D&D 5E Why (and when) did "Adventure Paths" replace modules?

[S'mon]

One reason is because of the profit margin on individual modules. The hardback format is the absolute worst way to deliver adventure content for use at the table, but it is the best way to make the most money.

Now that 3rd parties have an OGL to work with, the market for individual adventures will be more widely served.

I think hardback format works well for megadungeon campaigns like Lost City of Barakus
and Dwimmermount - in those you really do want all the info close at hand. For Adventure Paths the series-of-softbacks like WoTC's HPE for 4e, and the Paizo APs, is more practical for transportation.
One 350 page hardback is vastly cheaper than 6 AP softcovers, but if I'm going to spend a couple
years on an AP (fortnightly 3-hour sessions with Xmas break, ca 65-70 hours/year, 130-140 hours
total, level up about every 10 hours of play, going from 1st level to ca 15th) then price is not a
huge factor. I just spent 11 sessions on the first book of Shattered Star, ca 33 hours of play and
3-4 level-ups among the PCs. At that rate an AP would take nearly 200 hours.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Got any way to substantiate this claim? I skipped over 4E, so I largely missed any 4E drama that may have occurred.

I suppose I could run a thread search for 'D&D Insider', and go through the myriad of threads where people said they weren't going to subscribe because they didn't like "renting" material... but in truth I just don't care enough to do so.

But if you managed to avoid the ridiculous attitudes many players had towards the 4E game... I'm not going to ruin it for you by suggesting you go back and wade through the morass. I'm not that cruel. LOL.

 

[JonnyP71]

Ah, but there's the rub: you don't, and can't, get a guarantee of quality. UK4 is regarded as one of the very best adventures from the classic era. But for every UK4 or I6, you get a "Forest Oracle" or "Scourge of the Howling Horde". (Most adventures, of course, sit somewhere between the very best and the very worst!) And for that style of adventure to be worth WotC's while, they need them all to sell well enough - not just the cream of the crop.

Granted you couldn't be sure in ye olden days - some poor sods actually BOUGHT The Forest Oracle , but with t'internet information is more freely available, opinions are easier to glean, and you can have a better idea of what you are buying.

Looking at my own 5e collection I have 4 hardback books - PHB/MM/DMG/SCAG - I've bought none of the big campaigns, and I probably won't. I also will not buy pdfs, I like to have something physical, colourful, with proper pages to turn - rather than a printed pdf loosely fastened with staples.

However the main beauty of the smaller old printed adventures is the ease with which they can be dropped into an ongoing campaign for something different - a change of pace. One of my 5E campaigns have just finished a lengthy homebrewed story, and have just begun a side quest - I've converted L2 The Assassin's Knot into 5E, made it suitable for 5th/6th level 5E PCs, adjusted the maps and deities, and it should be good for 3-4 good sessions of play. Not bad for a scuffed up 30 year old booklet which cost me £2 second hand - and preferable to buying a £20-£30 hardback adventure just to lift a chunk out which is suitable for my campaign.

I'll probably drop them into Castle Amber next...

And they have said they want to head north to their homeland to find out about 1 PC's orcish heritage, that goes through a big desert area on my map - aaaaaah I know, Master of the Desert Nomads and Temple of Death! And I'll make the Master a half orc - the PC's brother! And thus I get to DM my tattered old copy of this 2 module series for the 3rd time.

A lot of good stuff has been written about the Lost Mine of Phandelver - that nice introductory (shorter!) adventure supplied with the excellent starter set - if they can sell that, with rulebooks/box/dice for about £17 ($25?) then I'm pretty sure they can do smaller adventures for £8-£10. They can be condensed to 32 pages very easily - there's no need to have full monster stat blocks for every creature in the adventure, just refer the DMs to the Monster Manual! And if the text is kept more brief (less rambling scene setting and hand-holding) I would prefer that too.

But I'm of a different era, old, balding, somewhat nostalgic..... *sigh*

 

[Nickolaidas]

My opinion is that (from the 3rd edition and beyond) the XP tables have gone ridiculously small.


In 3rd edition, most PCs are supposed to level up with about 7-10 encounters of their appropriate CR.
In the 1st (Rules Cyclopedia 1991) version, PCs were supposed to level up after five adventures, with each adventure having about 20-30 encounters. Which means, that a PC would level up every 100-150 encounters.

As I see it, the character leveling up table became drastically smaller in the 3rd edition and afterwards. So much in fact, that it became possible to level up characters 10-15 levels in a big, epic adventure (while in the old editions, that was quite impossible to do).

I think that Adventure Paths replaced Standalone Modules because it became feasible to do so. That's what I think, anyway.

 

[ExploderWizard]

My opinion is that (from the 3rd edition and beyond) the XP tables have gone ridiculously small.


In 3rd edition, most PCs are supposed to level up with about 7-10 encounters of their appropriate CR.
In the 1st (Rules Cyclopedia 1991) version, PCs were supposed to level up after five adventures, with each adventure having about 20-30 encounters. Which means, that a PC would level up every 100-150 encounters.

As I see it, the character leveling up table became drastically smaller in the 3rd edition and afterwards. So much in fact, that it became possible to level up characters 10-15 levels in a big, epic adventure (while in the old editions, that was quite impossible to do).

I think that Adventure Paths replaced Standalone Modules because it became feasible to do so. That's what I think, anyway.

Research revealed that there was a large player base that wanted to experience the full range of levels in a year of real time or less.

For some groups this is about as long as they can hope to keep a group together before real world concerns bring an end to the campaign. The AP format is like fast forwarding through a movie, and just watching the action scenes.

XP is one of the easiest parts of a system to customize. Those with more stable long time groups can slow down progression allowing more character development without a rush to get to the end of the campaign.

 

[Nickolaidas]

I am not saying it was a bad move, I'm just saying that fast-forwarding the leveling up makes it possible to take a party to 20th level with 1-2 super adventures and call it a day.

 

[delericho]

Granted you couldn't be sure in ye olden days - some poor sods actually BOUGHT The Forest Oracle , but with t'internet information is more freely available, opinions are easier to glean, and you can have a better idea of what you are buying.

That's great for us, but not so good for the companies involved: now they either need to have the best-selling items in the line carry the duds (pushing the price up higher), or they have a situation where two duds in a row cause the line to fail. (Bear in mind that they can't know when a 'dud' is coming. If they could, they wouldn't bother publishing them at all - it's not like their tried to make "The Forest Oracle" suck!)

However the main beauty of the smaller old printed adventures is the ease with which they can be dropped into an ongoing campaign for something different - a change of pace...

I've snipped lots of stuff. I agree with you about the utility of those smaller volumes. I even agree that these big hardbacks are a poor way to deliver the adventure material. Unfortunately, though, I remain convinced that we're stuck with them. Again, WotC must be aware that this format isn't ideal from an ease-of-use perspective, so if it was practical to change then I'm sure they would.

A lot of good stuff has been written about the Lost Mine of Phandelver - that nice introductory (shorter!) adventure supplied with the excellent starter set - if they can sell that, with rulebooks/box/dice for about £17 ($25?) then I'm pretty sure they can do smaller adventures for £8-£10.

I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, for the same reason that my example $50 book was "Out of the Abyss" at 256 pages and not the "Monster Manual" at 350+. They produced many, many more copies of the Starter Set knowing that it would sell huge numbers. That vastly reduced the cost to produce each copy, and meant they could sell it at a knock-down price. Heck, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that one was a genuine loss-leader for the line.

A new standalone adventure, or even an "Expert Set" to expand on the "Starter Set" simply wouldn't sell those numbers, meaning a much smaller print run, and therefore a necessarily higher price.

Sometimes, economies of scale are a great thing. Sometimes, they work against you.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I'm afraid it doesn't work that way, for the same reason that my example $50 book was "Out of the Abyss" at 256 pages and not the "Monster Manual" at 350+. They produced many, many more copies of the Starter Set knowing that it would sell huge numbers. That vastly reduced the cost to produce each copy, and meant they could sell it at a knock-down price. Heck, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that one was a genuine loss-leader for the line.

Also keep in mind that the Starter Set came out one month before the Player's Handbook! This was a huge deal, and something that simply can't be repeated.

 

[S'mon]

Are you sure about that? According to Wikipedia, "Adventure Path" was ruled too generic to be protected. (And, yeah, I know Wikipedia isn't necessarily the best source...)

A quick trademark search supports Wikipedia - http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=4807:hp05pm.2.3

 

[S'mon]

It wasn't until Pazio figured out how to make good bank on the 'Adventure Path' model that making and selling adventures became more feasible.

Funny how the OSR people are able to produce tons of often good-quality modules, no
problem. Aside from LotFP the production values rarely match Paizo, but y'know, I *like*
non-glossy pages I can easily annotate a lot better than Paizo pages that resist my pencil.

I find the material I currently use for adventures breaks down into:

1. 30-40 year old TSR stuff - just started Against the Giants!
2. Current OSR stuff like Dyson's Delves, and the BFRPG adventures.
3. Paizo Adventure Paths.