[HOE] What is wrong with the sourcebook adventures?

[Matt and Teresa Steflik <grifflik@stny.rr.com>]

The Marshal of Oz wrote -

> I have seen a few times on here and at the forum where people have said how
> bad these adventures are but as a newbie marshal i'm not sure i see the
> problems...could someone please (with appropiate spoiler space) tell me A)
> what is wrong with the adventures and B) if u ran them what did u change to
> make them better
>
Personally, the biggest problem I have with them was that they were made
available in books that players would have a reason to buy (ie.  if you
play a Syker, you want the book for the background information, rules
and powers).  I can't speak for every posse out there, but several folks
in mine have eyes that tend to wander in such situations.  In this case,
however I can't say I blame them...they shelled out the money for the
book, why shouldn't they be able to read it?  Unfortunately, this can
create a hell of a spoiler for running those particular adventures and
is actually inherent in anything that has a "Marshal's Only" section
that a player would have cause to buy.  Splitting material up in
different locations (such as with the 2nd Deadlands edition, where you
have a Marshals and Players Book) solves this potential problem
somewhat, though admitably in an expensive fashion from a Marshal's
Satndpoint (who'd probably buy both) and practically, it just isn't
feasible for some situations (as in the case of new Marshal's info for
various archetypes....where ELSE would you put it but in the archetype's
sourcebook?).  If you have a trustworthy posse that can keep its eyes
where it should, this isn't a problem.  However, like I said, some of us
don't have that luxury.  IMO, the space given to adventures in the AB
achetype books would have been better spent with more archetype related
material, with the adventures put together in a seperate "adveture book"
or somesuch.  Not a terribly pratical solution from a company standpoint
as sourcebooks tend to outsell adventures, but there you go. Based on
where the adventures were printed, I can't use them as is with my group.
Could I give suggestions on how to modify them?  Sure, but it would
strictly be in the scope of my campaign with my posse, so there's
nothing really "general" I could give you that could be of any use -
sorry.  If you're a new Marshal with new players, don't sweat it. The
adventures should work fine for you - provided you can control your
player's access to the those portions of the sourcebooks.  Hope that
makes sense and helps a bit (it's really late here and I should really
be in bed).

Matt Steflik
Gimme Shelter - http://www.geocities.com/grifflik/