D&D General The Biggest Problem with Modern Adventures...

[Reynard]

This isn't about modern urban fantasy games like d20 Modern or Dresden Files?

It could be. I'd want stand alone adventures for that, too.

 

[GMMichael]

. . . D&D needs more official in print not AL adventures that can be dropped into ongoing campaigns because telling super long predetermined stories is a terrible way to run D&D and maintain any sense of player agency.

Don't worry. One of Chris Perkins' goals is to make the new DMG better for new DMs.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

...is that they are too long. We don't need "campaigns" that take us from level 2 to 11 or 13 or 20. Diversity of experience is important. I hope that in the not-6E era, shorter, more focused adventures come back into vogue and big adventure campaigns/APs disappear.

We have tons of variety already. Tons of short adventures.

There is a place for both, asking for big ones to vanish seems unneeded.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

...is that they are too long. We don't need "campaigns" that take us from level 2 to 11 or 13 or 20. Diversity of experience is important. I hope that in the not-6E era, shorter, more focused adventures come back into vogue and big adventure campaigns/APs disappear.

Well, the Spelljammer adventure isn't that long, and there is a new short adventure collection scheduled for early next year. I think folk are well aware of the desirability of shorter adventures, and the WotC adventure paths have always been designed to be dismantled for parts.

The issue is simply economic. Magazine sized "modules" are just too expensive to produce, especially with distribution and paper costs skyrocketing. So shorter adventures either need to be part of a collection, or digital only. And we know how some people feel about the latter option.

 

[aia_2]

IMHO i do see a problem worse than thr lenght/scope of current megamodules... Being an old gamer i miss that part of "poetry/romance" which was present in former plots... It is smtg really thin in terms of definition. let me try to explain it: in some old modules, the story, the hooks were triggered by the quest towards the unknown regardless to the final reward... I remember some modules where the rewards was the appreciation of the people of a village, with zero material returns! From what i have seen now, this poetry has been forgotten...

 

[Hussar]

Hrm... need short adventures.

Well, we've got TotYP - 7 adventures, Phandelin, Ghosts of Saltmarsh 7 adventures, Waterdeep Dragon Heist - it's only for levels 1-5, a bit longer, than a standard adventure, but, not much, Candlekeep Mysteries 17 adventures, and a new collection of short adventures coming out soon.

So, 33 short adventures. All 100% official. Exactly how many are needed?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I remember some modules where the rewards was the appreciation of the people of a village, with zero material returns!

Really? That sounds more like modern adventures to me. It was the olden days when it was assumed adventurers wouldn't get out of bed unless they were offered a huge sack of gold!

 

[delericho]

Well, we've got TotYP - 7 adventures, Phandelin, Ghosts of Saltmarsh 7 adventures, Waterdeep Dragon Heist - it's only for levels 1-5, a bit longer, than a standard adventure, but, not much, Candlekeep Mysteries 17 adventures, and a new collection of short adventures coming out soon.

You beat me to it. Sure, WotC don't publish the old 32- and 64-page adventure books of old, for economic reasons. But they have published several collections of smaller adventures that would seem to be almost exactly what the OP is looking for.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Ideally, you have both.

This is the way.

There are lots of really cool things you can do with a full 1-to-max adventure path that are much, much harder to do as a DM patchworking together individual adventures. Callbacks and interrelations and such. As someone who has fully 100% homebrewed his own home campaign, it would be a GODSEND to have already-written-out info for all the TONS AND TONS of characters we've met, all the locations we've been to and adventures we've had. Four years in, it's hard for even the really invested players to keep track of everything that's happened.

On the flipside, with great responsibility comes great freedom. There's a bunch of things that wouldn't have worked in a pre-planned 1-to-max AP, because I as DM can much more easily swerve things to handle it. And the players know that, whatever happens, it's because they made choices that mattered; they know how seriously I take player agency and investment. So a world where there are ONLY 1-to-max APs would be bad too.

The salad bar is a great option for people who like being able to customize their meal to the Nth degree. The Chef's Special is great for folks who want a tailored experience cooked to perfection. The two are complementary, not contradictory.

 

[aia_2]

Really? That sounds more like modern adventures to me. It was the olden days when it was assumed adventurers wouldn't get out of bed unless they were offered a huge sack of gold!

Maybe it is a bias I have: i do not see anymore that feeling in modern adventures... Sorry, an important detail: i am mainly referring to PF and 3.5! I don't know so well 4E and 5E to express my opinion.