D&D 5E Is every Official Adventure Going to be about Saving the World?

[Zaran]

Why would you want your heroes doing anything LESS than saving the world? An RPG where you run a bakery would get rather boring.

Not everyone wants to be heroes all the time.

 

[delericho]

This is the problem with the adventure path format. If you want adventures that take you up to Epic-ish levels, then the stakes are accordingly high.

There's a lot of truth in that. And with two Paths per year, it's very likely most, if not all, of them will head for those high levels.

Still, while high-level characters should change the world with their adventures, it doesn't necessarily follow that they have to save the world. A good example would be Pathfinder's "Kingmaker" path (excluding the last adventure) - over the course of which the PCs establish a brand new kingdom of their own. (Indeed, one could readily see WotC doing their own version, should they ever produce some suitable realm-management systems.)

Other possibilities might be a path that culminates with one or more of the PCs achieving divine ascension, or a path in which the characters first acquire an Ultimate Helm and then sieze control over the Spelljammer. My most recent (Eberron) campaign ended with the PCs finding themselves in a position to extinguish the Silver Flame, to relight it as-is, or to enter the Flame and combat the demon bound there and thus purify the Flame - no worlds were saved as a result, but the decision made did change the world.

All that said, I think it's likely most paths will indeed wind up as "save the world", if only because that's the most obvious approach to take. Even then, though, the manner in which it is saved is important - saving the world by preventing the BBEG entering the world is rather different from saving it by mustering and leading the armies of Elves and Men.

And all that said, I'm actually less bothered by campaigns that culminate with "save the world" than I am by adventures that boil down to "kill everything in the dungeon". Thus far it does look like 5e has done better in that regard than other recent editions, but it's early days yet...

 

[Jester David]

It's likely the best to start with classic save-the-world storylines and work towards other stories, albeit still popular genres. Once a back catalogue of classics and traditional adventures has been published it's easier branch out into more fringe stories and settings.

That said, WotC has established their campaigns as being "events" where the main story unfolds in the adventures but there's spill off in the novels and comics and video games. So it's hater to do just a mega-dungeon with no story or a player directed exploration adventure, as those make poor tie-in.

 

[delericho]

Why would you want your heroes doing anything LESS than saving the world? An RPG where you run a bakery would get rather boring.

I didn't realise those were the only two options!

What about a campaign where the PCs are all scheming vampires trying to clamber over the exsanguinated corpses of their enemies to take over the city?

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Yeah, in another year or two it's going to be "Oh, yeah...er...I suppose I could give up farming for a while to go save the world from Fraz'Urb Luu's attempt to destroy it. *shrug* Why not? I mean, how long could it take, really? I'll get some armor and a sword, and we can beat the crap outta some low-life demon worshipers, get the skinny on when and how he's going to do his thing, and then put a sword in his head. I'm sure that I'll find all the necessary equipment along the way, so...yeah. I'm in! When do we start? Tomorrow? Ok, we'll do lunch and get this party started!"

The names of these Adventure Paths give away too much. There's little surprise....kind of like someone telling you to go watch the Star Wars movies, saying "Yeah, it's a space-opera style movie series about a farm kid who becomes this epic, mystic, space-wizard. He fights the evil Empire and kills the Emperor at the end, in an epic battle on a huge space station". I mean, you give away the beginning, you give away the middle, and you give away the end. Those are three of the four major parts of a decent story (beginning, middle, end, denumont (sp?)). Hoard of the Dragon Queen is kind of a dead give away for the main bad guys..."So, we fight dragons, and Tiamat at the end then huh?". Ending it with a book called The Rise of Tiamat pretty much cements it. If I was a player, my guess would be "We get attacked by a dragon first, survive, beat on some dragon worshipers, fight another couple dragons, get equipment and information leading us up to a big fight with some aspect of Tiamat, save the world...then go have waffles. Correct?".

Admittedly, there can be a lot in a name, but at least with the 'old modules' (re: 1e days), there left a lot to the imagination. Names like "Tomb of Horrors", "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks", "Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh", "Dwellers of The Forbidden City"....no real info gleaned from the name. Reading the blurbs on the covers gives a bit more of a hit of things to come, but just look at the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh:

Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the hill, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of a fabulous forgotten treasure. What is it's sinister secret?

Doesn't give away much of anything, really. And here's another...

Somewhere in the heart of the steaming jungle lies the answer to the whispered tales - rumors of a magnificent city and foul, horrid rituals! Here a brave party might find riches and wonders - or death! Is your party brave enough to face the terrors of the unknown and find - The Forbidden City!

Now, in both of those you get an idea for what and/or where the meat of the adventure takes place...but that's it The actual discovery of a mystery, the uncovering of the secrets, and the realizations of what dastardly plan is in the works is, IMNSHO, one of THE major draw's to RPG's. If I'm reading a book, I expect to have a bit more info to go on before I purchase it, because in a book the story is done...you have no control...you are simply along for the ride. But in an RPG...you are co-author, primarily in a "creative input" role; you get to help shape the story, but where the story actually goes is still a surprise!

Bottom line: I'm not likely to buy any of WotC's new "paths" unless they start putting out a detachable map booklet in the back, and each book is 20% to 30% maps. I want a 1st level dungeon/ruin area to have a minimum of three levels, each with no less than a dozen "rooms". And, seeing as they are attempting to "mainstream" D&D with all manner of other consumer goods (I'm still waiting for the Dungeons & Dragons breakfast cereal...), I don't think creating lasting and re-usable adventures is their thing.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[am181d]

I didn't realise those were the only two options!

What about a campaign where the PCs are all scheming vampires trying to clamber over the exsanguinated corpses of their enemies to take over the city?

In order to shut down rival bakeries???

 

[Tormyr]

If the first mega adventure involves saving the world, its kind of hard to lower the stakes for a follow up.

In Tyranny of Dragons your PCs battled a ruthless cult bent on summoning Tiamat to devour the world!

In our next adventure path installment, Eradication of Sweetness, a vicious cartel of humanoids and giants team up to steal and hoard all the candy in the world!!

Yeah, once you lead with save the world, nothing else really has a chance.

Dude, that is still totally saving the world. Unless you are a dentist. Then it is job security.

 

[delericho]

In order to shut down rival bakeries???

Crush their bagels. See their pastries driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their donuts!

 

[pming]

Hiya.

Why would you want your heroes doing anything LESS than saving the world? An RPG where you run a bakery would get rather boring.

I haven't read much Conan, but how many times has he saved the world? What about Fafhard and the Grey Mouser? I'm sure they've done it inadvertently, but I don't recall any stories of them that saved the world from certain destruction. Sure, they've dealt with huge threats...but world-spanning? I don't remember any...

The point is this: D&D isn't about saving the world! Dungeons & Dragons is about being an adventurer in a fantasy world. Some people play it as epic, save-the-world-as-we-know-it campaigns, some play it as gritty, dirty, deadly anti-hero style campaigns, and others play it as somewhere in between (...raises hand... With WotC focusing on ONLY the "save the world" side of things they are going to loose out on thousands and thousands of sales (re: like me). I said it waaaay before 5e was even a twinkle in WotC's eye...I think the best thing for them to do is come up with two or three "styles" of adventures and publish them under different "names". They could have the World Shakers, line (where the save-the-world adventures go, and they could have the Shadow Figures line that focused on the more gritty and grey adventure styles, and maybe they could have a third Adventurers Guild line that was more akin to the classic style of "old skool dungeoneering-focused" adventures. Alas, that would mean dividing up revenue and hiring more people, thusly reducing their bottom line...so that ain't gonna happen. But it's a nice dream, isn't it?

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Tormyr]

It's more like "We can't go off on our own adventures because if we do then the Cultists will win" It's a form of railroading and not the good kind. I actually like the Tyranny of Dragons stories but if you think about it, novice adventures turn into epic level champions in a matter of maybe half a year of adventuring. I would much rather an adventure path be way more sandbox and have many side activities or gaps between the main plots where the GM can add in down time and other unrelated adventures.

There is usually not anything in an AP (at least not the ones I have looked at) that requires things to be done lickity split one after the other. You can totally go and do stuff between lots of the missions. There will be consequences such as hostages dying in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it can still be done.

I know they got a lot of criticism, but I really liked Murder in Baldur's Gate and Legacy of the Crystal Shard because they included some flexibility in the adventure. The party could go any one of several directions. An AP says, "This is the general path you will take." It is good for DMs who are new or don't have a lot of time to prepare. My first campaign is Age of Worms, and we started in April. At the beginning I told my players, "Look, we decided to do this adventure path. As an AP it is a bit railroady. I can handle a bit of shenanigans and going off the beaten path, but if we are going to commit to do this, we have to accept that we are going to go with the missions that are placed before us." The players accepted, and we have been having a blast. My next campaign in a year or two time might not be an AP.

It seems like you would prefer a campaign guide versus an AP.