When using published adventures...

[eris404]

Do you tell your players which adventure you are going to run or do you keep it secret? Why?

 

[Jdvn1]

Why would you tell them the name? I might mention it off hand, but there's no reason for the players to know stuff like that.

 

[Arnwyn]

I don't bother telling them. Why? Because they don't need to know.

Most of the time, they don't even know they're going through a published adventure.

 

[Crothian]

Normally I don't until its over.

 

[Hairy Minotaur]

My game has 2 DMs whose games I don't play in, so I tell them the name of the adventure. If they like it they might use it in their games, otherwise it's money not wasted.

 

[IronWolf]

I don't tell the players where I get my material from. I usually modify something enough that it may not be recognizable anyways, but I would rather be safe than sorry. And by safe I mean I don't want players trying to get an inside edge by looking the module or just searching the Internet for reviews on it where they might find a spoiler. I figure not telling them helps remove the temptation. Once an adventure is over I have no problem telling them what I used if they are interested.

 

[Voadam]

I told my brother who has a lot of stuff, "don't read these two I might use parts of them" When I took over running the campaign. This was the tip off that led party members to curse Monte Cook's name as vile things came up.

 

[the Jester]

It depends on whether the pcs know where they're going. For instance, when (in my rat-bastardliness) I decided to run them through Return to the Tomb of Horrors, I didn't tell them- they eventually figured it out, when the illustrations started coming out. Sheer terror!

 

[fafhrd]

When we hit the part that's depicted on the cover, I tend to work the title into a corny and overdramatic expostulation coupled with a slow reveal of the cover from behind the DM screen.

Yeah I know, I wish there was a help group.

 

[JoeBlank]

I DM online, in OpenRPG or WebRPG and over email, and this is one of my favorite advantages of the format. The players can't see what books I have in front of me, so they don't know what adventures, monsters, or other sources I am using.

So no, I don't tell them when, or even if, they are involved in a published adventure. When it is over, I usually give kudos to the creator of the adventure, and give them a general idea of which parts I used.