D&D 5E What 5E Most Needs Is...Usable Parts

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I still haven't quite forgiven the parents for tossing my stack of White Dwarves and Dungeons. It was only 20 years ago...

 

[Mercurius]

I would certainly like to see more 'bit' modules. I homebrew most of my own campaigns. I would likely never run HotDQ or other such modules. I prefer to build the overall story arc myself (though I might be in the minority with that). I would LOVE to have small adventures that are campaign neutral and limited to say 1-2 total levels. A module dealing with the assassination of a local noble by a thieves guild that spans character levels 3-4 would be an example. Or a dungeon crawl in search of a rare magical herb for a local Druid enclave that deals with a run through an abandoned Dwarf outpost that will take characters from level 6 to 7....I think you get the idea. I like your idea of self-contained encounters as well. A well built black dragon lair in a swamp or a coordinated ambush by orcs along a trade route would be neat as well. Basically, I would like to see options to plug-and-play to create unique campaign progressions which can merge with my existing work.

Exactly - not much to add to that, but this is exactly what I had in mind.

5e versions of...

• Dungeon Delve (4e)
• NPC Codex (Pathfinder)

...would give me a nearly complete 5e DM's toolkit (and cover a lot of your wants).

Agreed, those are the sorts of products I'm talking about. Actually, I've been skimming through Dungeon Delve and it is making me really appreciate 5E. Some good stuff there, but the look and feel of the delves with all of the grids and stat blocks is...well, a bit off-putting. But yeah, that sort of thing - and more of it. Dungeon Delve was one of the better products for 4E, imo, at least in conception.

Yep I totally agree. I am currently at work and have absolutely nothing planned for my game tonight. With this edition I am having a real hard time coming up with a decent campaign and I could really use some adventures to build off of. Tonight's game kinda got set up on short notice, so I could really use a stand alone dungeon to crawl or something. I just have too much going on in a busy adult life and I am lazy on to of that. Having to come up with absolutely everything all the time is tough.

This is kind of where I'm at, although I've got a bit planned - but a game tonight as well.

PotA is a grab-bag of dungeons. If you have a need for this kind of thing, and a tiny bit of time for prep, it's a good buy. I feel like
maybe this point is getting lost in the "oh not another mega-campaign" narrative.

I agree that PotA is a good product with some nice usable parts. But most of it still requires a fair bit of work to port it over, if only to figure out what to port over and how to do it. I mean, I hear what you are saying but it is similar to the "there's tons of support for 5E, just look on dndclassics.com" narrative, which missed the points that A) not everyone has the time and energy to convert old stuff, and B) a lot of folks want new material, new stories and ideas.

Not the kinds of resources I've ever felt a strong need for. I'd only use modules when expected in organized play like AL. My style tends more towards the improvisational, 4e was the only edition since early AD&D where I did any prep for encounters, and that only because it was so easy. 5e encounter design guidelines aren't really worth going through, though, and monsters are easily condensed into a few critical number as in classic D&D (and it's easy to ballpark those numbers) so it really lends itself to no/minimal prep and improvisation. Fun for me, but if that's not your style...

Well it is my style, but what you say really only applies to monsters and combat - which I agree is pretty easy to improvise. But what about scenarios and adventures, site locations and dungeons? Sure, all of that is possible to improve - and there's always the random dungeon generator, but it would still be nice to have some relatively polished building blocks to work into an otherwise improvisatory game.

 

[neobolts]

it would still be nice to have some relatively polished building blocks to work into an otherwise improvisatory game.

Yeah, some ready to go options are always nice to have as a fallback. I typically do all the design work for my sessions. I occasionally run whole modules. But what would be nice is some NPCs, delves, etc that can be pulled out when session prep time is cut short, or when the players go off on a wild tangent and I don't want to improvise classed NPCs and mini-dungeons.

 

[LandOfConfusion]

I would certainly like to see more 'bit' modules. I homebrew most of my own campaigns. I would likely never run HotDQ or other such modules. I prefer to build the overall story arc myself (though I might be in the minority with that). I would LOVE to have small adventures that are campaign neutral and limited to say 1-2 total levels. A module dealing with the assassination of a local noble by a thieves guild that spans character levels 3-4 would be an example. Or a dungeon crawl in search of a rare magical herb for a local Druid enclave that deals with a run through an abandoned Dwarf outpost that will take characters from level 6 to 7....I think you get the idea. I like your idea of self-contained encounters as well. A well built black dragon lair in a swamp or a coordinated ambush by orcs along a trade route would be neat as well. Basically, I would like to see options to plug-and-play to create unique campaign progressions which can merge with my existing work.

Stuff like this seems perfect for EN5ider. Plug and play scenarios, locations, secret organizations, adventure outlines, etc. Anything inspirational and that can help with preparation. Building blocks if you will. I'm already loving what I have seen so far from EN5ider, but stuff like this would be a godsend.

 

[Tony Vargas]

what you say really only applies to monsters and combat - which I agree is pretty easy to improvise. But what about scenarios and adventures, site locations and dungeons?

Even easier to improvise, IMHO. No numbers to ballpark, just descriptions. For instance, take a story (book, movie, fairy tale, whatever) and a pre-modern place & time in history (or fiction) other than the one the story's set in. Boom, an adventure: villains, setting, conflict. Another trick is to draw inspiration from the characters. Say everyone just brings the character they want. Find something at least a few of them have in common (or complementary) - like similar/related alignment, ideals, race, background, or whatever - tie them together with it, and riff off it.

Dungeon maps and locations can be re-used from older eds and other games. I re-use maps from Encounters (back when it included little perks like that) all the time, for instance.

 

[CapnZapp]

Sorry, DM aids sells by definition only to a small percentage of the customer base (only one in five is the DM, and far from all DMs need help), so, won't happen.

Not from Wotc/Hasbro, that is. If 3PP are ever let in on 5th ed, perhaps.

 

[Celtavian]

I want more books with monsters and stuff.

 

[fjw70]

A lot of the bits you mention are being produced for 5e but are limited to AL distribution.

I mostly cobble together adventures from older edition, but I would like to see a print on demand option from D&D Classics. My PotA is suppose to be here on Monday. Hopefully that can be useful as well.

I really want to see monster cards. THAT would really help me. I am considering making my own, but I hate those kinds of projects.

 

[Mercurius]

Even easier to improvise, IMHO. No numbers to ballpark, just descriptions. For instance, take a story (book, movie, fairy tale, whatever) and a pre-modern place & time in history (or fiction) other than the one the story's set in. Boom, an adventure: villains, setting, conflict. Another trick is to draw inspiration from the characters. Say everyone just brings the character they want. Find something at least a few of them have in common (or complementary) - like similar/related alignment, ideals, race, background, or whatever - tie them together with it, and riff off it.

Dungeon maps and locations can be re-used from older eds and other games. I re-use maps from Encounters (back when it included little perks like that) all the time, for instance.

Even easier to improve for YOU, Tony. What you describe is indicative of "DM mastery." Not all of us are "master DMs." To become a master DM one must DM consistently over many years; I've DMed over many years, but it is has been in relatively short periods sometimes separated by years.

That said, I can improvise and do so every game session. But I still like the idea of having usable parts to slot in.

 

[Mercurius]

Sorry, DM aids sells by definition only to a small percentage of the customer base (only one in five is the DM, and far from all DMs need help), so, won't happen.

Not from Wotc/Hasbro, that is. If 3PP are ever let in on 5th ed, perhaps.

If you think about it, ALL products other than the core rules fit this criteria. Who buys "Arcane Power?" DM completists (who buy everything) and some players who play wizards. That's a relatively small percentage of the customer base. The type of DM aids I'm talking about would also be bought by completists, but also many DMs who need or want extra material to work with.

My point is that we could use your argument for just about product other than the core three, from DM aids to player splats to setting books. Furthermore, Paizo seems to publish all of these types of products but seems to be doing well with them. I don't know for certain, but I don't think any of their hardcovers were huge duds.