D&D 5E What constitutes "DM Friendly" adventure / module in your opinion?

[Li Shenron]

"DM friendly" at its best means to me an adventure that I can run without reading beforehand. It doesn't necessarily mean zero reading, but if I have to read all pages of it then it's not friendly.

Things that help:

- One page of a good comprehensive summary, focused on the plot and the possible story forks, with short key descriptions of the main characters. Ideally, this is the only part that I would like to be required to read before the first session. If the adventure is long, and can be divided in chapters, have a summary for each chapter.

- Completely avoid general DMing instructions, such as "how you can customize this adventure". This is useless information for experienced DMs, and beginners DMs should learn this stuff from the DMG, that's what the book is for.

- "Read aloud text" is actually a very good aid instead. For an adventure to be runnable on the fly, it's really useful that each time the PCs enter a new location or encounter a new NPC/monster, the adventure provides a descriptive text to convey the visuals and first impression. It also clearly identifies what the PCs are supposed to know vs what should be hidden from them.

Honestly, if I buy an adventure, I expect it to be complete. I hate adventures that requires you to fill some parts. I am an experienced DM, and so if I want to run a homebrew adventure I have no problems designing one from scratch, but if I pay money I expect that someone else has already done the job for me. Then, if I don't like some parts, it's a piece of cake to swap them with something else. Don't like the encounter with the monster X? What's so hard with swapping it with monster Y? But if the adventure has an empty location and says "now you decide what is in this room", then I am actually forced to do the job. Half-written adventures are the worst, you have to pay full-price for them and still do some work. The point is, if I want to do the work, I can still do so on top of a complete adventure, but with a half-written adventure I don't have the option.

 

[Schmoe]

For me, DM friendly starts with the organization of information. I need to be able to pick out the important details of an event or encounter area on the fly, when it's needed, without flipping through pages and scanning dense paragraphs of text. The next thing that helps is numerous NPCs with minor details that I can flesh out if I want. I don't mean 5 paragraphs of backstory and deep emotional attachment, but something like "Bob the orc ate Sally Orc's pie and she's still mad." Many of these will go unused, but they really help stimulate my imagination when an encounter goes in unexpected directions.

Finally, adventures that create more adventure hooks than they close are helpful to me.

 

[Nailen]

As part of the NPC description, describe how they might fight, or use their spells.
Would they cast a defensive spell then attack, a defensive spell then run away, or attack from the off. Or something else entirely.
I know some of it depends on the party actions, but several times I have reflected on how I ran an encounter and thought I could have done it better.
DMs that don't want that sort of guidance can, of course, ignore it.

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[JonnyP71]

DM Friendly is very different from Good.

Organization is imo the first and foremost requirement. Doesn't matter how good the story is, how great the maps are, how interesting the NPCs are. If the adventure is not well organized then you can't find what you need when you need it.

Bang on. One of the best adventures of the much vaunted 1E module era was I4 - Oasis of the Lost Palm. Intrigue, interesting NPCs, great setting, engaging challenges for the party. It was brilliant. Apart from the fact that the DM had to read it from cover to cover several times to piece it all together, and even then it was tough to run, with information scattered, and lazy editing. It's still a good module - just not one a novice DM should even dream of running.

The most DM friendly modules were the UK series in 1E AD&D. Tidy, clear, maps on the loose cardboard sleeve. Well written and well edited, with key items highlighted in the text. Comprehensive monster information in the text, combined with an additional monster roster in some of the adventures printed on the cardboard sleeve. Neat episodic plotting. They were as simple to understand and to run as any adventures before or after. British writers led the way here, and made the US TSR releases look lazy and rushed in comparison.

In 5E The Lost Mines of Phandelver is the most DM friendly - again it's well paced, the chapters are sensible and succinct. There's plenty of sensible DMing advice in there. But WotC's insistence on having the maps in with the text and the stat blocks at the back is what marks all modern adventures down in comparison with the best from the TSR era.

 

[Anthony Pacheco]

Bang on. One of the best adventures of the much vaunted 1E module era was I4 - Oasis of the Lost Palm. Intrigue, interesting NPCs, great setting, engaging challenges for the party. It was brilliant. Apart from the fact that the DM had to read it from cover to cover several times to piece it all together, and even then it was tough to run, with information scattered, and lazy editing. It's still a good module - just not one a novice DM should even dream of running.

The most DM friendly modules were the UK series in 1E AD&D. Tidy, clear, maps on the loose cardboard sleeve. Well written and well edited, with key items highlighted in the text. Comprehensive monster information in the text, combined with an additional monster roster in some of the adventures printed on the cardboard sleeve. Neat episodic plotting. They were as simple to understand and to run as any adventures before or after. British writers led the way here, and made the US TSR releases look lazy and rushed in comparison.

In 5E The Lost Mines of Phandelver is the most DM friendly - again it's well paced, the chapters are sensible and succinct. There's plenty of sensible DMing advice in there. But WotC's insistence on having the maps in with the text and the stat blocks at the back is what marks all modern adventures down in comparison with the best from the TSR era.

Thanks.

How about this:

Statblocks: Abbreviated statblock in the text. Full statblock at the end of the chapter/section

Maps: Map inline with the text, separate PDF Map folio supplied with printed book, separate printed map folio

 

[Monayuris]

A great example of a DM-friendly module is Stonehell Dungeon.

A free preview is available here: http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/mich...eon-preview-ebook/ebook/product-16061318.html

It is a megadungeon for old school D&D, but I consider it the gold standard in adventure design.

Information presentation is its strength.

For any given area, it puts details common to that area in one place. I can read or skim to get a general idea of the place. Room descriptions are concise. I don't need paragraphs of flowery text to describe a location. I just need to know what's in the room... I can describe it and embellish in my own way.

The map and room key are on the same split, so I can just lay the book in front of me and easily keep track of everything. I don't need to flip back and forth from section to section. The beauty of this is that the entire level is laid out before me... its easy to determine if player actions will influence other areas (noise etc). This helps make the dungeon more dynamic.

Special locations that need greater detail to describe are separated from the main map/key... if the party is dealing with such a location, I can flip to that section just for that room.

 

[Quickleaf]

As a DM I've always been on the lookout for Dungeon Master friendly material, not just inspirational material.

I was talking to my DM friend and business partner the other day and realized my definition of "DM Friendly" and his did not quite match, and where it did match the priorities were different. I placed "Great Encounter Maps" as my #1 followed by "NPCs with clear motivations".

For the 5E DMs out there, what game mastery attributes to a module do you look for or wish there was more of in the 5E products you buy?

This thread I started a while back may be of interest to you: What do you want in a published adventure? What do you consider “adventure design best practices”?

I noted down patterns that came up in conversation here on ENWorld, then went back and edited my initial post with how many folks wanted to see which features in D&D adventures/modules.

 

[HawaiiSteveO]

I should be able to actually use the majority of the material provided!

Gang is having a blast with ToA so far, but man IMO the book is bloated and could have been tighter / shorter!

Maybe Wizards could release smaller books, but more often, rather than 256 page books a few times a year padded with filler. My group is just reaching Fane of the Night Serpent, and I could have done without Slave Labors, Temple Roster (painful!), and Temple Reinforcements sections!! Filler, filler I say!

I realize some folks may find these sections useful, and I say well done to you! It would be great to prep to the extent that I can roll on a table and be able to competently play the result on top of the other dozen or so plates I have spinning at any given moment!

 

[aco175]

Check Quickleaf's link to the last thread showing the wishlist for everyone's idea of the ultimate, best module layouts over this threads DM friendly layout. There is a ton of great info there. My opinion of DM friendly is something that I can run in short time with no/little prep. I find maps something that only DMs look at unless it is a player handout, so they only need to be functional. Artwork, while pretty is not needed and takes up printer ink- same with layout options with colored backgrounds and margin scrolling and such. DM friendly also should be generic enough to be able to place in many locations without trouble. I also like having stat blocks in the room description rather than flipping in another book or at the end of the module, even if the same monster is used again.

 

[ad_hoc]

To me, DM friendly means material that is written with the understanding that the DM is going to modify the content to suit their needs. For an example of what I mean by that, I would much rather have a bulleted list of details about a scene for me to convey to the players in my own way, as opposed to a block of descriptive text that someone else has already written for me.

It's funny because to me this is the complete opposite of DM friendly.

I bought the adventure so I don't have to do that work.