D&D General Matt Colville on adventure length

[MerricB]

Man, people really need to break out of their official WotC material only bubble. The OSR says hello. People regularly buy short modules. Goodman Games sell a ton of them.

There are a lot of sales on the DMs Guild of short adventures, too.

Though, when we're talking about Wizards numbers of any particular adventure - not even close.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[werecorpse]

He is talking about LMoP though not the Stormwrack Isle, which is the current one. I would agree that LMoP isn't necessarily the best for totally new DMs, but WotC has addressed that by making a simpler starter adventure.

Fair enough, yes he doesn’t specifically address that starter adventure.

 

[mamba]

Could you name a few that work that way and don't rely on knowledge found in previous episodes?

no, they do rely on that knowledge, in that sense they are building on each other, but I did not consider that a problem. They stand alone in that they have a proper goal and ending individually instead of just being another step to some final goal (they are that in addition to having a goal of their own)

Examples of that are GDQ series, DL series

 

[LesserThan]

You do know that is only two adventures, right, and the second is HUGE?

Really? I did not know, never played it. Why is it 1-4 then? People got to be confusing.

 

[cbwjm]

Adventure league titles seem to be similar in size to the modules Matt was talking about, though I'm not sure about getting a few sessions in for each of them. I'm also not sure how stand-alone they are as they tend to be part of a series of connected adventures.

 

[MerricB]

Adventure league titles seem to be similar in size to the modules Matt was talking about, though I'm not sure about getting a few sessions in for each of them. I'm also not sure how stand-alone they are as they tend to be part of a series of connected adventures.

It varies. Most of the Season 1 adventures are very stand-alone, with thematic links to the larger story. There are about three that are "arc" stories.

Later seasons are far more connected.

I do feel that one session adventures are... a little short. I enjoy them from time to time, but I want a mix.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[cbwjm]

It varies. Most of the Season 1 adventures are very stand-alone, with thematic links to the larger story. There are about three that are "arc" stories.

Later seasons are far more connected.

I do feel that one session adventures are... a little short. I enjoy them from time to time, but I want a mix.

Cheers,
Merric

I'd prefer a mix as well, some single session one shots mixed in with some 3 or 4 session larger adventures. I think single session adventures, based on the westmarches system needing to return to town at the end of each session, led to our last group falling apart. We're still trying to sort out something new.

 

[MerricB]

no, they do rely on that knowledge, in that sense they are building on each other, but I did not consider that a problem. They stand alone in that they have a proper goal and ending individually instead of just being another step to some final goal (they are that in addition to having a goal of their own)

Examples of that are GDQ series, DL series

I think G and D are better examples of such than DL. When I get time, I'll go through a few notes about how they work.

Cheers,
Merric

 

[MerricB]

I'd prefer a mix as well, some single session one shots mixed in with some 3 or 4 session larger adventures. I think single session adventures, based on the westmarches system needing to return to town at the end of each session, led to our last group falling apart. We're still trying to sort out something new.

My group was doing a scheme we called "Weekend adventurers". Each session would be a weekend, and they'd have a week of downtime thereafter.

During their adventuring weekend? Delving into the depths of the Castle Greyhawk megadungeon! So each session could stand alone, but they had a big overall dungeon to keep their attention. Or I could run shorter sidequests as well in the city and wilderness.

(I used Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works and Castle of the Mad Archmage as the basis for what appeared in the dungeon, btw).

Cheers,
Merric

 

[bedir than]

I'm sensing a Colville-ism happening.

It's where he says a thing that he profoundly believes, but his actions don't back it.

He's not making short adventures. He killed his product that did that. He makes big ass books now.