D&D 5E How to have a constructive conversation with players?

[R_J_K75]

It's a reprint of a famous module.

Descent into Avernus is a reprint, I didnt know that either, of which module?

 

[prabe]

It's Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan that's a reprint, and a tournament module. Everything in Tales of the Yawning Portal is a reprint.

Descent Into Avernus may be laden with cliches, but it's not a reprint.

 

[Zardnaar]

Have you tried screaming at them, and then collapsing into a blubbering mess at the table?

No data, but purely on anecdotal experience, this doesn't work very well.

Keep the details of your sex life to yourself please.

 

[Ancalagon]

One of the problem with this adventure is that well... a lot of it doesn't make much sense. You may be able to salvage it, as others have done the work:

Remixing Avernus

SPOILERS FOR DESCENT INTO AVERNUSIf you’re a local player in my campaigns, you might want to steer clear here. I may be running Descent Into Avernus in the future, but not for people who’ve

thealexandrian.net

 

[R_J_K75]

One of the problem with this adventure is that well... a lot of it doesn't make much sense. You may be able to salvage it, as others have done the work:

Remixing Avernus

SPOILERS FOR DESCENT INTO AVERNUSIf you’re a local player in my campaigns, you might want to steer clear here. I may be running Descent Into Avernus in the future, but not for people who’ve

thealexandrian.net

Maybe Im just being naive but at a $50 MSRP for an adventure written by "professionals" one should have to do little to no rewriting to have it make sense.

 

[TheDelphian]

I am going to try to answer the thread title. It may or may not be helpful in this specific case but it is something I often find helpful in several different situations.

I call it Quiz night. Long time players know what this means when I do it since it is the same every time. It is rather simple but I find effective.

I walk in to a normal session with everyone there and ask them to get out a sheet of blank paper. They have to write down three things they like, three things they do not like or have an issue with and one thing they or their character wants. And I leave for a while, they can talk amongst them selves so they do not duplicate things too much which is also a requirement.

I come back when they tell me they are done. The idea is to give specific answers. Players will often say yeah things are good, yeah having fun whatever if you ask if they are having fun etc.

When you come back in and have them read off their list it opens a dialogue that gets the table talking.

You do good and bad so you as GM will know you are doing stuff well, what to maybe do more of and the players don't feel as bad about saying the bad things.

I do this twice a year rather I feel we need it or not. It is sometimes surprising when you upset a player and didn't even know it. I believe it has always been fruitful every time I have done it.

Good luck

 

[R_J_K75]

I am going to try to answer the thread title. It may or may not be helpful in this specific case but it is something I often find helpful in several different situations.

I call it Quiz night. Long time players know what this means when I do it since it is the same every time. It is rather simple but I find effective.

I walk in to a normal session with everyone there and ask them to get out a sheet of blank paper. They have to write down three things they like, three things they do not like or have an issue with and one thing they or their character wants. And I leave for a while, they can talk amongst them selves so they do not duplicate things too much which is also a requirement.

I come back when they tell me they are done. The idea is to give specific answers. Players will often say yeah things are good, yeah having fun whatever if you ask if they are having fun etc.

When you come back in and have them read off their list it opens a dialogue that gets the table talking.

You do good and bad so you as GM will know you are doing stuff well, what to maybe do more of and the players don't feel as bad about saying the bad things.

I do this twice a year rather I feel we need it or not. It is sometimes surprising when you upset a player and didn't even know it. I believe it has always been fruitful every time I have done it.

Good luck

I used to do surveys with varying results. Your approach sounds similar to techniques I learned in a creative thinking class in college and sounds lots better than a survey approach. Think Im going to try this at some point.

 

[Ancalagon]

Maybe Im just being naive but at a $50 MSRP for an adventure written by "professionals" one should have to do little to no rewriting to have it make sense.

You would think so, yes...

Maybe it's video game logic?

 

[pming]

Hiya!

I gave up on the WotC adventure books after Storm King's Thunder. We had played them all up to that point but I just couldn't take it anymore. They're boring and predictable and basically all follow the same formula.

Yup. My theory: It's because they are writing for an "audience", in stead of writing for "themselves". To look at the majority of the B/X adventures, or the 1e adventures. They were written by DM's...who just happen to work for TSR. The adventures were very often just a DM, scribbling stuff down, drawing most of a map, then sort of 'filling in all the blanks' as they played. Or they were short, 'one shot' adventures for use in a tournament somewhere.

But, alas, RPG's are not quite so much of a "niche" thing, and now everything is so corporatized and micro-managed that every little potentially interesting (re: 'bad', 'offensive', 'uncaring', 'risqué', etc) is weeded out or watered down. Any and all plot hooks are painted with bright neon colours so that even the most unobservant of players can follow the bread crumbs to the next set-piece encounter. That makes it boring for the folks who have...uh...lets just say a "different expectation of skill and commitment" to the game.

It's why I MUCH prefer older "modules"; they are significantly more bare-bones, with not so much "plots and sub-plots" as "base story of stuff going on". The later allows the DM to just sort of pick it up and run with it, using as needed to run a great game.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Zardnaar]

Hiya!


Yup. My theory: It's because they are writing for an "audience", in stead of writing for "themselves". To look at the majority of the B/X adventures, or the 1e adventures. They were written by DM's...who just happen to work for TSR. The adventures were very often just a DM, scribbling stuff down, drawing most of a map, then sort of 'filling in all the blanks' as they played. Or they were short, 'one shot' adventures for use in a tournament somewhere.

But, alas, RPG's are not quite so much of a "niche" thing, and now everything is so corporatized and micro-managed that every little potentially interesting (re: 'bad', 'offensive', 'uncaring', 'risqué', etc) is weeded out or watered down. Any and all plot hooks are painted with bright neon colours so that even the most unobservant of players can follow the bread crumbs to the next set-piece encounter. That makes it boring for the folks who have...uh...lets just say a "different expectation of skill and commitment" to the game.

It's why I MUCH prefer older "modules"; they are significantly more bare-bones, with not so much "plots and sub-plots" as "base story of stuff going on". The later allows the DM to just sort of pick it up and run with it, using as needed to run a great game.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

I think adventure length is a big one.

Probably why lost Mines is so good vs any of the hardbacks.