DMs: Do you alter gaming material before using it?

[Psion]

Just wondering if anyone else out there is like me and feels that a lot of D&D/d20 material can be improved upon before play.

Clarification: I am asking about source material here, like feats, classes, spells, and items. I am not talking about adventures; I always expect people to have to tweak those.

 

[Desdichado]

I didn't exactly see my option: I tweak just because it's fun to do so!

 

[Oracular Vision]

I have tournament-level players, and none of the modules I have bought are ever challenging enough for them, so no choice but to tweak. Plus, it is better to have a story arc, and modules must be bent into it or its just one random thing after another.

 

[Henry]

I generally do not tweak stuff, because most of it is not unbalancing, or is not too unbalancing. There are only a few things, such as some of the Prestige classes in AEG's War, that make me stand up out of my seat and say, "Good Lord in HEAVEN, what convinced them to print this????????"

 

[Crothian]

I tweak to fit character concepts, I tweak to fit the campaign, I tweak to help the game run smothly.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

tweakage a go-go

I run everything for my game through my twin inbuilt detectors; the first for just plain bad ideas (quicker than the eye, jack of all trades) and the second for broken rules (improved critical, prestige classes which).

If it makes it through that, its allowed, if not the default is to ban it. If there's either a player clamouring for the concept rather than the rule, or i thought "great idea, poor implementation" then I rewrite, tweak or munge up until it works (psionics handbook, demonology; the dark road, plenty of prestige classes)

Obviously I do this retooling on a per-need basis

Luckily I use my laptop for running the game; if its not in my own documents for the campaign, its not allowed.

This also covers situations where a player would like something converted - it gets worked on then added to the notes so everyone can have it from then on.

 

[Falcon]

I tweak everything as needed. The published materials serve as an initial framework for the particular session, nothing more.

 

[EOL]

I tweak flavor stuff (names, locations, setting) every single time, but tweaking rules elements and magic items given away, that's far more rare.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

I'm with EOL, usually just change a few names and stuff. Sometimes i'll alter the monsters in modules to make them fit the campaign more. I run in Mystara so theres quite a few unique monsters.

For feats, classes, etc. i'm willing to run them as is. If they truly suck or are totally broken then i discuss it with the player and tweak it a little. I usually don't presume to know what is 'balanced' or not just by looking, especially since every group is different. I have a list of stuff i've tried already and decided to tweak, it goes into my campagn handout so everyone is on the same page. Mainly Bard skill points to 6+, Skill Focus, and 2 weapon fighting. And the If Thoughts Could Kill psi rules.

Companies have a tendency to get really game-breaking with spells, though, so i review non-WotC ones first. If any spell becomes a problem i look to see first if its my fault ommiting something, or indeed the spell needs altering. Most of the problems i've read on these and other boards stems not from broken rules, but bad DMing.

I'm a pretty liberal DM though from what i've read on some boards.

 

[Surreal]

what exactly is a tournament-level player?

Surreal