Why do you buy published adventures?

[DaveyJones]

i buy them to complete my collection.

occassionally i will use some small encounter or idea from one that i convert for use in my campaign.

 

[roguerouge]

Too busy is an understatement. I'm enough of a perfectionist that the last time i built all my own adventure I got burnt out.

 

[TerraDave]

Another vote for:

-this should have been multiple choice;
-well done adventures are ends in and of themselves
-especially if I am busy
-and they provide a shared experience

 

[Scribe Ineti]

I like to mine them for ideas, but I also tend to buy the 4e modules for the poster maps. Can't get enough of those.

 

[Ravellion]

i buy them because I am not imaginitive enougb to write my own. I also like visual support such as maps and art.

 

[Desdichado]

I actually quite dislike running adventures as is, and for my GMing style, it's actually a lot more work to do so than to just do my own stuff. Plus, the results aren't usually as good anyway.

But I still like getting them, reading them, and occasionally stealing interesting ideas, locations, or characters.

The exception to that is Dark•Matter's excellent "Exit 23" adventure, from the old Alternity sourcebook. I've run that one several times, usually as a con one-shot, and I think it's a lot of fun.

Also, I don't particularly mind playing adventures. It's not my favorite, but with a good GM, it can be a satisfying experience. We did Age of Worms all the way through, and we're doing Rise of the Runelords right now, and both have been, for the most part, reasonably fun.

 

[Oryan77]

I buy them because chicks dig em.
There is nothing sexier than a guy at Starbucks highlighting passages from his adventure book. It's true...I get so many women giving me the eye as they walk by. Then they giggle with their friends and point at me. I'm pretty sure they are just shy and intimidated.

But anyway, besides the women, I use them because they are fun to run and they give me ideas of my own. Reading the boxed text is my favorite part to read. I wish newer edition adventures had more NPC dialogue within the boxed texts. That's one reason I prefer running the 2e modules. I like reading what an NPC would say. It gives me an idea on his personality, and it helps me get an idea on how to roleplaying him. Without the dialogue, the NPCs from the newer adventures all seem the same.

 

[Pbartender]

Succinctly, I buy them because I am lazy and unoriginal.

I don't always have the time to build adventures from scratch, despite and grand plans I may have.

What's more, while I quite honestly can't come up with my own original ideas from scratch very often, I excel at taking bits and pieces of other people's ideas, mixing them together and then elaborating (this is where my own brand of originality comes in) upon them to make something new. I am a consummate kit-basher.

So, I harvest adventures for seeds that I can grow into something I can use.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I buy them in part for most of the reasons listed, but the main reason is something I discovered when taking a programming class in college: I am horrible at coming up with original code, but I am really good at tweaking other people's code to make improvements and stitching together pieces from different people to make something that seems completely new and original. In other words, I steal rampantly and then try to pass it off as my own.

 

[The_Gneech]

Well, I buy them to mine for cool ideas, but I also buy them to run when I'm too busy to build my own.

I often start with a pre-written and customize the heck out of it, sort of like taking a box of pancake mix and adding my own blueberries, so to speak. The retro-style mods (like Goodman Games' DCCs) are particularly good for this as they put the "modular" back into "module."

-The Gneech