I love 4E - but I hate the 4E modules. What can be done?

[Phaezen]

I've also had a lot of success with the published modules stripping it down to just a few fights/encounters while keeping the spirit and ideas of the module. I did this for Thunderspire and fit it into 4 sessions... my players were still sick of it by the end then but a lot better than if I had run it whole cloth.

I have also had success with stripping modules down. Most of the fights in the published modules tend to be experience point fillers and you can scrap of circumvent them quite easily.

That said, if you like the system, but don't like the published modules, it is great fun to make your own.

 

[RangerWickett]

Let's see, if we define a dungeon as an enclosed place (typically underground, but perhaps just indoors) with 4 or more encounters with enemies or traps, then the 3.5 version of WoTBS had, let's see . . . *counts, muttering* 5, maybe 6 total. And that's including three actual "toss them into prison" type dungeons.

Also, if you're not up for a whole campaign, WotBS is designed to be playable modularly. You can run the adventures individually (the later ones do, of course, require a bit more tweaking since there's some implied plot going on), or run 4- or 8-adventure long arcs. All of this is detailed in the Campaign Guide, for GMs.

 

[TerraDave]

So, I've been playing 4e since it first came out, and I love it. It's a great system and I have a lot of fun DMing it and playing it. My problem is that I love the idea of the 4E modules like Keep on the Shadowfell and so on, but the way they are executed completely turns me off - they're just fight, fight, fight. Trouble is, I love the idea of having a shared experience with loads of other D&D players, and I love having lots of adventure made for me, and I love the maps and setups the modules have, but I just can't stomach the idea of 30 solid fights in a row in the same dungeon, room after room after room.

I much prefer the Dungeon Delve book, which has about three encounters per dungeon, which is far more my style. I like a bunch of setup and roleplaying, then a short dungeon crawl (about three encounters, maybe some minions/guards, then maybe some elite types and then finally the big boss).

So, I guess what I'm asking is whether there are any third party modules that are in shorter bursts of adventuring, or anything else I can do to make the 4e modules more to my taste.

This mirrors my experience. Exactly. Weird. Or its not just me.

 

[TerraDave]

Ok, now that I have read the thread.

I am on the fence between "converting older adventures" and "stripping down the new ones". S

Sometimes I tell myself that just putting more emphasis on quests and story and then getting the PCs some hints (I am giving you a lot less XP for fighting monsters, and more for acomplishing something) and then let them sort it out.

But I just can't decide.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Ok, now that I have read the thread.

I am on the fence between "converting older adventures" and "stripping down the new ones". S

Sometimes I tell myself that just putting more emphasis on quests and story and then getting the PCs some hints (I am giving you a lot less XP for fighting monsters, and more for acomplishing something) and then let them sort it out.

But I just can't decide.

How about this:

Strip down a 4E adventure to its essential encounters, and add in story. Keep the deleted encounters on hand to throw out as necessary, on the fly.

 

[Gort]

Ok, now that I have read the thread.

I am on the fence between "converting older adventures" and "stripping down the new ones". S

Sometimes I tell myself that just putting more emphasis on quests and story and then getting the PCs some hints (I am giving you a lot less XP for fighting monsters, and more for acomplishing something) and then let them sort it out.

But I just can't decide.

In my own homebrew campaign I gave players enough "Quest XP" that they could gain a level every four encounters or so. It seemed right for heroic tier. But then again, I've never NOT played at heroic tier.

 

[JeffB]

I'll agree that good pre-pub 4E adventures are a rarity. I have several of the Goodman modules, and most of them are decent, but really only the Isle of the Sea Drake (DCC55) has stood out as excellent for my tastes. I do like KotTHW from WOTC proper- having bought it because of the ENnie "plug"- but I've not run it, so it may read better than it plays. The vast majority of DDI adventures has left me really unimpressed, but the recent FR adventure looks promising.

By far the most useful things to me have been the bits and pieces here and there in books like Open Grave, the FRCG, MoTP, etc. IOW I've had better luck winging it with all the great plot hooks/idea kernels sprinkled throughout the WOTC products. It seems they excel at that, but once they start going nuts with fully fleshed out adventures, they take on that "lame" factor. Then again my tastes are very simple- I'd much rather see a Haunted Halls of Eveningstar, Lost City, or Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh than all the Adventure Path's and "stop the elder evil/demon/monster incursion from destroying the world" type adventures that seem to be the norm since the 3E days :shrug:

 

[brainstorm]

Mine the modules

If you hate the modules, then either write your own advenure and take useful parts from them to support your original adventure or run the module but modify it to your needs. I've done this for Keep on the Shadowfell and the Pyramid of Shadows. I didn't want so many dungeon rooms, so I cut them down to the main ones that I wanted to keep. I don't have a problem with the way the modules are laid out or written, they just don't fit my DM style or my campaign needs, so I tinker wth tem until I have what I need. It's not quite as much work as writing from scratch, but it does take some time and effort. That is the price of customizing someone else's work.

 

[renau1g]

I'd like to third the War of the Burning Sky. Really neat AP.

 

[TirionAnthion]

I have run several different 4e campaigns. The first campaign used the H series modules as written and I felt that they fell flat for the most part. By P1 the campaign had ended due to a lack of interest.


My second campaign started with H1 run mostly as written. I then went completely off on my own with homebrewed adventures before coming back to a conversion of Red hand of doom. We have moved on to Revenge of the Giants. I have just started that mod and I am running it mostly as written.

This campaign has been heavier on the hack and slash due to several power gamers who are new to RPGs. They are Magic players and they are always looking for the best combos to maximize their damage.

My third campaign started off with the shadowhaunt masoleoum adventure from the 2008 D&D Game Day. I then moved on to a modified version of the first delve from Dungeon Delve. I used these two adventures to seed plot hooks from H1, H2, H3, and even P2. I then moved on to H1 which we are finishing now.

I heavily modified H1 for my third campaign. I used some ideas from Myrhdraak's excellent H1-H3 Orcus conversion. Specifically I used the idea of a cult of Orcus in Winterhaven. For the actual Keep I deleted several rooms and moved others around to streamline the Keep as the PCs were already 3rd level when they got to the Keep.

This game is with a group of people that I gamed with way back in 2nd ed and is very heavy on the RP and light on the rules lawyering. This fits alot better with my style of DMing and I think this game has run the best.

To tie this back into the topic, my heavily modified third version of KotS has been the best. I think that the 4e modules have some good ideas, they just need to be properly fleshed out and customized for your players.

Also my converted Red Hand of Doom was also very successful. I ran this module in 3.5 as well so I had experience with running the mod. Experience with a mod is also part of what improves the experience as you have had a chance to see what parts of a mod work and what parts do not.

Ultimately I think that the 4e modules on their own are a bit too slanted towards the fight and less on the Role Play, but I think that is not all bad as it leaves the RP to the individual DMs. This makes it easier for and experienced DM to tailor the mod but is not as useful to new DMs trying to find their voice.