Yeah, they were different from *everybody* in the day.
What you had to grok, which was not spelled out, is that you were presented a *situation* (large scale for campaign modules, small scale for adventure modules). You were given locations, people, relationships, etc. and then you just kind of let the clock run from that snapshot. Things went on according to the setup unless and until the players' characters changed things. Only the "ready to run" series were like others' modules.
