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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8055896" data-attributes="member: 18">I couldn't agree less.If the stock module has such an uncompelling scenario that the PCs decide to go rogue half-way through it, the fault lies in exactly two places:1) The module writer for writing a terrible module/unengaging. A lot of WotC modules are pretty bad. Now, before anyone faints from horror, some are also good, but it's actually shocking to me how many really, really aren't good, or have really weak elements. I didn't actually realize quite how bad a few of them were until lockdown, when we tried some. One was so downright bad it had World of Warcraft-style fetch quests thrown at the PCs within minutes of starting it. The party resolved this by saying "no" to the NPC demanding them, and just forcibly evacuating him, but what the hell was the writer thinking? They clearly believed PCs would mindlessly go along with these frankly ludicrous requests - it was like the US National Guard turning up outside your house, when huge bomb blast has gone off less than a mile down the road, and an entire small town been destroyed, and fires still raging, and telling you to evacuate, and instead you're like "Well, okay, maybe, but I need you to make me a coffee, pick some apples in my garden, and shine my shoes first!" (said NPC was not senile or mentally ill, which might have excused it and warranted gentler treatment). You'd be lucky if they didn't just leave you to die. Another one just didn't understand movement rules, or allow for a bunch of really basic possibilities, and had a pretty weaksauce plot (also they got FR heraldry wrong, though that is honestly a nitpick), and didn't have maps for a couple of pretty important encounters (lovely non-functional town map though!).I could go on and on but a lot of pre-built modules are really weakly designed, both WotC and third-party.2) The DM for picking the module and not managing to make it compelling, either by how he presented it, or, if necessary, by modifying and tweaking it to make it more engaging for his group.The players can't judge what module, because they obviously can't pre-read it. It's all very well for the DM to say that he wants to run something, and the players to go "sounds good", but when he reads it, he should be able to tell if parts are weak or strong, if it's going to work or not, and so on. They cannot be held responsible just because they agreed to play a module. That's a ludicrous idea akin to saying they have to go along with railroading in a homebrew campaign. Only if they agreed to that, specifically, should they.The less experienced the DM is, the more the weight of blame falls on the module itself, particularly if it presented itself as accessible, for beginners/new DMs, and so on.</blockquote>

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