Published Modules.. I've ran 3 my entire life

[Dagger75]

Reading all the posts about best mods, best products yada yada... a few of them were modules. It got me thinking I have ran only 3 modules my entire DMing career which is like 20+ years.

1st-- Isle of Dread
2nd-- The first module of In Search of Adventure
3rd-- Some module in which the players were escaped slaves. 1st edition

Anyway I've had a subscription to Dungeon magazine and bought a few of them since 3ed. I've bought my fair share of modules to, Return to Temple, Rappun Attuck all 3 and a couple other I can't find right now.

All I basically do is steal some of the more creative monsters and NPC's and use them in my own games. I feel to confined running adventures, I guess its my DM style.

Anybody else hardly ever use adventures out there?

 

[Ed Cha]

I've only run a handful myself.

How many do I own? Hundreds.

How many have I used? I don't know because I get varying amounts of inspiration or ideas from each one I've read. Maybe I'll take an encounter idea and modify it or just get certain impressions in my head for use later. The more I read, the better I get at making my own adventures (whether for publication or for running in my game).

 

[Crothian]

I own lots and get use out of them, but I change them so much that its hard to tell what I'm using. I rewrite modules to make them my own basically spending as much time to write an adventure except I'm changing the exisiting module.

 

[Creamsteak]

I like event based modules as backdrops during larger adventures sometimes. And I didn't mind running the first couple Eberron modules just to help me and my players get an understanding of the setting.

I do own more than I've ran though. Maybe 2/1, 2.5/1 at worst. It's just that, although a module might be good, it might not be right for the circumstances. And, at best, I'm going to use it loosely as a backdrop for whatever stuff I have. I think that they are good tools though, far more useful than "books o' feats" and "books o' prestige classes" will ever be. They probably come in behind a book of monsters or a setting book, but ahead of those "big books of mechanics."

 

[Asmo]

I would never even dream of creating my own games.
I love published modules, they save me a lot of time ,and are often very well balanced - something I probably would mess up if I started my own game.
It´s a little to much to keep track of I guess- maybe I´m just lazy.

Asmo

 

[Buttercup]

Like Ed, I own lots of modules. But I have run very few. I scavenge them for inspiration and build my own, generally.

Right now though, I'm taking my players through the Freeport trilogy. Problem is, my players don't ever ever ever do what the module thinks they will/should. So my campaign currently looks like a cactus, with Death in Freeport as the stem, and all the tangents they've taken as the needles.

This is why I really prefer modules that are more like settings. They give me all the info I need on what's over the next hill, because my players are sure as heck going to go looking.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Anybody else hardly ever use adventures out there?

I played a lot of Shadowrun modules, but for D&D not that many.

I'm reversing my module-buying policy as of my purchase of Dungeon #114. I'm going to start using rooms and encounters from modules in my regular game, because there's always one or two really cool things in any adventure. In hindsight, this was pretty obvious, but I just never did it.

 

[Gothmog]

I own probably 50-60 1e/2e modules, and probably another 30 for 3e (mostly Necromancer and Penumbra titles). In all the years I've played D&D (or any RPG), I've probably only run 6 modules, and then they were one-shots (Ravenloft, Tomb of Horrors, Festival of the Damned for Ars Magica, etc). The only one I've actually inserted into a campaign is Necromancer's Grey Citadel, and even then it was modified heavily. For some reason, most modules just don't do it for me. Running a module feels like wearing a straightjacket, and I enjoy running them a lot less. Also, I find I tend to run MUCH better adventures when I run my own ideas and preps, so modules don't get a whole lot of lovin' from me. If I use them at all, its more to mine for ideas or locales.

 

[Chimera]

I probably own about 15-20 1e and 2e modules....somewhere. Have moved a couple of times in the mean time, but I believe I still have them around here in a box or two.

But I have never run any of them. Have never used a published setting either. Have GM'd six campaigns in the last 27 years, working on a 7th to begin in a couple of months, but they've all been in my homebrew setting.

I stopped buying modules about 10 years ago when it became obvious that I wasn't actually going to use any of them.

Well, to be honest, I was also getting tired of seeing killer trap after killer trap and massive piles of treasure sitting unused for no apparent reason.

 

[Psion]

I usually plan my own adventures. Published adventures are typically too difficult to work into my existing campaign situation, are an ill fit for the feel or circumastances of the game, or are often filled with so many extraneous encounters and materials that I feel like it's better for me to make my own. Also, even well done adventures that interest me often are too long and I find that I like to switch up activities for the players every once in a while.

I do often scavenge adventures for parts (maps, encounters, situations, plot idea) or change the circumstances and motivations to fit events in the game. That's where the real value of published adventuers lie AFAIAC.