D&D General The Biggest Problem with Modern Adventures...

[dave2008]

...is that they are too long. We don't need "campaigns" that take us from level 2 to 11 or 13 or 20. Diversity of experience is important. I hope that in the not-6E era, shorter, more focused adventures come back into vogue and big adventure campaigns/APs disappear.

This first product of 2023 is an anthology of short adventures to be dropped into any campaign. So you are getting something like what you want (and of course we have gotten anthologies before).

 

[Reynard]

I guess the completely "meh" quality of Candlekkep Mysteries (which led me to avoid Radiant Citadel) made me forget those two anthologies. So, fair enough: WotC is publishing short adventures, but not good ones.

 

[dave2008]

I guess the completely "meh" quality of Candlekkep Mysteries (which led me to avoid Radiant Citadel) made me forget those two anthologies. So, fair enough: WotC is publishing short adventures, but not good ones.

Good is relative and subjective though. I don't think I have ever seen what I consider a "good" adventure. Not by TSR, not by WotC, not by Paizo, not by Chaosium, and not by any 3PP I have checked out.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

...is that they are too long. We don't need "campaigns" that take us from level 2 to 11 or 13 or 20. Diversity of experience is important. I hope that in the not-6E era, shorter, more focused adventures come back into vogue and big adventure campaigns/APs disappear.

I agree but I think the desire is to make a lot of $$$ per adventure and they don't feel they can do that with more sensible-length ones, so we get this. There is some stuff like Radiant Citadel that provides more diversity of experience, and also 3PP adventures are very often shorter (and frankly in my experience often require less tweaking and/or are more amenable to tweaking than WotC ones).

 

[Reynard]

Good is relative and subjective though. I don't think I have ever seen what I consider a "good" adventure. Not by TSR, not by WotC, not by Paizo, not by Chaosium, and not by any 3PP I have checked out.

It is. I think there are a few. Sunless Citadel, Phandelver, Strahd and Avernus (if you eliminate the very dumb initial hook) are all varydegrees of good, and Rime really tried very hard.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Good is relative and subjective though. I don't think I have ever seen what I consider a "good" adventure. Not by TSR, not by WotC, not by Paizo, not by Chaosium, and not by any 3PP I have checked out.

Interesting. I wouldn't agree. I've seen good adventures by all of those, but I would say not many in any of those cases. WotC have fared particularly poorly, frankly. Both Paizo and TSR had a better track record, especially with high-profile campaign-length stuff. Chaosium has some wonderful adventures, some adventures that more murder-mystery nights than adventures, and some dross, but the good stuff is really good, imho.

 

[Neonchameleon]

...is that they are too long. We don't need "campaigns" that take us from level 2 to 11 or 13 or 20. Diversity of experience is important. I hope that in the not-6E era, shorter, more focused adventures come back into vogue and big adventure campaigns/APs disappear.

You mean you want more books containing anthologies of adventures like Candlekeep Mysteries (published last year) and Tales from the Radiant Citadel (which came out last month)?

I'd agree .... and so seemingly does WotC. It's one of the many changes in direction post-Tasha's that I consider a huge improvement. (I only disagree about big APs disappearing - people enjoy them so why end them?)

 

[Burnside]

You didn't read a thing I wrote and instead just decided to state some things that are unrelated and/or untrue.

I'll assume that I wasn't clear and try and be more specific: D&D needs more official in print not AL adventures that can be dropped into ongoing campaigns because telling super long predetermined stories is a terrible way to run D&D and maintain any sense of player agency.

That's exactly what Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Candlekeep Mysteries, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Tales from the Yawning Portal, and the upcoming Keys from the Golden Vault are.

Also, by dismissing DMsGuild, you're literally missing the best short-form D&D adventures of the past 10 years, including many that are print-on-demand if print is important to you.

 

[dave2008]

Interesting. I wouldn't agree. I've seen good adventures by all of those, but I would say not many in any of those cases. WotC have fared particularly poorly, frankly. Both Paizo and TSR had a better track record, especially with high-profile campaign-length stuff. Chaosium has some wonderful adventures, some adventures that more murder-mystery nights than adventures, and some dross, but the good stuff is really good, imho.

I do need to qualify that they are not good because they don't work for me. That is more to do with me than the adventure. That is why it is subjective.

I mean I have had different people tell the same adventure is great or terrible. It is largely subjective IME.

 

[Reynard]

That's exactly what Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Candlekeep Mysteries, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Tales from the Yawning Portal, and the upcoming Keys from the Golden Vault are.

Candlekeep mysteries was underwhelming enough I did not bother with Radiant Citadel. I am curious about the Keys anthology, mostly whether they will actually be "heists" in any useful meaning of the term.

Also, by dismissing DMsGuild, you're literally missing the best short-form D&D adventures of the past 10 years, including many that are print-on-demand if print is important to you.

People say stuff like this all the time and all I can say is that there is no way to know whether anything there is good or not. There's too much material and too few reviewers. Plus, honestly, have you EVER seen someone mention a DMsGuild adventure in discussions here? It doesn't matter if they are gold if they are impossible to find.