D&D 4E 4E Adventures: Are there any GOOD ones for customizing?

[WizarDru]

I am currently a DDI subscriber (though this year, I only JUST decided to maintain that subscription as I feel the value proposition is tenuous). One of the things I had most hoped for from DDI was the high quality adventures I once used to enjoy from Dungeon magazine. I found Dungeon to be invaluable during the 3E era....but now, not so much.

I rarely use printed modules as presented, but often cherry-pick, modify and sometimes use precious little more than some maps, stat-blocks or illustrations for my needs. Sometimes I use stuff whole hog (like I used to do with Pathfinder, pre-4E and the PF RPG). Paizo doesn't do 4E, however, so that avenue is dead to me (and since some of the best material in Dungeon was from Paizo....)

Part of this, I suspect, appears to be the focus of 4E. Modules under the DDI version of Dungeon are....well, they're like Hobbes' idea of the natural state of man: "nasty, brutish and short." Most of them are little more than excuses to stage some set combats. Which I think is an intentional focus...to present something that will take a single night to play through and go home. Take issue 184's "Head in the Clouds". I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that module can be boiled down to this: "Giant Head with attached fortress descends slowly but uncontrollably to earth. Monsters attack it, causing it to malfunction and the players may be able to save it and its owner." The module is basically a combat that can be avoided by diplomacy, a combat that can be aided by Arcana and a combat against the aggressors. The End.

Don't get me wrong, here. I actually think this is a decent module, for what it's trying to do. It sets up three interesting battles and executes them, introduces some neat ideas and wraps up quickly. It works well in most campaigns with only a minimal of tweaking and is attractive, art-wise. I'm not trying to claim the module is bad, it categorically IS NOT. However, it's goals are steadfastly different from what I'm looking for in a module.

What I'm looking for is something more sophisticated or involved. Something more akin to what used to be the purview of Dungeon for years. Not just an encounter, but something with an actual plot. "Head in the Clouds" has no actual plot that you don't add....the plot is: "a giant head crashes and then some ettins and later minotaurs and demons attack it." The players have no real input into the situation, per se. What little plot exists is there to move the players along from one battle to another. Compare this, then, with something like the Shackled City Adventure Path or the Village of Hommlet or any number of more detailed adventures.

Issue 185's "Bark at the Moon" is a step in the right direction, although it wasn't quite to my taste. A lot of the modules/adventures seem very...limited. Safe. I don't know. I like what "Bark" is trying to do, even if I'm not really a fan of the plot, per se. It actually feels like a story, not just an excuse to roll from one combat to the next.

What I'm looking for, then, are suggestions for other modules/adventures that I can adapt for use in my current 4E game. DDI's ease of stat-blocks ironically means that I'm not as invested in such material for an adventure. I'm looking more for something that offers me something I don't have easy access to or who's done the heavy lifting (or in this case, thinking) for me.

What 4E adventures have you found fulfilling or worthwhile and why?

 

[Locutus Zero]

I agree about Bark at the Moon, so maybe we have similar taste. The Reavers of Harkenwold adventure in the Dungeon Master's Kit was fantastic. It takes players from level 2 to level 4. They find themselves in a barony of small agricultural towns that have been taken over by an outside army. They must help the local resistance in taking back the area. It was fairly well fleshed out, and I found many more places to add something interesting. I don't know the policy on spoiling adventures in this forum, so I won't get too specific, but I only had one major complaint about the pacing, and I was able to correct that myself.

 

[MrMyth]

Here are some I've heard good things about at mid-heroic to paragon level:

Monument of the Ancients (13th level, set in the Forgotten Realms city of Phlan)
The Last Breath of Ashenport (8th level, far realm theme)
Sleeper in the Tomb of Dreams (8th level, dungeon crawl with a nice bit of flavor)
Oasis of the Golden Peacock (7th level, desert themed)
The Tear of Ioun Trilogy (Touch of Madness, Depths of Madness and Brink of Madness (10th - 13th level, far-realm themed)
The Maze of Shattered Souls (15th level, trek into the Demon Wastes of Eberron, excellent flavor)

Not sure if these are exactly what you are looking for, but some of these feel a bit more robust than simply being dungeon crawls, and are generally quality overall.

Some lower level ones I liked were Cross-City Race and Dead by Dawn, but those are also pretty direct in what they do, rather than being full-fledged plots.

I know there have been also some more recent adventures of which I've heard good things, but don't know much about myself. Bark at the Moon, as mentioned. HS1 - The Slaying Stone. Lord of the White Field. The Radiant Morn. The Vault of Darom Modar.

Again, haven't dealt directly with any of the recent ones, but have heard good things about them, so hopefully somewhere in there is something of use to you.

 

[aco175]

I agree with Sleeper in the Tomb of Dreams. I used this in my campaign and the players found if rather good. There is a bit of dungeon crawl, but there is flavor wrapping it that I have now as local flavor going on for several more levels.

It opens with meeting a group of Raven Queen pilgrims from the monastery up the road. I had this placed in an abandoned mountain pass so the players never been up the road and when they eventually did, I had a place for them to go and some npcs already to send them on another quest. I also laid a preview to the history of the module in an earlier quest when the pcs rescues someone captured and takem to his abandoned keep- which the pcs have taken for their own.

The only negative I had was that it was mostly aberant creatures from the far realm. The monsters are ok, but for some reason I never been a fan of the far realm. Maybe is that monster that looks like a ball of tube worms. I do have another tie in with the module when I hve the old npc come for help with dealing with the star monsters and his warlock pact.

 

[Grabuto138]

Like you I rarely use modules. But I admit I don't really understand what you are getting at with your post.
I love quick and dirty encounter-based modules since I can fill in all the details and roleplaying elements with my campaign.
I wish more of the modules were a progression of level-appropriate encounters. Too many Dungeon modules are all plot and character and other things I would rather take care of myself. Honestly, I would really prefer if WOTC would publish encounters with monsters, traps and environments that I could just plug into my game.

I admit I had lots of fun with the "Worse than Death" module. But we roleplayed alot and I played the NPC's to the maximum.

 

[WizarDru]

Like you I rarely use modules. But I admit I don't really understand what you are getting at with your post.
I love quick and dirty encounter-based modules since I can fill in all the details and roleplaying elements with my campaign.
I wish more of the modules were a progression of level-appropriate encounters. Too many Dungeon modules are all plot and character and other things I would rather take care of myself. Honestly, I would really prefer if WOTC would publish encounters with monsters, traps and environments that I could just plug into my game.

Thanks for the suggestions, all.

I like quick-and-dirty encounters, too...but I can do those, myself. If I'm going to buy an adventure, I'd prefer it actually have something I couldn't do myself in five to ten minutes. Stat-blocks are plenty and numerous, so what I want are either interesting combat set-ups that are more than a simple mini map and some 'they start HERE' notes and an actual story that takes more than three minutes to assemble.

"Head in the Clouds" has no actual story. The players arrive and fight. Then maybe they help keep the fortress from breaking completely down...and they do this mostly by fighting. Then they defend the fortress from aggressors bent on stealing it. The End. That's not an adventure, that's three linked encounters. Great for a night, but not much more.

I never see modules that have actual, interesting skill challenges, for example. The best skill challenge I've ever seen was from Piratecat in his thread about his game, where he is constantly expanding their scope. I ran an entire combat with 40 pirates and the PCs and some allies at first level using a skill challenge...and it was a BLAST. I don't see modules doing that sort of thing...and it's kind of disappointing.

I should also point out that I'm not asking to be limited to DDI, just that I have access to it. If there are good RPGNow modules, for example, I'd love to hear of them, too.

 

[UHF]

I think that WOTC is trying to appeal to a younger generation and not us older folks.

I think there is another aspect to this, in that WOTC has been very 'encounters' driven. Namely their technique for pulling new players in at stores, and RPGA.

Now, when I was young, (30 years ago) my games were more hack and slash, of the Dungeon Crawl Classics vain. These days, I can no longer tolerate that. I want a story that interacts with the players. (And to be fair, even some of the best adventures don't do that.)

So... Of the WOTC adventures I've enjoyed, Dead By Dawn was a blast, I enjoyed Storm Tower (might change how those corruption corpses work though). I have not been able to finish any adventures that are even vaguely longish. I quit Orcs Of Stone Fang Pass about 70% through. (The Storming the Gatehouse part was fun.)


Modules for sale worth looking at... War Of The Burning Sky, anything from Blackbyrne Press, Court's Of The Shadow Fey (kobold quarterly), and of course Zombies Ate My Baby.


I've started converting and adapting adventures from 3.x and that has been a very positive experience. My players are begging for more, and I'm enjoying it.

The Freeport Trilogy is excellent and available on RPGNow. All the 'encounters' are presented in a mini 'sandbox' format, so the adventures just roll no matter what direction the players go at it.

Other adventures from Paizo should be fun if converted. I'm eyeing the Kingmaker adventure path, and the Soul's For Smuggler's Shiv. I'm dying to do something set in the Iron Kingdoms. (bodgedtogether.com has produced all the setting 'rules' you'd need.) Paizo has an RPGA like set up, and some of those adventures look quite a bit more interesting.

 

[renau1g]

I've converted the first Kingmaker AP adventure and it's awesome. Paizo rocks adventure writing, but it's a pretty big workload converting them. Essentially you re-create the module using the story/scenario and then combining/re-building encounters.

 

[Herschel]

I built a campaign around an LFR module, The Radiant Vessel of Thesk. But then again I love the new Thay and the goal of kicking the lich's butt in to oblivion.

 

[UHF]

I've converted the first Kingmaker AP adventure and it's awesome. Paizo rocks adventure writing, but it's a pretty big workload converting them. Essentially you re-create the module using the story/scenario and then combining/re-building encounters.

Care to send some of that my way?