Adventure Survey

[Christina]

Your check is in the mail, Christina.

You keep saying that, but I've yet to see it. ;-)

Seriously, BSOF is good stuff, and it combines a lot of playing styles, so all of your players should be happy. And it's mega, so you'll have a lot to work with.

In terms of modules I've liked: The Witchfire Trilogy, if you can work it into your campaign; the Freeport ones; and some of the Monkey God & Necromancer ones.

Unfortunately, as more companies stop creating these things, your future choices are going to shrink tremedously. I buy modules a lot, so I personally find that upsetting.

Christina

 

[d20fool]

Adventure Survey Results (so far)

Adventure Survey, early results

There are several customers that buy multiple adventures. They often buy ahead of time.

“As a DM, I spend absurd amounts on adventures (close to $1,000 this year already.. I have more than I can use for the next few years)”

“I do buy adventures: I can mine them for ideas, if nothing else, and there are lots of times when I don't have the time to write up an entire original adventure of my own”

"Unfortunately, as more companies stop creating these things, your future choices are going to shrink tremendously. I buy modules a lot, so I personally find that upsetting."

"I buy a ton of adventures."

Things that people like in their adventures include:

Length, the like mini-campaigns that represent more work and creativity than they could accomplish on their own.

“I also like mega-modules since I get a lot of mileage from them. (And have been eagerly awaiting Black Sails Over Freeport for a while!)”

“I can fill a cave with orcs on my own; I want the adventure to have enough creative material to inspire me beyond what's just in the book itself.”

“I desire mega-adventures as well... I usually pick these up before any other kind. Problem is ,there aren't all that many around.”

“For a great example of a type of mega-module I'd like to see more of, see the 2nd edition box set "Return to the Tomb of Horrors". It's an adventure that not only had dungeon crawls, but a city adventure, a "lost city" adventure, and a visit to another plane. Great stuff.”

“I would also like to see more mega adventures in general, stuff that covers 10 or more levels of play.”

Settings that are portable to fit into most game worlds and interesting enough to be used when the adventure is over are valued very highly.

“I would buy an adventure setting that works like a microcosm campaign world that can be used for future adventures as well as a place that players enjoy to role play in rest/heal/train.”

“We used Hommlet again and again after initial adventure. For a base for characters as well as future adventures close to Village.”

"I really like adventures set around a small town or village. Like a lot of Necromancer's stuff, or Ed's stuff.
It's very easy to plug into the game world. And can be reused a lot."

Keeping this setting interesting enough to be used but generic enough to fit in the customer’s world is very important

“Generally, adventures are too hard to fit in my world.”

"I don't buy adventures as a rule (too hard to fit into my homebrew)"


Plots that are interesting, intelligent, creative but not “out-there”

"Finally, I dislike stories that are "way out there" or too weird. Dungeon Magazine adventures are about as weird as I am willing to accept (and even then I groan a few times when reading them)."

"Don't insult my intelligence with the plotline. Come up with something interesting, that's not so ridiculous I could never fit it into my setting."

"What I need in modules are good plots.. setting usually makes no difference since, frankly, I find it very easy to modify with little effort."

"I'd much rather the adventure had good plot, ideas, and NPCs."


Price is mentioned as an issue once

"Price is also an issue. Adventures only get used once or twice in their lifetime, while sourcebooks which cost the same amount have a lot more reusability. So I'm not as willing to pay big bucks for adventures- probably $15 at most, and it'd have to be exceptionally good."

Crunchy bits are not vital

"Additional rules content is nice but not something I look for actively. Again, ther's plenty of sourcebooks to choose from. I'd much rather the adventure had good plot, ideas, and NPCs"

Level is not vital, but a concern in some cases.

Some say it's very important

"I don't buy adventures as a rule (too hard to fit into my homebrew), but when I have bought them, I generally look for level and theme."
"I look for level compatibility and is it general enough to fit into my campaign."

"I look for level first, and then whether or not it is compatible in my game. I think there is a host of really good 1st-3rd level introductory modules out there. What I need are things that I can take, and expand greatly on, that I can easily plug into my campaign world. And my campaign is currently high level (10th currently, ending at 20th), so anything below that isn't of interest. There are not a great deal of high level modules."

Most say they scale their adventures or just wait

"The level of the adventure would depend on the level of the game I'm running. However, if the adventure looks like it's something I'd like, then I'll buy it either to read or to convert to my current game. This is sort of another part of "plot before stats"- I can easily swap in new monsters to meet my party's CR requirements. Scability to different levels would be nice, but is still one of the last things I look for."

"I'm willing to look at an adventure regardless of the intended level (since I almost always start a campaign with the intention of going to reasonably high levels). Useful information on scaling the adventure, however, is always appreciated."

"For me, level is *not* a concern at all. Sooner or later my PCs will be of that level, so the level of an adventure is a complete non-issue."

Good villains and NPCs are mentioned

"Very well built NPC villains can be potential plotlines without even writing it into the adventure.
An example would be Obmi the chaotic evil dwarf in Hall of the Fire Giant King."

"I also like well described NPCs, in both terms of personality and physical description. I'm awful at coming up with both, so having info on what they look and act like is very helpful."

I never knew maps were so important

"I also am *very* picky about the maps. The maps have to be good (no computer-generated maps) and absolutely must have grids for interior locations. No grids = no buy."

"Sometimes would just use dungeon map for a quick dungeon. Often using the tower map and the Inn of the Welcome Wench map for other D&D games (completely out of context with Hommlet)."

"I need good maps... I hate modules with inadequate maps as my players (and myself) like to be able to see the areas they are exploring. Even outdoor maps are fine (non-FRC) because I simply change them around a bit and find I can make them fit somewhere appropriate on Faerun."

Favorite products and publishers include

early Fiery Dragon
Necromancer Games
Freeport Trilogy
Slavepit series
Return to Tomb of Horrors
Temple of Elemental Evil/Return to Temple of Elemental Evil
Monkey God Enterprises
Giants series
Witchfire Trilogy

 

[johnsemlak]

Well, I currenlty am not DMing, so my buying of adventures as slowed down a bit, but I still and on the lookout for good one.

I agree with Arnwyn's point about level...what difference does it make as long as your characters get there sometime.

I like a variety fo adventure types--dungeon crawls are nice if they have problemsolving elements, but city, wilderness, etc. are good too. Supermodules with elements of everything are nice.

I really like adventures to have lots of illustrations to show players. I think this is very useful in visualizing the scene. I normally don't think artwork is a big deal, but for adventures it's very important to me.

Theme--I suppose I would say I like standard adventures that would fit in a Greyhawk type world, if that answer's that criterion.

I like adventures to be a good read. I love reading adventures and obviously enjoy more when they're we'll written.

One thing I think a lot of people don't appreciate about adventures is they're general longevity in usefulness. Sure, with one gaming group you probably will only run a module onetime. But lots of people change groups or players over time. And that leads to my next point, adventures basically outlast editions. You'll be able to use a good adventure in 4th edition and beyond, something which probably can't be said abouyt most sourcebooks on the market. Look how many old 1e moduels are still being used by DMs.

 

[Endur]

I have bought lots of adventures in the past.

Primarily I bought the classic D&D adventures: Keep on the Borderlands, G1-3, D1-3, Q1, TOEE, etc and various other adventures (tunnels and trolls, arduin grimoire, judge's guild, Chivalry and Sorcery). For 3e, I've bought the WOTC mega modules RTTOEE and COSQ. I've also bought every 3e Underdark module I could find that had drow in it (regardless of publisher).

So, if I see a drow module, I'll probably buy it. Otherwise, I'm not sure.

What am I looking for in an adventure? I'm not looking for a linear adventure ... go to a, b, c. I've seen tons of those.

I'm looking more for a story adventure. A module that has politics and story elements. Good descriptions of npcs and their relationships with other npcs.

I hate dungeons that don't make sense (i.e. the room full of monsters adjacent to another room full of monsters that don't like each other).

 

[darklight]

I have bought quite a few adventures, though I have yet to use most of them.

For me, the 'right size' of an adventure depends on how often your group plays. If I DM'ed a group that played frequently (say every week) I would probably enjoy mega adventures, but as our group plays infrequently, mega adventures just last too long, and tends to get stale. The players (and their characters) need a sense of accomplishment every so often, so shorter adventures work best for our group. If a mega adventure consisted of many different missions, it might fit the bill, essentially being a series of intertwined short adventures. If it also gave the pc's freedom of choice on which missions to do when it would be perfect. It would really be an entire campaign. Off course the theme would have to be interesting Is "Black Sails over Freeport" anything like this?

I like adventures that are open-ended, allowing the players to choose their actions freely, without breaking the adventure (anti-railroading.) Necro's "Vault of Larin Karr" is a good example of what I mean. It is, in a way, more of a mini campaign setting, wherein several subplots take place simultaneously, that the pc's can take part in, or not, as they choose. It has several detailed NPC's that they can interact with in any way they choose, which will then have an effect on how other NPC's react to them. Very cool. Another major factor is that it's a setting, which makes it much more reusable.

Now, I'm not saying that more standard dungeon adventures can't be fun, but they must have hooks that will interest different sorts of groups, ie. both 'the good guys' and 'the greedy guys.' The adventure also has to be fairly logical and consistent. If there is a powerful wizard doing something really stupid or a cleric-turned-evil still living in the temple without the other clerics/paladins noticing his evil, there has to be a very good explanation.

Since our group doesn't get to play that much, I often just buy adventures for my own reading pleasure, and with the hope that I might get to run them sometime That means that I don't buy adventures that will 'fit in my campaign' but the ones I just find interesting. Since I don't have a FLGS nearby, I can't look through anything before buying, so I read a lot of reviews, mostly here on ENWorld, before I decide what to get.

Hmmm...I'm rambling on here I guess...it is getting a bit late (3 am) so I'd better stop here

Edit, added: The extra rules/monsters and so forth in adventures has absolutely no selling power to me, but isn't it a requirement of the d20 license that every book has to include at least 5% new open game content? It often seems to me, that it is only there to fulfill that requirement.

darklight

 

[jmucchiello]

The extra rules/monsters and so forth in adventures has absolutely no selling power to me, but isn't it a requirement of the d20 license that every book has to include at least 5% new open game content? It often seems to me, that it is only there to fulfill that requirement.

Actually new monsters and such are there because adventures have always had new monsters and such. I don't understand people who complain about the inclusion of new stuff in adventures (not that darklight was complaining).

The Demi-lich was a new monster when it appear in Tomb of Horrors. There were no Kuo-Toa or Drow before the D1-3 modules. WG4-Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (sp?) had a whole booklet of new monsters. The Cloaker was introduced in the second slaver book (A2). Many of the classic modules had new monsters and magic items in them. Why shouldn't newer adventures continue this tradition?

 

[johnsemlak]

Actually new monsters and such are there because adventures have always had new monsters and such. I don't understand people who complain about the inclusion of new stuff in adventures (not that darklight was complaining).

The Demi-lich was a new monster when it appear in Tomb of Horrors. There were no Kuo-Toa or Drow before the D1-3 modules. WG4-Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (sp?) had a whole booklet of new monsters. The Cloaker was introduced in the second slaver book (A2). Many of the classic modules had new monsters and magic items in them. Why shouldn't newer adventures continue this tradition?

Another point is to introduce something new and unexpected to the players during the adventure. A new monster, or magic item, or spell is a good way to do this. Or, a new situation not covered in the core rules (remember X7-the War Rafts of Kron, with rules for underwater combat?)

BTW, it's S4- The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

 

[Eosin the Red]

I will second or third the "no out there stuff." I run a fairly traditional fantasy setting and wild aerial or underwater or on the moon stuff is useless.

I found Witchfire to be a great series for multiple reasons - the only downfall was that in some places you needed a 'Jak to finish the adventure. I don't use them so I had to come up with something else (there was also some railroading in places but the DM can circumvent that).

One item that I rarely see commented on....An adventure should be a good read for the DM. I have tons of gaming stuff that I have bought because it was entertaining to read.

Maps....Do it right or don't do it at all. A cheasy map is the easiest way to turn me off (other than a goofy cover). I prefer works of folks like Chris West, Scorpio, 0one Games, and Todd Gamble (?). Some map folks can produce good works in some areas but not in others.

Art...needs to be passable or absent.

I like series of modules as opposed to mega adventures. Series seem to have natural break points and are better segmented if you want to leave off and come back later.


Those are my two bits.

 

[darklight]

jmucchiello and johnsemlak those are indeed valid points. I should probably clarify that I don't think there should absolutely no new rules content (monster etc.) in an adventure. It can add to the fun, by exposing the pc's/players to something new and surprising, I merely don't see that as crucial and would just as well buy a good adventure that includes no new rules content.

darklight

 

[Arnwyn]

Why shouldn't newer adventures continue this tradition?

Because times have changed?

Really now, back then new monsters were appreciated because there were very few monsters period.

Nowadays there are, well... too many.