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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jhaelen" data-source="post: 5254738" data-attributes="member: 46713">I don't see how. It's not so much about the things you need to prepare, it's about the things you need to be prepared for. You definitely have to do a lot more thinking things through. It requires a degree of familiarity with the adventure material that I usually only achieve by creating an adventure by myself.I don't think it's that easy. First, not every creature group will work with every map. Combat encounters work best if the terrain plays to the creatures' strengths. Fire giants tend to enjoy fighting near fire sources or lava, ice giants want frozen ground. By linking encounter areas and creatures you can also provide the DM with fledged-out combat tactics. To provide the same level of detail without the linking you'd need to provide information for every permutation of terrain and creatures.Do you know 'Secrets of X'endrik'? It used an interesting approach of separating storyline from adventure locales. For each storyline there would be two or three adventure locales you could use. They also didn't use fixed monster lists, so a DM would be able to use them at a variety of levels. That's pretty cool! But: These aren't really adventure modules. It just provides the components required to 'assemble' an adventure module. 'Assembling' the module is where the work for the DM is.It's even more difficult regarding the story-line. With the possible exception of 'Masks of Nyarlathotep' I don't know a single adventure that would allow a number of set pieces to be played in any order, unless there is no overarching story.Two problems:1. As already mentioned: Suitable tactics aren't (and cannot be) provided. I don't know about you but when I'm preparing for a session, I'm looking over the abilities of the monsters they're likely to encounter in it to get a good idea on how to utilize them in combat. Now, granted, I'm still mostly DMing 3e, so it can be quite a list. E.g. our last combat included an encounter in Limbo against 12 slaadi, 2 or 3 of every colour trying to storm a fortress-monastery of githzerai. Running such a combat well is no easy feat, even with plenty of preparation.Ah, nope. Sorry. For a very experienced DM used to and comfortable with winging it? Maybe.If I provided you with all the required ingredients for a gourmet seven-course feast,  elaborate recipes and state-of-the-art kitchen equipment, would you be able to actually prepare the feast for your gaming group? I wouldn't.And what do you do if one of them turns out to be a vegetarian or vegan you didn't know about? One of them happens to be allergic to one of the ingredients, one's on a diet, one is a muslim, and one a jew? What if they're also two hours late and they want to start with the dessert?(These questions reflect the difficulties of creating an adventure module that works for every group and some of the challenges in adjusting to different player preferences and ideas)</blockquote>

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