D&D 5E Why does WotC put obviously bad or illogical elements in their adventures?

[ccs]

And for experienced DMs that's great (and easy) for new DMs learning the ropes they have not only to master the rules but also fix the published adventures when the writers take them down a random path. I just think it puts unneeded burden on their customers and that's not OK. There's still room for improvement. D&D is exploding in popularity so new DMs are being created every day. WotC should be making it as easy as possible for them to run their adventures.

Sure it's OK. Learning to make some kind of adjustment or other to the game/story is part of becoming a better DM.

 

[JeffB]

And for experienced DMs that's great (and easy) for new DMs learning the ropes they have not only to master the rules but also fix the published adventures when the writers take them down a random path. I just think it puts unneeded burden on their customers and that's not OK. There's still room for improvement. D&D is exploding in popularity so new DMs are being created every day. WotC should be making it as easy as possible for them to run their adventures.

I think the AP format is bad for new(er) DMs. I don't like it period, but how they are being presented I think would be really overwhelming to many potential DMs.

That said, there is a big difference between "helping me" and "doing everything for me".. There is no way they can do the latter. As in life, experience and sometimes failure are often the best teachers. In this case, come up with something that suits you and your players and roll with it. Its just a game of make believe, I'm sure whatever you come up with will work fine.

 

[jasper]

I think Tales of Yawing portal covers most of this problem. RESKIN. In the Against the Giants chapter a lot of monsters are reskin. The glacial Rift room 24 visitor room. Hill Giant servant (use Ogre stats) page 183. Shambling Mound in basement is really the creature under the bed etc. Also by reskin WOTC cuts down on Monster Manual creep.
Now back then the writers may thought it was not a problem.

 

[Ovinomancer]

No I haven't taken any offense at people disagreeing with me.


Thank you for informing myself and everyone what we can and can not do. We appreciate it.

I thought you wanted an open and respectful attempt to understand my points. Apparently not.

Once more I will attempt to withdraw from discussing this with you. Let see if you accept that.

I will note, again, the irony of accusing me of not engaging honestly when your response totally ignores the actual discussion of the main point and instead focused on how you're not taking offense while you demand I allow you to stop posting about it. Permission granted?

 

[ccs]

Are you really saying that you think WotC has no fault at all? That there's not something they could do to smooth out the running of their adventures (for new DMs especially?)

Compared to stuff from previous editions the current crop IS pretty smooth....

Because trees don't live in subterranean basements and it has not connection to the cult or the house. Now a flesh golem animated by the spirit of the dead baby? That's thematic and is the perfect and logical "boss" for the end of that dungeon, IMHO. Not some random shrub Same XP (if my memory serves) yet utterly different thematic feel and strongly ties the whole thing together.

Just because there's a man-eating plant lurking in the basement doesn't mean that there has to be some connection to the previous occupants or their goings on.
And sure, a baby ghost animated flesh golem might be a really cool concept. But have you read the stat block for a flesh golem? The XP is the same as a Shambling Mound, but a 2nd or 3rd lv party will have one helluva time even phasing the golem. It's IMMUNE to non-magical weapons that aren't made of adamantine, has advantage on all saves vs spells/magic effects, is medium sized, and moves at '30/round. So not only won't your party be likely to hurt it, they won't likely be outrunning it either....

The problem is with the poor population living next to these zombies. We're really supposed to buy that people continued living next door to houses of zombies filled with their former neighbors?! No - every time a zombie house appeared the remaining humans would burn it to the ground with the zombies inside, thus keeping the village safe. A village filled with burned out husks next to homes with people still living in them would be an interesting setting.

Well, on this I agree. Ravenloft, as the one off vampire castle adventure is pretty awesome. But Ravenloft/5e Barovia as a demi-plane of dread setting, is a steaming pile of nonsensical crap. It's like a guided boat ride through Halloween Land.
It was bad in 2e/3x with different realms dedicated to different horror movies/stories. Now it's even worse as all that crap has been squished into this 1 little mountain valley of horror.
When we played it, after awhile my character began commenting on the continuous ridiculousness being encountered. The DM was trying t run a "serious" game. And I'm convincing the other players that it's not real, that it's just a dream....

Yeah but also at the end of the day I'd like WotC to put a bit more effort into building their worlds in a coherent manner so I don't have to

Will I get what I want? Probably not. Will I start homebrewing adventures? Probably yes. But I think that's unfortunate because I'm not asking for that much really. Just a little more thoughtfulness, but that's apparently an outrageous imposition!

You know what's going to happen? You're going to spend a lot of effort crafting your own version of perfect. And it'll seem great. Until later when you re-read some part of it, or a player points something out, & you realize that YOU have included some oddity, or omitted some detail, that you'd have criticized WoTC for.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you thinking "That won't happen to me!"

 

[Ovinomancer]

Compared to stuff from previous editions the current crop IS pretty smooth....




Just because there's a man-eating plant lurking in the basement doesn't mean that there has to be some connection to the previous occupants or their goings on.
And sure, a baby ghost animated flesh golem might be a really cool concept. But have you read the stat block for a flesh golem? The XP is the same as a Shambling Mound, but a 2nd or 3rd lv party will have one helluva time even phasing the golem. It's IMMUNE to non-magical weapons that aren't made of adamantine, has advantage on all saves vs spells/magic effects, is medium sized, and moves at '30/round. So not only won't your party be likely to hurt it, they won't likely be outrunning it either....




Well, on this I agree. Ravenloft, as the one off vampire castle adventure is pretty awesome. But Ravenloft/5e Barovia as a demi-plane of dread setting, is a steaming pile of nonsensical crap. It's like a guided boat ride through Halloween Land.
It was bad in 2e/3x with different realms dedicated to different horror movies/stories. Now it's even worse as all that crap has been squished into this 1 little mountain valley of horror.
When we played it, after awhile my character began commenting on the continuous ridiculousness being encountered. The DM was trying t run a "serious" game. And I'm convincing the other players that it's not real, that it's just a dream....




You know what's going to happen? You're going to spend a lot of effort crafting your own version of perfect. And it'll seem great. Until later when you re-read some part of it, or a player points something out, & you realize that YOU have included some oddity, or omitted some detail, that you'd have criticized WoTC for.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you thinking "That won't happen to me!"

Of course it will happen. I homebrew all the time, and it happens. But, I don't excuse it as trivial, I take it as a learning experience and try to do better and b), I don't pay money for it.

 

[LordEntrails]

I think the AP format is bad for new(er) DMs. I don't like it period, but how they are being presented I think would be really overwhelming to many potential DMs.
...

Agreed. I'm not a fan of the AP format either. And agree that they are not for in-experienced DMs or those that don't want to feel like they have to adapt them to their table.

Hasn't LMoP pretty much been the "Here's the straight forward adventure you can pick up and run or learn to DM with" solution since it was published?

 

[Hussar]

Of course it will happen. I homebrew all the time, and it happens. But, I don't excuse it as trivial, I take it as a learning experience and try to do better and b), I don't pay money for it.

See, the thing is, your "illogical scenario " isn't the same for everyone. And WotC isn't writing for you and your table.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Hasn't LMoP pretty much been the "Here's the straight forward adventure you can pick up and run or learn to DM with" solution since it was published?

Close as anything.


Which is not very close. Learn to run by playing for a good long while, first. See how good games are run, learn from the mistakes of bad ones. Get to know the system, the assumptions, the traditions, etc...

 

[Hussar]

I'm not sure that the AP's are really that big of a challenge. It's no different than what we did back in the day really - a series of modules wasn't exactly rare. Whether you did the A series or a G series, we certainly played "AP's" from the very early days.