Published Adventures and You

[diaglo]

i prefer modules/adventures with Original ideas.

if/since i can't find many of those i'll take some that are at least variations on a theme.

i also prefer them to be for my edition of choice. and since none of those exist. i'll take the progression of editions (OD&D, 1edADnD, BXCMD&D, 2edADnD, 2000ed, and 3.11ed for Workgroups) and do the conversion myself.

 

[Munin]

Not entirely on subject, but since a professional writer started the thread....

I firmly believe that premade adventures are essential to the health of d&d. Most of the complaints so far boil down to the fact that modules are basic and formulaic in nature, but that is just what the inexperienced DM needs, and d&d needs more dms.

Without a premade adventure to get me going, I probably wouldn't have ever started dming, but after four years of it, I find that I use them less and less. Now, as with a lot of others, I just mine them for ideas and drag & drop encounters.

I think there is a market for modules for the advanced dm, which is already being filled somewhat through source books, which are just cleverly marketed adventure modules anyway.

 

[Li Shenron]

I'll try to put it as shortly as I can

If you use published adventures, why? Are there any titles in particular that you enjoyed running?

If you don't, why do you find yourself creating your own adventures as opposed to using pre-made ones?

In general I prefer to create my own adventures. Main reasons are:

1) if I have written it, I know it much better and have no problems in remembering anything
2) I can put the creatures, locations, situations, events etc. that I like most, without having to use stuff which doesn't fit with the current campaign (which can be changed of course, so it depends how much is unfitting)
3) there is no chance that any player has played it before, or knows what is next

Unfortunately, it takes time and effort to write down a good adventure, so I often use published ones as well (mostly borrowed rather that purchased). In that case I cope with what I don't like and normally use it as it is (which means that the players who know my preferences well can be surprised this time to see something I never use), or change what really I dislike. The advantages in this case are

1) smaller effort to prepare the adventure (but more effort to run it)
2) advantage of having maps or similar aids ready
3) there's a small chance the adventure was playtested and is therefore balanced, otherwise I'll probably spot some reviews about it

More or less, it's about half custom adventures and half published ones, depending on how much time I have. There are also some non-commercial adventures written by RPGers which are extremely good and free (take a look around for Zappo's Abyssal Campaign)

 

[Arnwyn]

If you use published adventures, why? Are there any titles in particular that you enjoyed running?

Absolutely I use published adventures. What with having a career and, well, a life, I've discovered that I don't have much time to design my own adventures as much as I'd like. So, I use published modules about 75% of the time, and my homebrew adventures 25% of the time.

Other than the time aspect, another reason why I like published adventures is the variety - the different authors come up with scenarios that I wouldn't think of myself. This helps, since if I completely homebrew all my adventures, my own personal biases will result in most of the adventures having some similar aspects (too many after a while for my players, I think). Further, published adventures often come with maps and locations of places that I couldn't hope to design in a reasonable amount of time. (I'm an adequate mapper, but it takes too long; and designing something like Castle Ravenloft, for example, would take far too much of my time.)

Edit: The adventures that I use are conversions of 1e and 2e modules, as well as Dungeon Mag and anything (and everything) by Necromancer Games. Necro Games is by far my favorite. They don't have a proliferation of "weird things" like Dungeon, and the whole "3e rules, 1e feel" is right up my alley... I never have to worry about finding a halfling necromancer/paladin/barbarian in one of their adventures.

 

[el-remmen]

As I have said many time before, I think the best modules ever written for D&D are from the 1E & 2E heyday of DUNGEON magazine. . . Especially, during the substantial lack of any even slightly passable modules for 2E in the 90's - Those were some of the worst things I've ever read. . .

DUNGEON on the other hand was able to experiment with different ideas and kinds of adventures from a variety of authors - and it was certainly worth the money. I own almost every Dungeon issue from #1 thru #100 and that will give me more than enough adventures to run until I die.


That said, I tend to run things I write myself, but cannibalizing maps, NPCs, plot-lines, etc. .that I incorporate into my campaign from Dungeon adventures.

Also, Dungeon's side-treks are very useful as something to plop in between major story arcs. . .