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

[dave2008]

And so of course I have to ask: what are your criteria for a "good" adventure?

I clarified it a bit in a follow up post: #29

 

[Reynard]

Radiant Citadel is the best adventure content released for this entire edition. Your lack of interest in the product doesn't mean the product doesn't exist. You're literally asking for more small adventures when a book just came out and ANOTHER BOOK WAS JUST ANNOUNCED FOR DECEMBER THAT IS ALL SHORT ADVENTURES.

Like c'mon man, you not liking the content doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That's an insane argument. What you really meant was "I want more adventures that suit to my taste to be published," because the original premise of this thread literally does not work if you acknowledge the reality that they are published all the time.

You can probably take your foot off the gas a little. The very post you quoted was me acknowledging it was an oversight. I realize we are on the internet but that doesn't mean it has to be ALL CAPS RAGE all the time.

Try making an actual case for Radiant Citadel if you think it fulfills my desire. What is good about the adventures? How is it better than the shallow, disjointed adventures of Candlekeep? Are there any real standout people will be talking about in 20 years like Sunless Citadel?

 

[Lanefan]

I clarified it a bit in a follow up post: #29

Which only says the criteria are subjective...but doesn't say what, in your case, those criteria might be.

 

[caudor]

I have purchased many adventures on Dmsguild that are very good (and some others that aren't so good). It is a great resource and I'm glad it exists. I enjoy having adventures of all sizes to choose from. Typically, an ideal adventure length for me is something like Lost Mines of Phandelver which is not too long or too short. My brother prefers the mega adventures. Having something for everyone is a good thing.

 

[ersatzphil]

Try making an actual case for Radiant Citadel if you think it fulfills my desire. What is good about the adventures? How is it better than the shallow, disjointed adventures of Candlekeep? Are there any real standout people will be talking about in 20 years like Sunless Citadel?

I mean - speaking as someone slowly running (and trying to review) the adventures in Candlekeep Mysteries, there are some good ones in there. A Deep and Creeping Darkness and Shemshime's Bedtime Rhyme were both fun and very memorable, even if The Book of the Raven wasn't.

 

[dave2008]

Which only says the criteria are subjective...but doesn't say what, in your case, those criteria might be.

My point was it is not the adventures themselves so much as it is me. I can't make heads or tails of published adventures, I can't figure out how to run them at the table where I don't feel constrained and artificial.

 

[Lanefan]

My point was it is not the adventures themselves so much as it is me. I can't make heads or tails of published adventures, I can't figure out how to run them at the table where I don't feel constrained and artificial.

Do you ever pre-write your own adventures to vaguely the same degree as a published module and then run those? If yes, there's not much difference other than with a canned module someone else made it all up.

 

[TheSword]

To be fair I agree that I am underwhelmed by Candlekeep Mysteries and am skeptical about radiant citadel.

However the middle third of Curse of Strahd is effectively 6 linked adventures. Werewolves kidnapping kids, witches selling dream pies, a brewery protected from an evil wood, a temple of dark secrets, a castle of ghosts and a town under a mad ruler.

The first part of Temple of Elemental Evil is four small adventures.

Rime of the Frost Maiden has 10 small adventures with a number of others in the later chapters.

Out of the Abyss has at least five self contained adventure sections.

Most later levels of Dungeon of the Mad Mage could be individual dungeons.

They are probably the best I have seen.

 

[Reynard]

My point was it is not the adventures themselves so much as it is me. I can't make heads or tails of published adventures, I can't figure out how to run them at the table where I don't feel constrained and artificial.

Most published adventures fail in their assumed primary goal: to provide the GM with something they couldn't make on their own. Most adventures require way too much work to parse and then customize. The old school was a little better but largely due to the fact that they were less "adventures" and more keyed site maps. Groups ultimately made their own adventures in those sites. Once Hickman gave adventures "plots" that all went to hell and it got harder and harder to run adventures out of the box/book.

Adventure design needs a revolution.

 

[Orius]

Modern adventures nothing. I've been running Night Below in 2e on and off for a few years now and I'm really getting sick of it. But I want to finish the damn thing instead of just leaving it hanging. That adventure isn't quite an AP, but it's a long campaign designed to start at level 1 and go over level 10. It doesn't help that the adventure really doesn't mesh well with the gameplay preferences that I've developed ever since I first bought it back in late 1995 or early 1996. Back then I was a new DM, and it was the biggest example of how to set up an adventure; these days I have a better understanding of how i want to run a game. Just from running this, I have no interest in running an AP of any sort, good or bad. I don't like being locked into a long adventure, and would rather shorter stuff for better variety. It's kind of a shame because there are times I'd like to try doing the old Dragonlance campaign, but DL 1-14 is pretty much "All aboard the Ansalon Express!".

I think part of the problem is simply being an adventure in the first place. In the old days they were modules not adventures. I think I'd rather do modules. A module might not have a lot of plot, but it's more a plug and play affair. The DM can just drop it into an existing campaign, and it doesn't have bit and pieces of story all over the place clogging things up. I think a good example of an adventure that was more the classic module type was The Shattered Circle, released near the end of 2e. That was a decent sized dungeon that wasn't loaded down with plot and backstory which a DM could just drop into a world with little difficulty.

I suppose the OSR crowd releases stuff that's closer to my taste in some ways, but I've never felt all that comfortable running prewritten stuff. I always feel better running my material.

Edit: And then after posting this, i read @Reynard 's post just above which is expressing just about the same sentiments.