Things to avoid

Arcane Fury posted a message in the modules forum asking what puts people off a mod. Here's a quick list:

  • A lame story
  • Bad Grammar
  • Bad spelling
  • Absurd design decisions
  • Too-large maps that have mostly nothing in them.
  • Illogical alignment shifts
  • Authors using settings not their own (such as the Forgotten Realms) but not trying hard enough, or at all, to follow established lore.
  • Dialogue that railroads the PC into a specific personality.
  • Overly difficult combat.
  • Grinding monsters for XP and too much combat for the sake of combat.
  • Endlessly fightingfightingfighting the same battle over and over and over again.
  • Tedious things you have to do which do not aid the storytelling.
  • Editing enemy stats to just flat out stupid levels
  • Making things overly complicated or trying to emulate life too closely (i.e. - Having to worry about food, actual weight for coins)
  • Quest rewards that do not match the difficulty of said quest
  • Totally useless quest rewards (i.e. - plate armor for a mage type character)
  • Monty Haul campaigns (overabundance of money and magic items)
  • Unrealistic merchants (magic weapons/armors for sale, full plate or exotic weapons for sale on a village smith)
  • Magic items with no history to them
  • Unrealistic treasure placement
  • Too many exp and a resulting fast level progression
  • Standing helplessly by (e.g., in dialog mode) while something important happens.
  • Limited dialog choices, especially when dialog has an impact on alignment and influence. Apparently, there are only two alignments in Faerun: Lawful Tight@$$ and Chaotic Stupid.
  • Uninspiring conversations.
  • Stagnant background. Townsfolk who just stand in the same spot all day and night, having the same non-conversation, until the end of time.
  • Experience Penalties
  • Impossible to solo.
  • Too many instant death situations and attacks
  • Too restrictive resting

Check out the full thread:
http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=536202&forum=111