D&D 5E Adventures not Adventure Paths

[delericho]

Do you guys tend to run the long adventure parths or like me do you run shorter games?

I ran "Shackled City" (the magazine version), and tried "Savage Tide" which unfortunately collapsed after one session.

But the truth is I buy these paths more to read than to play - our current pattern of play is such that an AP just won't work for us. It would take too long to run end-to-end, and move too slowly to be enjoyable. So I read the Paths, try to build up lots of inspiration, and then homebrew my own campaigns.

 

[wedgeski]

I like AP's as a foundation for what will inevitably become a published/homebrew hybrid. As soon as I start working in the PC's back-stories, the material in the adventure often gets distorted or changed as needs arise.

The modern, 5E AP is also a fantastic repository of raw material. I bought OotA not because I ever expect to run it as-written, but because the Underdark section of my in-progress campaign will benefit greatly from the encounters.

The only AP I've ever run (mostly) as-written was the AD&D War of the Lance, and that one twice. Brilliant and epic.

 

[DM_Jeff]

My biggest gripe with adventure paths is that they all end with saving the world.

Instead of an adventure path, what about a big, meaty sandbox campaign that also gets PC’s to the loftiest of levels but doesn’t involve saving the world? Then check out King For A Day http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/112514/King-for-a-Day]. It’s written system-less but was based off a D&D campaign and uses some great wording to get around IP issues.

 

[Gnashtooth]

That's because the characters at the highest levels are built with the implication they either should be saving the world or traversing the planes. 16th+ level characters really are no longer meant to be fixing run-of-the-mill townwide issues.

What happened to stronghold building and politics? This was a staple of 1st/2nd edition.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

What happened to stronghold building and politics? This was a staple of 1st/2nd edition.

Even in the TSR era, 16th+ level characters were usually provided with some pretty save-the-world or plane-hopping-shenanigans adventures, since the stronghold building and politics you mention kicked in around 9th level.

So it was like 1st-3rd were the dungeon crawly adventures, 4th-9th was were you'd get some bigger country-affecting events going on, leading into 9th-12th or so being in the "we run this place" area of adventuring, and stuff beyond that being when the modules started through you up against gods and demons and different dimensions.

 

[DEFCON 1]

What happened to stronghold building and politics? This was a staple of 1st/2nd edition.

How many 1E/2E adventures written to be purchased were about building a stronghold or running a country?

Yes, you're absolutely right that the expectation in the game itself was those were the kind of things high-level characters could be doing, but there were very few modules (as far as I was aware) written and published about actually doing that. So except in very specific products where the focus would be about that (like the Kingmaker AP from Paizo)... any other AP product's story that starts at low-level and moves up to high-level/epic is probably more often than not going to be about a mounting threat over time and not a series of random adventures that leads to the party getting a keep and running a barony.

But then again... it's not like the current APs are avoiding strongholds/politics for high-level characters. Two huge sections of Rise of Tiamat are all about the party getting involved with the politics of dealing with the Cult on a large scale... having to meet and discuss what is happening with all the different factions and leaders in Waterdeep. And the party is there specifically *because* they are high-level movers and shakers who have been dealing with this threat. So the Tyranny of Dragons AP does bring politics in it... it's just not an AP ONLY about the politics. It also has the major monster threat that characters of 15th+ level should be taking on.

 

[delericho]

How many 1E/2E adventures written to be purchased were about building a stronghold or running a country?

Very few in the 2nd Edition era, and I suspect not many more in 1st. However, the BECMI version of the game, and more specifically the 'E' and 'C' part did feature that element, and it was written into several of those adventures.

(Of course, BECMI was always less popular than AD&D, and especially as the levels increased - many groups treated it as training for the 'real' version of the game.)

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Of course, BECMI was always less popular than AD&D, and especially as the levels increased - many groups treated it as training for the 'real' version of the game.

A product of, if not the intended result of, naming one line Dungeons & Dragons and the other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

I spent a lot of time back in the day playing with folks that genuinely thought it was like the separation between Monopoly and Monopoly Junior - even to the point of saying they didn't want to play if it wasn't going to be AD&D without knowing anything about the differences besides the titles, and only being convinced to give it a shot once I showed them their favorite AD&D character converted to BECMI with weapon mastery rules in use.

 

[delericho]

A product of, if not the intended result of, naming one line Dungeons & Dragons and the other Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Yes, I know. Gygax was absolutely adamant that D&D and AD&D were completely different games, to avoid giving Dave Arneson royalties for the latter. Which was also why TSR had to keep both the lines in print and, officially, separate even though it would have been much better business to merge the two (and so stop competing with themselves).

 

[wedgeski]

What happened to stronghold building and politics? This was a staple of 1st/2nd edition.

Strongholds are in. Check out downtime rules in the DMG.