D&D 5E (2024) Heroes of the Borderlands

[Peter BOSCO'S]

"You don't need to know the castellan's name, but you 100% need a map of the general store" is ... idiosyncratic.

It'll be interesting to see how much of B2, Return to Keep on the Borderlands and the Borderlands novel show up in this boxed set.

Well, back in the day PC's were likely to try to rob the store, so it was really a dungeon and it therefore needed a map. Conversely, they weren't going to talk to the Castellan, they were going to kill him after they killed all his soldiers, after their robbery of the store was interrupted. [Source - I played back in the day....]

 

[mamba]

Well, back in the day PC's were likely to try to rob the store, so it was really a dungeon and it therefore needed a map. Conversely, they weren't going to talk to the Castellan, they were going to kill him after they killed all his soldiers, after their robbery of the store was interrupted

guess the adventure is perfectly adequate for that style of play, it’s just not what I was looking for even back then

 

[DEFCON 1]

this does not change the amount much at all, only the timing and how much time the DM can spend on it

Sure it does. The improv DM only "fixes" the stuff that actually comes up when the party engages with it, while the other DM "fixes" everything they think is wrong before the game even begins.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm a good improviser, but pulling consistently good names out of a hat is hard for me and a lot of other people. The improvisers on The Adventure Zone famously got stuck with the terrible "Barry Bluejeans" when they had to come up with a name on the fly and then were stuck with that NPC -- who just became more prominent as time went on -- for years.

At the very least, I would have included a name generator in the back of B2. (I add those to even adventures I make for myself nowadays, just so I won't ever get stuck.)

If that kind of DM knows they can't make up names that they believe are quality... then that DM should have the foreknowledge and wherewithal to have a list of random names at hand.

At some point, a DM does have to take personal responsibility if they know they need certain things to make the game work in the manner they want. They can't all be lazy and expect every product to just do all their work for them.

 

[DEFCON 1]

not sure such a DM would use KotB as a starting point, that might actually be more work than starting fresh

That's entirely up to that particular DM to make that decision for themselves. Some will not bother and instead look elsewhere, some enjoy the process of filling in the gaps. To each their own. It is not up to the adventure writer to create something that is all things to all DMs, because that is impossible.

 

[mamba]

It is not up to the adventure writer to create something that is all things to all DMs, because that is impossible.

not being able to be all things to all people does not excuse creating a bare bones highly improbable / nonsensical scenario with no intrinsic motivations however.