SavageRobby
First Post
I usually use published modules (with various levels of modifications, based on the module) as the meat in my games, while creating the various side encounters, in-town adventures, and the links between adventures myself.
Published or homemade adventures?
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howandwhy99
Adventurer
My Greyhawk is flushed out with good published adventures, mostly the old ones original to the setting. Everything published I alter a good bit, but, as I am right now with the AoW adventure path, I stick as closely to the written material as possible. At least half of what is around is my own creation though.
Gilladian
Adventurer
I guess I'm like most here - I write my own about 1/2 the time, often based on an idea I've read in a forum or a map, or an NPC the PCs met in another adventure. The rest, I take a module and throw out the beginning and create my own hook/intro. Usually the meat of the adventure is left alone, tho I frequently change NPCs to fit my campaign, adding my own races and prestige classes, changing goals or motivations to fit other plots I have going on, etc...
Once in a while an adventure is good, but just doesn't fit, or I like an idea but not the execution - for example, a recent Dungeon adventure has intelligent weapons fighting a war. I love that, but my scenario is going to play out with undead in a dungeon, where the weapons haven't had fresh people to seize in hundreds of years until the party arrives.
Also, I have an undersized, eclectic party, so standard modules are often too tough for them. I have to modify them (usually on the fly) to avoid just slaughtering the party, but still manage to provide risk and challenge.
Once in a while an adventure is good, but just doesn't fit, or I like an idea but not the execution - for example, a recent Dungeon adventure has intelligent weapons fighting a war. I love that, but my scenario is going to play out with undead in a dungeon, where the weapons haven't had fresh people to seize in hundreds of years until the party arrives.
Also, I have an undersized, eclectic party, so standard modules are often too tough for them. I have to modify them (usually on the fly) to avoid just slaughtering the party, but still manage to provide risk and challenge.
I think that there is an often overlooked advantage to running published adventures. Its not for the stat blocks, NPCs, creative traps, background, handouts, etcetera...
Its that the players can talk with other players and have a common ground... "Did you ever play Tomb of Horrors", "yeah! one guy in our party stuck his head in the green demon's mouth... he thought it was a cave and wanted to look around!"
or
Say, when you ran sunless citadel, did your party meet a wimpy kobold named Meepo? Did you kill him or team up with him?
and so on....
Its kind of nice to be able to meet other players and have some common ground.
Its that the players can talk with other players and have a common ground... "Did you ever play Tomb of Horrors", "yeah! one guy in our party stuck his head in the green demon's mouth... he thought it was a cave and wanted to look around!"
or
Say, when you ran sunless citadel, did your party meet a wimpy kobold named Meepo? Did you kill him or team up with him?
and so on....
Its kind of nice to be able to meet other players and have some common ground.
Bishop Odo
Explorer
Usually published material here, and then rewrite it to fit my world. I have this fetish or compulsion really, for old modules, with great maps, like Ravenloft, love the castle, and Dragons of Despair, love the sunken city, and obscure resources like Midkemia Press, The Companions, Brotherhood of the Bolt, series, all have great art. The old school stuff really forces you to rewrite not just for the system, but style also, the idea of Monster ecology is missing in most of the older stuff.
I like to take a map or picture, then come up with my own story to keep my players guessing. I have played with to many old school players that have read the Dragonlance books and played the campaign, but I love to mess with their heads, when I pull out the old maps.
I like to take a map or picture, then come up with my own story to keep my players guessing. I have played with to many old school players that have read the Dragonlance books and played the campaign, but I love to mess with their heads, when I pull out the old maps.
Vartan
First Post
When I first started (D&D Basic in 1991) I ran some published modules. There have been some great ones: some of the 2E Ravenloft adventures were usually good, ToEE, Dragon Mountain, Dungeon Crawl Classics, 3E Ravenloft hardbound...but I usually get the most enjoyment from crafting my own adventures. As a DM, I actually find that part of the creative process to be the most rewarding part of the job, along with the payoff you get from seeing your players really enjoy something you've written.
wolfpunk
First Post
I usually use premade adventures, and then tweak the monsters in them. I will occasionally add a little homebrewed mini-plot to an adventure if I have a good idea that fits in. More often my contribution to an adventure is figuring how to link several of them together seamlessly.
3catcircus
Adventurer
Hmm - I almost exclusively use pre-published. With the umpteen Basic/1st/2nd edition adventure modules, as well as the ton of 3.x stuff, it is very easy to pick something and adapt it.
I just don't have the time (while trying to keep up with my constantly-in-motion toddler) to sit down and write my own stuff.
Current campaign: started out with Northern Journeys (#1 Silverymoon). I used The Gauntlet and The Sentinel modules (UK2, UK3), then transitioned to T1-4 and A1-4. We are currently in the middle of GDQ1-7 (about 2/3 of the way through G3), along with 2 or 3 Dungeon adventures. I introduced quite a few plot hooks and stuff very easily - some type of demon or devil named Woganpuck (borrowed from a quicky adventure from the WotC website), Sharites, Lolthians masquerading as Moanderites, and Ghaundaurians masquerading as demon-worshipping Juiblexians in T1-4, with various rivals and factions that tie in to the various slavers in A1-4, and then back in to the various giant tribes in GDQ1-7. All set in The North of The Forgotten Realms.
Yes it was a lot of work to do some of the conversion and put it all in DMGenie. But it would be a heck of a lot more time-consuming to invent a bunch of stuff from scratch.
I generally use only published adventures, but I'll change them as needed to fit the campaign.
I just don't have the time (while trying to keep up with my constantly-in-motion toddler) to sit down and write my own stuff.
Current campaign: started out with Northern Journeys (#1 Silverymoon). I used The Gauntlet and The Sentinel modules (UK2, UK3), then transitioned to T1-4 and A1-4. We are currently in the middle of GDQ1-7 (about 2/3 of the way through G3), along with 2 or 3 Dungeon adventures. I introduced quite a few plot hooks and stuff very easily - some type of demon or devil named Woganpuck (borrowed from a quicky adventure from the WotC website), Sharites, Lolthians masquerading as Moanderites, and Ghaundaurians masquerading as demon-worshipping Juiblexians in T1-4, with various rivals and factions that tie in to the various slavers in A1-4, and then back in to the various giant tribes in GDQ1-7. All set in The North of The Forgotten Realms.
Yes it was a lot of work to do some of the conversion and put it all in DMGenie. But it would be a heck of a lot more time-consuming to invent a bunch of stuff from scratch.
I generally use only published adventures, but I'll change them as needed to fit the campaign.
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