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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 9353983" data-attributes="member: 11">First of all, sorry for the long post, but. . . .I love published adventures and about 85% of what I run is based on published adventures. The problem with them is when you try to run them so-called "as written," as opposed to taking the time to adapt them to your specific setting and group of players (and your own style). I like to mix and match, hack 'em apart, and run them over and over when I can.Some caveats<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I am talking about D&D here - I think one of the reasons I haven't run other games as much is because of lack of module support (my most success is with superhero games and I know comics well enough that I find that easier to improvise.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I don't run them as in "this is the module we are doing next," but as just things that happen in the game. Players may not even know they are "in a module."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Using published modules doesn't really save me all that much prep time (some but not close to half), it just makes me spend that time in different ways. I have often said when writing (non-RPG stuff) that I hate writing but I love re-writing. Published adventures are perfect for that preference because they are already written! All I have to do is re-write.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I prefer older edition modules and adventures. For modules I almost exclusively use 1E and BECMI folio type and for adventures I use Dungeon Magazine from the 1E/2E/BECMI era and adapt them. That is not to say I would not use a 3E or 5E adventure, I just haven't much.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I need the foundation of a published adventure even if ultimately I have to ignore it all because the PCs make choices that it cannot account for. That's fine, that's what the DM is for. That foundation is still a guideline for what might happen. Example, I am currently running a highly adapted version of Temple of Elemental Evil. The party is nearly 4th level and hasn't even gone to the Moathouse yet! So I am working out what the evil forces there might do sans any adventurer intervention. This would be harder to do (for me) without having a sense of who and what they are from the published work.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This doesn't mean I don't ever write adventures from scratch. I used to do it a lot more (7 of 16 adventures I ran for my <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/out-of-the-frying-pan-story-hour-portal-thread-compiled-pdfs-updated-for-2024.76999/" target="_blank">"Out of the Frying Pan" campaign</a> were written by me) but I much more likely to write a "scratch" adventure using a map, premise, or NPC lifted from a published module. For example, while I say I ran "B7 - Rahasia" for the aforementioned campaign, I doubt it'd be recognizable to anyone who played through it with a different DM. Maybe some names and the elven enclave would be familiar. Below is a list of every published adventure I have run in my 5E era (since 2020) and how many times each. This represents three different campaigns and 108 sessions.</li> </ul> <table style='width: 100%'><tr><th>Adventure Name </th><th>Source </th><th>Times Run </th><th>Notes</th></tr><tr><td>A Wizard's Fate</td><td>Dungeon #37 [September/October 1992]</td><td>4 </td><td>includes the 3 times I ran it <a href="https://www.dungeonsndrafts.com/" target="_blank">Dungeons n' Drafts</a> events</td></tr><tr><td>The Seven Deadly Skylos</td><td>Dungeon #51 [Jan/Feb 1995]</td><td>1 </td><td>Based on "The Bandits of Bunglewood"</td></tr><tr><td>And a Dozen Eggs</td><td>Dungeon #30 [July/Aug 1991]</td><td>2 </td><td>Highly adapted</td></tr><tr><td>U1 - The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh</td><td>Ghosts of Saltmarsh</td><td>2 </td><td>Ran the original module several times back in the day, tips for HOW I RUN IT <a href="https://how-i-run-it.com/2023/02/13/dragon-mag-monday-102/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr><tr><td>The Matchmakers</td><td>Dungeon #7 [Sept/Oct1987]</td><td>2 </td><td>Adapted; neither party took the hook</td></tr><tr><td>Roarwater Caves</td><td>Dungeon #15 [Jan/Feb 1989]</td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>U2 - Danger at Dunwater</td><td>GoS</td><td>2 </td><td>Ran this twice during 1E/2E days, read about how I run it for 5E <a href="https://how-i-run-it.com/2023/11/16/revenants-of-saltmarsh-2/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr><tr><td>The Whale</td><td>Dungeon #35 [May/June 1992]</td><td>2 </td><td>Sidetrek</td></tr><tr><td>Salvage Operation</td><td>GoS</td><td>2 </td><td>Read about HOW I RUN IT <a href="https://how-i-run-it.com/2024/03/28/revenants-of-saltmarsh-3/" target="_blank">here</a>.</td></tr><tr><td>N1 - Against the Cult of the Reptile God</td><td>1E module (1982)</td><td>1 </td><td>Played through this as a player leading to TPK and ran it for 2E.</td></tr><tr><td>Song of the Fens</td><td>Dungeon #40 [March/April 1993]</td><td>1 </td><td>Combined with N1</td></tr><tr><td>Isle of the Abbey</td><td>GoS</td><td>1 </td><td>Considered running Dungeon mag version many times but never got around to it.</td></tr><tr><td>Night Moves</td><td>written from scratch</td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Through the Night</td><td>Dungeon #29 [May/June 1991]</td><td>1 </td><td>Sidetrek</td></tr><tr><td>The Wayward Wood</td><td>Dungeon #32 [Nov/Dec 1991]</td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>What's Mines is Mines</td><td>from scratch (basically)</td><td>1 </td><td>Unrecognizably adapted from "Ever-Changing Fortunes" from Dungeon #85 [March/April 2001</td></tr><tr><td>U3 - The Final Enemy</td><td>GoS</td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Before We're Bled Dry"</td><td>adapted from <a href="https://www.dmsguild.com/product/296231/Eat-the-Rich--Volume-1" target="_blank">Eat the Rich</a></td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Troll Bridge</td><td>from Dungeon #36 [July/Aug 1992]</td><td>1 </td><td>Sidetrek</td></tr><tr><td>Necropolis</td><td>Dungeon #16 [March/April 1989]</td><td>2 </td><td>includes the one time I ran it for a Dungeons n' Drafts event)</td></tr><tr><td>Dread of Night</td><td>Dungeon #24 [July/Aug 1990]</td><td>1 </td><td>combined in part with "Of Kings Unknown" from Dungeon #25 and used as ongoing campaign backdrop</td></tr><tr><td>Janx's Jinx</td><td>Dungeon #56 [Nov/Dec 1995]</td><td>1 </td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Secrets of the Towers</td><td>Dungeon #10 [March/April 1988]</td><td>1 </td><td>used as ongoing campaign backdrop</td></tr><tr><td>UK4 - When a Star Falls</td><td>1E module</td><td>1 </td><td>converting/adapting began before Infinite Staircase announcement.</td></tr></table></blockquote>

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