GMs: How Much Do You Curate Your Adventures To Your Specific PCs, Mechanically Speaking

[Voadam]

I run D&D modules and expand and adapt them a bunch. Mechanically I have changed things that did not look like fun encounters to me, such as a room with eight 3.0 bodaks, each with a save or die gaze attack and swap them out for a similar CR monster. I cannot remember ever swapping things out based on party composition though. Party mixes have generally worked fine in my games without requiring fine tuning to adjust modules to make them work.

 

[kigmatzomat]

I'm pure A.

I leverage published components maybe 25% of the time, but mostly I keep the mechanics as-is and rewrite the plot. Mechanics changes are generally to fix something dumb,

The other 75% of the time the NPCs have resources appropriate to whatever they are and they use them in a way appropriate for who they are.

Using the Pixie Riot band example, well, only a desperate corporate Johnson would hire them...except as a distraction for the "real" extraction team.

Now a non-corporate "greenpeace" Johnson where the target is a well known corporate drekhead....that might happen. It's a giant question mark around PC survival, but it's at least a plausible series of events.

Or a double-cross where the drekhead's corp decided to eliminate the drekhead and discredit ecoterrorists at the same time....

This is a case where the plot is misaligned with the PCs. Like a group of PC drow hired to protect an elven community. You need a lot of plot rework to make it happen. And it can happen, but almost certainly not as written.

 

[Reynard]

I run D&D modules and expand and adapt them a bunch. Mechanically I have changed things that did not look like fun encounters to me, such as a room with eight 3.0 bodaks, each with a save or die gaze attack and swap them out for a similar CR monster. I cannot remember ever swapping things out based on party composition though. Party mixes have generally worked fine in my games without requiring fine tuning to adjust modules to make them work.

I just wanted to highlight this as a kind of curating I am NOT talking about. "Fixing" some nonsense that the writer* put in is different than changing things to make them more appropriate for the specific set of PC abilities.

*I've been that writer/designer. It happens, man.

 

[Lanefan]

Do you:
A. Play the module as written. it is up to the players to figure out how to make use of their PCs' abilities to get the job done.

Yes. Overcoming their own built-in weaknesses is sometimes part of the challenge; and if their party lineup allows them to make some challenges trivial then sure as shootin' it's going to cause some other challenges to stymie them. Fine with me.

Just briefly, to use a D&D example, I don't usually change the challenges present in a published scenario based on the class etc choices the players make. If the all bard party wants to go ona dungeon delve, that is on them; if the all barbarian party wants to infiltrate a royal ball, good luck, etc..

This.

What do you do when the PC mechanical abilities do not match the module you have prepared?

Run the module as written, sit back, and watch the fun.

 

[aramis erak]

When I write adventures, yes, I do adapt them for known factors, to give elements the character is good at and to place challenges optimized for specific characters.

When running modules, I use adjustments for level or number as listed; when adaptations are not included, but base party assumptions are, I'll modify for those.

 

[Blue]

I do 100% homebrew setting and adventures. So as you can imagine narratively it fits the character's actions and inaction.

Mechanically, that's interesting. I frequently look at character sheets to see if there is something unused. A language, a proficient skill, a class feature that never comes up. Just to insert it. Give the character a bit of spotlight and make them feel like their choices were worthwhile.

Now, how much does this impact what I design as a whole? Pretty low as a percentage.

Plus, I am sure so many GMs who claim not be influenced by character mechanics really customize every single battle to the character's power level, so say 60% of all sessions are heavily tailored to the characters mechanically. I will run "non-level specific" games, to use D&D parlance. Make sure you want to get into that scrap, and think about your exit plan in case it's tougher than you were expecting.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

It depends on how much the players’ PCs vary from the typical.

For the most part, I won’t tweak a commercial adventure very much. Then there’s the situation where some modest modifications will keep the adventure playable without adversely altering the flavor of the module.

After a certain point, though, I’ll just decide not to run a particular adventure.

 

[Voadam]

Most of D&D works with whatever party mix you want. OD&D, Basic, and AD&D had fairly strong dependence on clerics for healing though and then at higher levels for fixing things with restoration, remove curse, and remove disease that were not able to be dealt with otherwise, but that was mostly it for significant deficits without a specific type. 3e about half the classes could use cheap cure light wound wands to be the party healer if needed, though there were still a few things requiring higher level clerics like mummy rot. 4e and 5e D&D can run pretty well with whatever PC mix.

Other games have much different situations like Shadowrun with cyberspace and astral stuff where not having a specific type of PC can have a huge impact on what a group can do.

 

[stonehead]

It's a tough question. I don't think I've ever run a module or adventure path, but this applies to "normal" campaigns too I think. The GM still decides what monster lives in that cave, and what trap guards its treasure. Even if you run a sandbox campaign, you'll improvise most of it, but you're still deciding on what the party faces. It's more subtle, but do you just conveniently skip over the shadow statblock because none of your PCs can hit intangible creatures? Do the ice elementals conveniently appear around the time the wizard first learns fireball?

Naively, the game is more fun when everyone gets to do their thing. If someone takes a feat/class/item that makes them immune to fear, they're going to be at least a little disappointed when nothing causes fear for the rest of the campaign. At the same time though, if the game world perfectly adapts to the party to make sure they're always prepared for everything they encounter, then character creation becomes trivialized, or even meaningless. What's the point of picking one ability over another if the world will conspire to make them equal in all aspects?

One specific issue I struggle with is PC abilities whose purpose is just to counter specific enemy abilities. Things like darkvision, Remove Curse, Bravery, etc. If your decision of whether or not to include an enemy with a curse attack entirely depends on whether or not the party can remove it, then you're incentivizing your players to avoid remove curse, because that's just one less thing to worry about. There's a temptation to think "Hmm, curses sure are annoying. We'd better be sure no one can remove them so that the GM can't throw them at us."

I don't have a good answer, and in most of my games I just end up taking some middle ground. If the party is missing something important, like the ability to hit flying foes, I'll try to throw a very easy encounter with a flying enemy. Something easy enough that it won't TPK, but will it will make everyone scramble to buy bows in the next town. If a PC has an ability that never sees use, I'll usually pull the strings so an encounter that lets them use it happens at least once in the campaign. Usually, but not always. PCs get a lot of abilities, and some of them can be very narrow.

 

[DragonLancer]

With regards to published/prewritten scenarios or campaigns, I am extremely unlikely to change anything. Not everything will always be in the characters favour. That's what makes adventures interesting. Homebrew stuff, I am more likely to include something from time to time that allows them to show off their abilities and character specific stuff.