D&D 5E I can’t seem to DM written adventures.

[Oofta]

You're not alone. I did AL for quite a while, I've tried a couple of published adventures and it just doesn't work for me. I just want to go off script way too often for one thing. Unless you have everything memorized you don't know what you're going to screw up.

I'd rather do my own sandbox campaign. It works better and, frankly, it's a ton less work for me.

 

[rgoodbb]

I don't know if it helps at all, but at least as long as you're not trying to run Adventurer's League or something similar, you're entirely free to introduce your own NPCs, plots, subplots, and the like on top of the published material. You can substitute or replace stuff with your own homebrew variants if you like, substitute adventure locations for other stuff, move things around however you personally see fit.

Appreciate that mate. I get excited by an adventure, buy it, start reading and then find myself puffing my cheeks out with the occasional head-scratch wondering why I bothered really. I think this just tells me to stop buying a lot of other's stuff apart from just reference and inspiration that will aid me in homebrew.

 

[dave2008]

Often they are written with bullet points, some that are even on the map itself, instead of long paragraphs of prose. This makes it easier to run at the table. Also they tend to be location-based, not plot-based, so it doesn't usually include a lot of assumptions about what the PCs will or must do, which players being players is never a guarantee.

Ok, that is very helpful and sounds like it might fit my style better. Thank you! Any good OSR adventure suggestions I could check out to see this style in action?

 

[dave2008]

Appreciate that mate. I get excited by an adventure, buy it, start reading and then find myself puffing my cheeks out with the occasional head-scratch wondering why I bothered really. I think this just tells me to stop buying a lot of other's stuff apart from just reference and inspiration that will aid me in homebrew.

I don't know if you read post #8, but what @iserith describes seems like it might help me and possible you. I think I will check one out and take a look to see if it makes more sense to me.

 

[OB1]

Though I don't run them very often (I typically buy them to read and get ideas from), when I do I tend to use them more as jumping off points than try to follow them exactly. Some adventures (like CoS and LoX) are easier to do this with than others. I also make sure that the players really buy into the adventure hook in session 0 and create characters who will want to follow the path till the end.

 

[rgoodbb]

I don't know if you read post #8, but what @iserith describes seems like it might help me and possible you. I think I will check one out and take a look to see if it makes more sense to me.

Thanks Guys. Do you know if the OSR's require a lot of conversion?

 

[iserith]

Ok, that is very helpful and sounds like it might fit my style better. Thank you! Any good OSR adventure suggestions I could check out to see this style in action?

There's a bunch, but check out Hot Springs Island, Neverland, or even smaller adventures like Winter's Daughter. If you watch the Questing Beast YouTube channel, he does reviews of a ton of adventures and you can see which ones you prefer.

 

[Arilyn]

Often they are written with bullet points, some that are even on the map itself, instead of long paragraphs of prose. This makes it easier to run at the table. Also they tend to be location-based, not plot-based, so it doesn't usually include a lot of assumptions about what the PCs will or must do, which players being players is never a guarantee.

There is also a lot of really imaginative stuff coming out of the OSR. I didn't think I cared about the OSR but I was wrong.

 

[iserith]

Thanks Guys. Do you know if the OSR's require a lot of conversion?

Very easy in my experience. Just sub in monster stat blocks and you're good to go.

 

[Arilyn]

Thanks Guys. Do you know if the OSR's require a lot of conversion?

Neverland is actually a 5e product, written in the OSR style and there is a 5e version of Winter's Daughter, converted by Gavin himself.