D&D 3E/3.5 the worst thing about 4e is the best thing about 3e...

[JeffB]

Adventure support.

I am a 4e fan, but it has abysmal adventure support. There is not much of it, and what is there is pretty poor overall. I re-upped my DDI sub and was combing through Dungeon Mag and yikes...alot of dreck,same a sthe published modules from.WOTC. BTW,what is the Chaos Scar?

As far as 3.x/PF, I love the basic systems, but am not a fan of the rules ad nauseum, system mastery built in, the amount of prep , and having to reference 2 or 3 books during play.

BUT- TONS of adventure support. Yes plenty of dreck in the D20 glut, but plenty of good adventures too. Whether 3pp, or Dungeon mag or even some of the free stuff WOTC used to post on their website. With PF now, and companies like Frog God, and others, it is not hard to find quality material to use, and all of it, as we all know, is largely compatible. This alone keeps my 3.x/PF books around. I know if I had to run prepublished stuff because my schedule gets even tighter, I would be running 3.x.

With OD&D(and S&W) I often improvise adventures and encounters on the fly...easypeasy..AC, HD, HP, Damage the single S&W saving throw. I can usually get away with some ideas and a downloaded map and everything I need is usually in one book and quick to find. But with 4e, and 3e this becomes much more difficult (though I find 4e easier than 3e, it is still a PITA).

But I have a family, and prep and game time is minimal. I love having the ability to quickly find a good pre-made adventure and PLAY, NOT PREP.

With D&D NEXT, this is biggest hurdle for me to adopt the system. Quality adventure support and ease of running off the cuff is a must.

 

[Storminator]

Fortunately (?) I can only play once a month, which gives me plenty of time to make a 4e session. I honestly haven't even looked at an adventure since Keep on the Shadowfell, which I never ran. In 3e I felt like if I didn't have an adventure to run I couldn't DM it, but there was, as you say, a lot to choose from. I might have felt better about it if I had been running once a month there too.

PS

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

I just use old edition adventures for my 4E games.

One of the things I spent time doing was reducing the level of 4E monsters to their hit dice in 1E. That makes adapting older material a lot easier.

 

[Mistwell]

I think the first thing D&D Next could do to guarantee a source for solid adventures, is simply publish conversions for all the 1e adventures. It's not that hard to do, they've already demonstrated they can do it, and that would provide an immediate supply of adventures for many players.

They can do this with adventures from some other editions as well. For example, I think Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury from 3e could be converted without too much trouble (I am thinking of running Forge of Fury right now with 5e in fact).

But I agree with the premise of this thread in that adventure support will be critical this time around.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

So even after D&D Next launches, should WotC continue releasing adventures in the manner of Murder at Baldur's Gate: system-neutral books with system-specific game material as a free download?

 

[DaveMage]

So even after D&D Next launches, should WotC continue releasing adventures in the manner of Murder at Baldur's Gate: system-neutral books with system-specific game material as a free download?

WotC is unlikely to release anything for free. Although it may be "free" to DDI subscribers.

As to the original topic, I don't think Pathfinder would have been anywhere near as successful without the incredible adventure support - mainly from Paizo, but also from FGG and others. (For me personally, I find FGG's adventures to be the cream of the crop.)

 

[CM]

Older edition adventures are a goldmine for running 4e. The most time-consuming part of fleshing out an adventure was always (to me) statting out the combat encounters. With access to the online compendium and the ease of adjusting creatures, 4e reduces that time investment substantially.

While I don't expect wotc will publish 4e stats for all their 5e adventures like they are with the Sundering campaign, I still feel they will be a valuable resource for the 4e DM.

 

[Weather Report]

You can so easily run 1st/2nd Ed modules with 5th Ed almost as is.

 

[Warbringer]

You can so easily run 1st/2nd Ed modules with 5th Ed almost as is.

Really? I haven't tried, but 5e characters seem much stronger (at least 1-10). You run into any problems?

 

[Mistwell]

So even after D&D Next launches, should WotC continue releasing adventures in the manner of Murder at Baldur's Gate: system-neutral books with system-specific game material as a free download?

Yes, why not? Sounds like a good idea to me.