the PC/players will not ever discover.

10) How do you like your Read Aloud Text? - b) In a box and short

11) How rigid do you want scenario location to be? - b) Location specific but adaptable sidebar

Other: Try to minimize railroading. With pre-written material, this is somewhat expected, but try to have ways for the story/plot to continue even if the PCs don't successfully complete objectives A, B, & C. Have alternatives available for negative outcomes as well. Don't tie an important clue or piece of info that the PCs need to move the story forward to a specific location if there aren't multiple ways the PCs can be directed to that location.

I like player handouts. The more the better.

My responses:

1. Page Layout: (a) Portrait
2. How many columns do you like? (b) Portrait, double column
3. Format : (b) Chapters & Acts
4. Do you prefer to have an "Adventure Synopsis" ? Yes
5. Where should monster/NPC stat blocks be?: (a) In-Line with main text
6. How do you want your adventure hooks? © Just a few suggestions
7. Do you want a "Scaling the Adventure" Side-bar for higher-Tier characters? Yes
8. Do you like to have endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? Yes
9. How much background do you like? (b) lots, even if it's just fluff that will never be revealed to the players
10. How do you like your Read Aloud Text ? © verbose - I can always pare it down if I want to...
11. How rigid do you want the scenario location adaptability to be? (b) Location Specific but adaptable sidebar
12. Any other scenario preferences/pet peeves? Lots of editing to catch the misspellings, grammar mistakes, weak structure, and other writing errors that make things tough to read.

...

Thanks for your feedback everybody. I'm going to tailor my scenario to fit 'most' of your desires.

jh

1.Page Layout: a) Portrait (vertical..paper)

2.How many columns do you like? d) Landscape, triple column (Dungeon Magazine, PDF)

3.Format: a) Numbered Encounters ... Note, I did like the acts layout as presented in the WFRP 3rd E adventure books.

4.Do you prefer to have an "Adventure Synopsis"? yes

5.Where should monster/NPC stat blocks be?: b) In a summary at the end ....

6.How do you want your adventure hooks? c) Just a few suggestions

7.Do you want a "Scaling the Adventure" Side-bar for higher-Tier characters? yes

8.Do you like to have endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? yes

9.How much background do you like?b) lots, even if it's just fluff that will never be revealed to the players

10.How do you like your Read Aloud Text? b) In a box and short ...

11.How rigid do you want the scenario location adaptability to be? c) Adaptable but location suggestions

12.Any other scenario preferences/pet peeves? I do not like scenarios that require a very specific class or skill to be present. If the adventure needs something like that to move forward, I expect there to be options/alternatives in the adventure and/or suggestion to the GM.

My coins:

1) Page Layout - b) Landscape

2) How many Columns do you like? - b) Landscape, triple column.

3) Format - b) Chapters & Acts

4) Do you prefer to have an Adventure Synopsis? - Yes

5) Where should NPC stat blocks be? - b) In a summary at the end

6) How do you want your adventure hooks? - b) By WFRP Party Type

7) Do you want a "Scaling Adventures" side-bar for higher tiered characters? - Yes

8) Do you like endnotes/footnotes to reference official material? - Yes

9) How much background fluff would you like? - b) Lots, even if not revealed to players.

10) How do you like your Read Aloud Text? - b) In a box and short

11) How rigid do you want scenario location to be? - b) Location specific but adaptable sidebar

12) Any other scenario pet peeves? some images to inspiring

WHAT ARE YOUR PREFERENCES ON THE FOLLOWING SUBJECTS?

Page Layout: Portrait
Format: Chapters and Acts
Synopsis: Yes
Stat Blocks: Summary at the End
Scaling: No
References: Yes
Background: A little of both, I like to have some solid background for me as well as players.
Read Aloud: None
Location: Specific but adaptable