D&D 5E How reusable have you found the AP's?

[Corpsetaker]

How much use have you gotten out of the AP's after your group has finished with them? Do they just sit on your shelf or do you find more uses for them?

What would you rate their re-usability?

Do you feel like you got, and will continue to get, your moneys worth out of the APs?

 

[ammulder]

Out of the Abyss did a brilliant job of bringing the underdark to life for me. If I was going to send a party there, I could use any of the locations without fussing with the demon lord plot.

And SKT has huge swaths of content that can be mined for other plot lines.

I can't say I got as much out of Hoard of the Dragon Queen, except I went back there for the list of caravan NPCs -- it was a big list with plenty of fodder for minor events when the party was on the road for a while.

I've even reused (a little loosely) the Cragmaw Hideout from Phandelver when I needed a random cave for an unrelated adventure.

So I wouldn't reuse them for the overall plot, but in most cases I think there are still useful parts after the first run-through is done.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I haven't run it, but I've gotten a bit of use out of re-skinning the cultists in Princes of the Apocalypse for various non-monster opponents. But after I finish running Out of the Abyss, I don't know that I'll be doing anything with it. I certainly doubt I'll want to re-run it, regardless of how much as I'm enjoying it. It might work as an Underdark sourcebook, but there are already some good dedicated sourcebooks from past editions.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

They are great for that. In fact, I don't even use them for the storylines. I just pull out bits as I need them for mini-adventures and encounters. I wish they had stumbled upon this format in the 80s. It is far superior in terms of presenting content than endless Swampscape: The Complete Book Of Swamps type books.

 

[LordEntrails]

I've never planned on re-using them with the same group. At times I've used various past APs (pre 5th Ed) with different groups. The current ones I can see using some for reference info on locations and NPCs, but I don't need to particularly use partial plots and encounters again, I feel those are easy to find and easy to create.

 

[delericho]

I think both CoS and SKT could be fun to run for two different groups - the structure of the adventures is such that they're likely to play out very differently each time. I wouldn't try to reuse with the same, or a substantially similar, group though.

That said, all of the APs have bits that might not be hit, and so could be ripped out for later recycling.

 

[Ath'kethin]

The only part of the APs I've ever used was the Yikaria from Storm King's Thunder. But I've used them quite a bit.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I can't speak specifically to the 5th edition adventures yet, but I don't see why they'd be any different - I've found any adventure content to be readily re-usable. You just have to know how to stitch this bit of one with that bit of another and a couple bits from somewhere else, and suddenly you have an adventure that took barely any work to prepare and the players find it new, even if familiar.

I've reused plenty of adventures, both by having some different players involved, and by having the same group of players go through the same adventure with easy to make changes that made it a new experience for them.

 

[Morrus]

I haven't reused them yet. I feel I got my money's worth.

 

[happyhermit]

First off, I absolutely don't think that they need re-usability for me to "Get my money's worth" out of them. "T.I.M.E. Stories" modules are pretty much one-and-done and I (along with a lot of other people) consider them money VERY well spent for the experience provided. It would be hard to argue that the hardcover adventures would not have a similar or better value proposition if they are the experience you are looking for.

Personally, prior to 5e my experience with published adventures amounted to a few "classic" adventures for the shared experience aspect. 5e has enticed me to buy some of them and run them a bit and I consider them well worth the money spent.

I am LOVING SKT right now, particularly as a source of inspiration and easy stuff to steal for my home-brew. The way it is laid out makes me really want to run it start to finish, but I will probably just keep pilfering it for locations and npcs.