If you were to plot out my D&D purchases by edition, you’d see a very similar pattern. A quick burst from the first three books plus an adventure, steady purchases through the editions middle phase, and then a rapid die off as edition bloat and anticipation of something new occurs.
D&D General (SPOILERS for Vecna: Eve of Ruin) Are My Standards Too High for Adventures?
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
As well you should. But it's not even the quality of the company that should matter... merely whether you think the product is worth owning.
I haven't bought a WotC AP since Tomb of Annihilation. Not because I don't like the company, not because I don't like the themes, not because I think there are gameplay elements that are bad... but merely because I just didn't need them. And yet WotC still continues to publish them. Which says to me that my personal wants, needs, and opinions do not matter. I have absolutely nothing to do with WotC's publishing model.
Which is quite freeing to be honest. It means I can just buy product that I want, when I want it, with absolutely zero concern over what my decision means. To WotC or anybody. If they make adventures that I think suck? That's fine. I just won't buy them. No harm, no foul. If they make a product that I do want? Great! I'll buy it and that'll be that. Beginning and end of the transaction.
Worrying about all the rest of the stuff is a waste of all of our times.
DarkCrisis
Let her cook.
What’s funny about Strahd is it isn’t wholly created by modern WotC. It’s a remake of an old adventure.
I’ve seen people love the updated remasters of the old modules but when it comes to a whole new original adventure they bungle it. Not always of course but when you put out 1 adventure every few months they all need to be gold.
They bungle it just as much as they've bungled almost every single module and adventure they've ever produced. I mean there are very few adventures from the 4E, 3E, or 2E eras that have gotten consistent praise as being fantastic. And even the "nostalgia" AD&D/Basic adventures that get praise for being the "greatest of all time"... every single one can be considered crap by most of the player base who doesn't look at them through rose-colored glasses. Each time someone says The Keep On The Borderlands is the greatest module they've ever run, you'll find a bunch of other people who will say it's a P.O.S.
So in other words... the supposed mediocrity of 5E adventures is not anything that's been worse than most of the other adventures ever written previously over the last 50 years. Sure, there will be a handful of modules/adventures that would probably get S-Tier ranking from 99% of all players... but those are incredibly few and far between. All the rest? From WotC or TSR or third-party publishers? Kudos from some folks, trash-binned by the others.
In other words... yes, I think standards are too high and few modules or adventures reach them.
I think one significant difference is that campaign length adventures were rare in previous editions. If a module was lackluster, it's more limited scope meant it was easier to fix and/or it did not eat up huge amounts of table time.They bungle it just as much as they've bungled almost every single module and adventure they've ever produced. I mean there are very few adventures from the 4E, 3E, or 2E eras that have gotten consistent praise as being fantastic. And even the "nostalgia" AD&D/Basic adventures that get praise for being the "greatest of all time"... every single one can be considered crap by most of the player base who doesn't look at them through rose-colored glasses. Each time someone says The Keep On The Borderlands is the greatest module they've ever run, you'll find a bunch of other people who will say it's a P.O.S.
So in other words... the supposed mediocrity of 5E adventures is not anything that's been worse than most of the other adventures ever written previously over the last 50 years. Sure, there will be a handful of modules/adventures that would probably get S-Tier ranking from 99% of all players... but those are incredibly few and far between. All the rest? From WotC or TSR or third-party publishers? Kudos from some folks, trash-binned by the others.
In other words... yes, I think standards are too high and few modules or adventures reach them.
But I don't think the biggest problem with WotC adventures or Paizo APs is the "quality." I think it is the utility (but I have beat that dead horse many times so I'll leave it at that).
DarkCrisis
Let her cook.
They bungle it just as much as they've bungled almost every single module and adventure they've ever produced. I mean there are very few adventures from the 4E, 3E, or 2E eras that have gotten consistent praise as being fantastic. And even the "nostalgia" AD&D/Basic adventures that get praise for being the "greatest of all time"... every single one can be considered crap by most of the player base who doesn't look at them through rose-colored glasses. Each time someone says The Keep On The Borderlands is the greatest module they've ever run, you'll find a bunch of other people who will say it's a P.O.S.
So in other words... the supposed mediocrity of 5E adventures is not anything that's been worse than most of the other adventures ever written previously over the last 50 years. Sure, there will be a handful of modules/adventures that would probably get S-Tier ranking from 99% of all players... but those are incredibly few and far between. All the rest? From WotC or TSR or third-party publishers? Kudos from some folks, trash-binned by the others.
In other words... yes, I think standards are too high and few modules or adventures reach them.
As mentioned, you have to add it that they release 1 adventure ever few months as opposed to the olden days when it was one or more a month. If you are only going to make one adventure every once in awhile and market it as your next big release, more effort needs to go into it.
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My apologies... but I'm not going to just take your word for it that the designers at Wizards of the Coast aren't putting enough effort into their work. I do not think you have any idea how much work the people on the D&D team at Wizards do or do not do.
Weiley31
Legend
I think the Rod of Seven parts looks a bit weird and looks more like a double bladed crystal blade thing more than a souped up looking Quarterstaff.
Granted, I don't know if the Rod ever had an official image of it fully assembled before the 5E look.
I also think it should be more like a Staff of Power/Magi but SOUPED UP.
Also, I shouldn't be surprised that Vecna is a "nerfed version" of Vecna for the final fight and not like a full on Tyranny of Dragons Tiamat type of stat block.
Is Miska at least somewhat of a decent threat? And how many kinds of Spyder-Fiends are it?
Granted, I don't know if the Rod ever had an official image of it fully assembled before the 5E look.
I also think it should be more like a Staff of Power/Magi but SOUPED UP.
Also, I shouldn't be surprised that Vecna is a "nerfed version" of Vecna for the final fight and not like a full on Tyranny of Dragons Tiamat type of stat block.
Is Miska at least somewhat of a decent threat? And how many kinds of Spyder-Fiends are it?
DarkCrisis
Let her cook.
True I can only look at the final product, look at my own complaints and those by a myriad of others who post their own complaints via reviews and come up with an opinion on the quality of the product and work out into it.
It’s true I was not physically in the room with them when they made Dragonlance or Vecna or several others f the other people have had consistent issues with.
We should just be thankful almighty WotC gives us anything at all and not complain about quality of specially when it comes to a product for money.
Rare point of agreement. They literally have just the one job - produce good content.
