How it's supposed to be played

As a bookmark for myself: James Raggi's 2008 post Is this how D&D is supposed to be played? Quote:

• Most adventures are located in a fixed location with an "end area" with a big bad enemy and the big treasure. You "win the adventure" by defeating that enemy and getting that treasure.
• Some adventures are epic quests, that take you to many places, where you defeat the underling big bad enemies before getting to the grand finale where you defeat the really big bad enemy and take its treasure.
• Activities involved between adventures involved such a variety of activities as healing up and traveling to the next location.

...the basic problems the old modules had, and they certainly didn't do anything to showcase the possibilities that we, as adults able to read the Dungeon Masters Guide and understand the implications and applications of all those rules, have when it comes to traditional, and proper, Dungeons and Dragons. Each is simply a self-contained location [...] with monsters to kill and problems to solve. [...] So if modules are these really evil things that grossly distorted the heart of true Dungeons and Dragons play... what then?