Is it cheating for a GM to use a published adventure?

[Alhazred]

Yes. If the players have to do the work at the table, roleplaying and everything, then the GM should do his part and actually sit down and write and adventure for them.

Uh

Please tell me you're joking. GMs do much more "work" at the table than PCs, whether they're using a published adventure or not.

Right on.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Yes. If the players have to do the work at the table, roleplaying and everything, then the GM should do his part and actually sit down and write and adventure for them.

What "everything" do the players do at the table that the GM does not?

Roleplay? A GM does that.

Roll dice? A GM does that.

Describe character's actions in a colourful way? The GM does that.


And two things:

1) When did roleplaying a character become work?

2) Do you not understand the vast difference in preparation time a player must dedicate, versus what a GM must dedicate?

Premade modules don't erase the GM's work, they shorten it.

 

[Rl'Halsinor]

Can you say "obsessive-compulsive" need to control? Or maybe it is narcissism. I can't reaally add to what has already been said except to say show him this thread.

 

[milotha]

On occasion, I use a published adventure to suppliment my own creative efforts. The most recent adventure I used was "The Banewarrens" (albeit, significantly reworked). Anyway, I was bashed recently for using published adventures in my game. I was told that I was not a "true" GM if I could not write my own adventures EVERYTIME. This person said: "50% of the fun of GMing is running the adventure; the other 50% is writing them". (They also equated it with miniatures gaming. They said that 50% of the fun was playing, while the other 50% was painting them. Those who didn't paint their minis, were only pretenders.)

Wow. Some people must either not GM or have no life outside of gaming to have this view. Writing a complete coherent adventure takes a significant chunk of time. Who cares if you use a canned module? There have been some great ones written. You can still have fun on them, and the GM is always free to change, modify, adlib whatever they want anyway. I've been run on some modules twice, and they never play out the same way with two different groups. This is just snobbish thinking. GMing isn't about showmanship or blowing your own creative horn. It's about the players. It's about allowing the characters to have fun, and you can do this just fine with modules.

 

[hong]

On occasion, I use a published adventure to suppliment my own creative efforts. The most recent adventure I used was "The Banewarrens" (albeit, significantly reworked). Anyway, I was bashed recently for using published adventures in my game. I was told that I was not a "true" GM if I could not write my own adventures EVERYTIME. This person said: "50% of the fun of GMing is running the adventure; the other 50% is writing them". (They also equated it with miniatures gaming. They said that 50% of the fun was playing, while the other 50% was painting them. Those who didn't paint their minis, were only pretenders.)

In the end, I felt a little dejected. I felt a little inadequate.

I keep telling myself: "Who cares if I used published adventures on occasion. Indeed, who cares if I used published adventures ALL the time! The aim of the game is to have FUN, right? And not all of us are professional writers, or on fire in the creative department 100% of the time."

What do others think?

You are still Bugaboo, and I am STILL waiting for my severed head of Eric Noah.

 

[Jeremy757]

Ways to "cheat" at D&D:

1) Lie/Fudge on die rolls

2) Lie about PC abililities/equipment/resources etc...

3) Metagame

4) Look at DM only material

I'm not sure there are any other ways to "cheat" at D&D

Never bringing snacks/drinks/food to a game and constantly mooch off of those who do.......

Okay, maybe that doesn't make them a cheater, but it does make them a reprobate.....

 

[Kalendraf]

This question sounds like a troll, but here goes...

I DM and mix published adventures with my own material. I often modify those published adventures to varying degrees as well. Though it might seem nice to write it all myself, time constraints prevent me from creating everything from scratch. Another benefit of using published adventures is to avoid getting too burned out. Usually those adventures will feature different styles than my own which combined lead to an even better variety than either style alone could provide on its own. To me, none of that is cheating.

 

[dead]

You are still Bugaboo

What's Bugaboo? I've never encountered this word before.

Is it an insult or is it praise or is it something else entirely?

 

[dead]

This question sounds like a troll, but here goes...

Nup, it's a serious question.

Or you wanna know if it's cheating to be a troll PC?

 

[Derulbaskul]

Yes. If the players have to do the work at the table, roleplaying and everything, then the GM should do his part and actually sit down and write and adventure for them.

You're kidding?

Players do work?

Players are to RPGs as public servants are to real life: lazy and spoiled and they whinge and whine to high heaven when things don't go their way.

However, just as there are excellent public servants, there are, of course, excellent players... but not a single one would ever put in as much effort pre-game as even the single worst DM.