D&D 5E (2014) How Wotc can improve the adventure books.

[MGibster]

In one of the Pulp Cthulhu campaign books, the authors included anecdotes detailing how various play test groups handled the situation. That might be nice.

 

[der_kluge]

If we're talking more broadly, I'd have to say that the index in the PHB and DMG actually, and completely suck.

My other biggest criticism of the PHB (for example), is that the rules are just buried in places. As a long-time DM, but new to 5e when I first picked up these books, I wanted "the gist" of the rules. That was --impossible-- to find. Stuff like +dex to damage for ranged weapons is buried in the middle of a paragraph. The MM lists "vulnerability" for monsters, but doesn't actually describe what that means anywhere. So, I wish I get something very brief at the beginning of sections that just gives me "the gist". Just list out the most common rules for combat, or spellcasting, or whatever, in those sections, so I don't have go digging through paragraphs of text to find the thing I need. It's infuriating.

If we're talking about modules, that's a whole other kettle of fish. Like my earlier complaints (and I really agree with @Zaukrie here), a flowchart would be super helpful, so I can get a sense of what the thing expects of me overall. I've never cared for published modules, because they just don't speak to me. The general feel of the typical D&D doesn't jive with my proto-medieval mindset of what I typically run. So, I'm probably not their target audience. Also not gonna shell out $50 for a book I'll never run, since I always create my own campaigns, I don't need theirs. I'd rather have small, insular locations and things that I could use for my own games. I really wanted to like "Tales of the Yawning Portal", but I pretty much didn't - but something like that would be more useful to me.

 

[fearsomepirate]

a) Use cross-references. A D&D adventure is not a novel. It is a tool, a utility, a device for running a game. When you mention that the party is about to fight a minotaur, put (MM 223) in the text. When you mention that the Minotaur King sits upon his throne in Room 33A, if his stat block isn't on that page, tell me where the heck it is. I do not remember who Fartbutt Sillyname is, because it's been 30 pages since he was mentioned (and thus months of real-world time). Tables, maps, inserts with important information, all that junk should be referenced whenever it's mentioned.

b) Print a grid on your map. Every single adventure should be published with an optional map pack, too. Or a deluxe edition of the book with printed maps bundled with it.

c) There need to be meaningful consequences for failure, and failure should be something other than a TPK. In a storybook adventure, might mean you don't get some dope & epic magic armor, IDK. I know what you're thinking, "I can handle all kinds of stuff!" But newbie DMs can't, and storybook campaigns should give some guidance. For example, "If the party somehow loses the dragon egg, Lord Chuckwagon will be very cross with them and not send any Veterans with them to help face evil, mutated flumpf terrorizing the village." Most adventures I've seen don't really picture failure in terms other than You Have Died, Adventure Stops Here.

 

[Haffrung]

Hire the Alexandrian to run a week long training seminar for their designers.

They don’t even have to do that. All the advice they need has already been captured time and again in WotC DM Guides and other sources of expertise on adventure and campaign design. The problem is not an institutional ignorance of effective adventure design - the problem is the spotty and ineffective application of that knowledge.

 

[Guest User]

Remember that there are new DMs attempting to run these adventures and the more "clever" you make them the harder it is. And telling new DMs to "make it your own" is like telling a new skier to just go to the top of the mountain and find your own way down!

So you want an Intermediate style Adventure, something with more DM direction than Rime?

That is a good Product request idea.

DMing is easier than skiing. A flop session or campaign does not result in physical injury. Not liking something in an adventure is step one in "making something you own".

If you think the "tone" in the Adventure often downplays the darkness and starvation....great...step1 complete: Have a take.

Step 2: think of ways to let your players experience your take.
Step 3: Keep on trying, to do better.

Out of curiosity robus, what Adventures have you used, and have you done any Adventure Conversions from other RPG systems?

 

[SuperTD]

Use encounters that mix monster types. 95% of the encounters in recent books seem exclusively focused on what's narratively appropriate, not on what makes an interesting encounter. I don't want to fight 4 duergar for the tenth time this dungeon - let me fight creatures individually at first to learn how they work, then start mixing and matching foes so I have to adapt to their new way of fighting, and make my own.

Nearly every fight in modern adventures seems to fall into one of two camps - a single large monster, or 3-10 of the same monster. I recently took a look at an old 4th Edition adventure, and in that nearly every encounter had at least 3 different minion roles (lurkers, skirmishers, artillery, brutes, etc.), making each fight notably different to the one before. 5e may have committed to boring monster design, but it can still make the encounters interesting with just a little more effort.

 

[robus]

Out of curiosity robus, what Adventures have you used, and have you done any Adventure Conversions from other RPG systems?

I’ve run (in various forms) LMoP, ToD, RoT, SKT, OotA and Dragon Heist. The last being the straw that broke me

I’ve not tried adapting anything yet.

 

[Yenrak]

For my purposes, the published adventures have worked really well. I think the great innovation was the flow chart. It really helped. They should publish, at least online, indexes so you can look stuff up more easily.

I tend to chop the adventures up and blend them with one another. The campaign I'm DMing now started in Icewind Dale doing SKT, they made their way down to Waterdeep so we're doing Dragon Heist, and since they're on the hunt for Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter, I'll bring in ToA. I may make the defeat of the Frost Giants a trigger for Auril, so we might end up in Rime after that.

So perhaps one fun thing to do would be to include tips for this kind of thing explicitly. In SKT, the hunt for Artus Cimber is kind of a red-herring and a dead end. But such things could instead say, "If you own ToA, consider allowing your players to pursue him down in Chult."

 

[Guest User]

Try something from Tales from the Yawning Portal, or Saltmarsh. You might enjoy those more.
I, know, I like smaller Adventure offerings then the Pre-Packaged Campaigns, WotC releases for 5e.

I might also recommend reading some other company's adventures and adventures from other systems.

I wonder if a 1e style 64 page adventure might fit you better, or something like the Banewarrens adventure done by Monte Cook in 3e.

Directed Campaigns from Monte Cook for his Invisible Sun System is $125 or so for a customized campaign arc with props.
Wizards of the Coast can't scale up to offer something like that, without a hiring a lot more designers.

 

[Shardstone]

Can someone point out to me where in Frostmaiden it says that this adventure is only for experienced DMs?