D&D General Matt Colville on adventure length

MockingBird · Apr 21, 2024

Coming in late but wanted to put my thoughts in. I really enjoy the campaign books WotC puts out. We generally have a lot of fun with them. I have looked at shorter adventures too. I ended up embedding The Sunless Citadel into my Phandalin campaign that picked up into Shattered Obelisk. My issues though are the feeling of being overwhelmed when looking through DMsGuild. I spent hours looking around and there's just so many I didn't know where to begin. I also wasn't sure what was "good". I purchased a couple but didn't even use them. I feel like I'm missing out on some very good adventure modules though.

tetrasodium · Apr 21, 2024

MockingBird said:
Coming in late but wanted to put my thoughts in. I really enjoy the campaign books WotC puts out. We generally have a lot of fun with them. I have looked at shorter adventures too. I ended up embedding The Sunless Citadel into my Phandalin campaign that picked up into Shattered Obelisk. My issues though are the feeling of being overwhelmed when looking through DMsGuild. I spent hours looking around and there's just so many I didn't know where to begin. I also wasn't sure what was "good". I purchased a couple but didn't even use them. I feel like I'm missing out on some very good adventure modules though.

It got mentioned in the video, this might help.

Adventure Lookup

Adventure Lookup is a catalog of adventures for Dungeons and Dragons and its clones. We need your help to expand the catalog and ensure each entry is reasonably accurate. Simply create an account to start adding adventures or submit change requests!

www.adventurelookup.com

Scott Christian · Apr 21, 2024

Lanefan said:
Man, if we all took that tack I'd never have played this game, as the crew that got me in would have already given up (their first adventure in 1981 had only 2 survivors, both NPCs; the campaign only continued because those NPCs poured most of the party's treasury into reviving one PC, who built another party around herself and kept at it).

It's like the old Ninja Warrior show in Japan. No one ever made it, and once someone did, they made it harder. There is something comforting for some about seeing the effort. For others, they thought it was stupid. Those that thought it was stupid remade it. The American version is meant to be conquered. Now the question is who can do it the fastest. Some people find comfort in this style of show.

It's weird to me (and I am going to assume most players) that losing a character means you will quit the game for good.

EzekielRaiden · Apr 21, 2024

Paul Farquhar said:
As I understand it, neither you nor Ruin Explorer where there.

And that disqualifies either of us...why, exactly?

MichaelSomething · Apr 21, 2024

MockingBird said:
Coming in late but wanted to put my thoughts in. I really enjoy the campaign books WotC puts out. We generally have a lot of fun with them. I have looked at shorter adventures too. I ended up embedding The Sunless Citadel into my Phandalin campaign that picked up into Shattered Obelisk. My issues though are the feeling of being overwhelmed when looking through DMsGuild. I spent hours looking around and there's just so many I didn't know where to begin. I also wasn't sure what was "good". I purchased a couple but didn't even use them. I feel like I'm missing out on some very good adventure modules though.

May I recommend EN5ider?? The best forum for D&D is also the best source of weekly 5E content delivered right to your inbox! Among the cornucopia of content are well written stand alone adventures! Click on the En Publishing tab, click on that EN5ider button, and enjoy!

billd91 · Apr 21, 2024

Ruin Explorer said:
Yeah I think Champions/HERO doesn't really get enough credit for how profoundly it influenced the genre.

Well, not just Champions. There was SO MUCH going on, even from TSR with Top Secret, a game where the PCs never really felt as disposable as D&D characters. Plus, of course Traveller, which had a very different feel from D&D in what it was likely to focus on.

Lanefan · Apr 21, 2024

EzekielRaiden said:
Precisely. I would never have played early-edition D&D.

Most other people feel the same way.

Given that today's entire hobby is built on the back of early-edition D&D, I'll challenge the bolded all day long.

The rest of your post, I get it. Different strokes, and all that.

Lanefan · Apr 21, 2024

Gus L said:
C) Castle Amber is not exactly a quick adventure...

It's a hell of a lot quicker than Curse of Strahd, though.

A friend has been running CoS for well over a year now..maybe two years, I'm not sure...with a group I'm not in. The various times I've seen/known Castle Amber run, it never took longer than 3 months (weekly play in all cases).

Lanefan · Apr 21, 2024

tetrasodium said:
★You noted being aware of the spells available, a first level ritual that extends the timer 8 hours...

I don't have that one either. That said, extending the timer by 8 hours wouldn't mean much as it's already one day per level of the casting Cleric; meaning when someone dies you've got a minimum of 9 days to get the corpse to someone willing and able to cast Raise Dead on it.

That 9-day limit has, hoever, caused no end of headaches in the past to parties that were more than 9 days away from anywhere useful; and while Resurrection has a far longer time limit, 16th-level Clerics don't grow on trees and the cost is roughly double that of Raise Dead.

Oh, and in my game revival spells of any kind have a small Con-based chance of failing, as per 1e.

Lanefan · Apr 21, 2024

Scott Christian said:
It's like the old Ninja Warrior show in Japan. No one ever made it, and once someone did, they made it harder. There is something comforting for some about seeing the effort. For others, they thought it was stupid. Those that thought it was stupid remade it. The American version is meant to be conquered. Now the question is who can do it the fastest. Some people find comfort in this style of show.

It's weird to me (and I am going to assume most players) that losing a character means you will quit the game for good.

Unless you're Jack Chick, who based his whole tract around the over-reaction of a player to losing her character Black Leaf....

D&D General Matt Colville on adventure length

MockingBird

Hero

tetrasodium

Legend

Adventure Lookup

Scott Christian

Hero

EzekielRaiden

Follower of the Way

MichaelSomething

Legend

billd91

Not your screen monkey (he/him)

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

Lanefan

Victoria Rules

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