Why the lack of 3rd party adventures

[Nebulous]

I dunno, Rappan Athuk seemed to do pretty good.

But, I agree, the traditional module - 30-50 pages, soft back with removable map - is probably not a good idea. The newer forms that seem to be coming out might be the way to go - tying adventures to minis, including some sort of game with the adventure outside of DnD, collectable adventures? I dunno, something like that.

What about the mega-Rappan Athuk Reloaded. Anyone seen that yet?

And i have Red Hand of Doom and very much like it. Both artistically, thematically, conceptually and writing wise. It is just FUN to read, which a lot of adventures can't boast. And tying in high quality miniatures to the adventure is a brilliant idea. WotC has already gotten more $$ off me from that tactic.

 

[RodneyThompson]

I'm actually not so sure that a lack of new OGL material is necessarily hurting the production of adventures. I would think a lot of publishers would want to keep things as simple as possible, and using too much OGL material can be somewhat troublesome. When you use material that comes from any source other than the three core books, most times you must be sure to reprint that material from the OGL since no product assumes that the reader has anything other than the three core books.

So let's say, for example, that I wanted the arch-villain of my new adventure to be a warlock. Not only would I have to include that character's statistics in the adventure, I would also have to reprint enough of the warlock class feature descriptions (plus any warlock-related feats) in the adventure, eating up valuable word space.

For example, a couple of months ago I finished up an adventure for Green Ronin's new Bleeding Edge adventure line. I was given a strict word count that I couldn't go over, and also expected to include a small amount of 100% new material (monsters or magic itmes and so on) to give the adventure its own unique flavor. If I'd had to waste any of my word count re-explaining the warlock's class features and such it would have cut into the adventure's length, which I was having a hard enough time hitting word count.

I don't claim to speak for every publisher by any means, but any time you start trying to pick up OGL material that is not in the three core books you start running into word count issues that result from reprinting other peoples' mechanics. In the context of a larger sourcebook this might not be so bad (what's 1,000 words out of 120,000?) but when you're doing a 20,000 word adventure it becomes quite a bit more significant.

 

[buzz]

I find this thread perplexing because:

a) I can't really get behind any position based on the concept of "you're not giving me enough free stuff" (the WotC not releasing more OGC)

2) There's more adventure material out there by WotC and others than I could conceivably use in my lfietime.

Ergo, like the many "adventure product" threads I've participated in before, I'm not seeing where there's an actual problem to be discussed.

 

[Voadam]

I find this thread perplexing because:



2) There's more adventure material out there by WotC and others than I could conceivably use in my lfietime.

Ergo, like the many "adventure product" threads I've participated in before, I'm not seeing where there's an actual problem to be discussed.

More than I could possibly use does not equal meets the needs of my game. High level needs in particular are not overflowing with adventure options.

Epic for example, what is out there? Epic handbook sample adventure, drow war part III, a (very) few in Dungeon? Could convert old basic D&D adventures from the master and immortals set. Anything else?

Fourth level I have enough free adventures for a dozen campaigns, but the higher the game the rarer it gets to find appropriate challenge stuff.

 

[buzz]

More than I could possibly use does not equal meets the needs of my game.

Well, it all depends on said needs. In a general sense, however, there's more advnetures out there than you could shake a petrified wombat at.

High level needs in particular are not overflowing with adventure options.

Doesn't Dungeon pretty regularly have high-level adventures? Like, every month?

Epic for example, what is out there?

I'll grant you that. The quesiton is, how much demand is there for Epic product? I don't know.

 

[Monkey King]

People come up with new solutions to these issues though…
Think about: http://customadventure.livejournal.com/

Thanks for the plug! I've written adventures for Dungeon, for TSR, and for WotC, and I still have to say, they're a tough sell.

The Open Design project is meant to tailor adventures for SMALL audiences who want better adventures. I've got the chops to write a great adventure, but finding that audience is hard work as well -- I'm really acting as both a publisher and a designer.

I'm a better adventure designer than a publisher, and in the long run, it's probably more effective for me to just submit my best work to Dungeon than to publish directly.

But hell, check out the site and prove me wrong. I've got a great clockwork mage/deal with the devil adventure brewing (among others), and it would be terrific if folks from this thread gave it a shot.

 

[Monkey King]

Epic for example, what is out there? Epic handbook sample adventure, drow war part III, a (very) few in Dungeon? Could convert old basic D&D adventures from the master and immortals set. Anything else?

FWIW, if current trends in the contributions continue, the Open Design project http://customadventure.livejournal.com will be designed for relatively high levels. It will not, however, be available for anyone who doesn't sign up by July.