Would you buy a super module for levels 1-20??

[Geoffrey]

I voted yes. I'd like to see such a product that was set entirely in the Underdark. Have the beginning 1st-level characters with no experience dive right underground. While this would share some similarities with a dungeoncrawl, it would be more encompassing since it would deal with the entire Underdark ecosystem, political systems, cultures, etc.

In other words, what Night Below should have been.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Good luck with this - I'll be interested to see how it turns out if you go through with it.

Yea, me too. This is really just a dream. I don't have a company backing me, nor a team to work with.

As a 40 hour a week working and married DM, this is the kind of product I always wanted for myself. Since noone else seems to be putting anything like this out, I have been flirting with the idea of doing it myself.

It occured to me that the D&D generation as a whole is getting older. Many of us are married and have full time jobs. We just don't have the time anymore to come up with great homebrew adventures. These would be the real target consumers.

Unfortunatly, I don't have the financial backing to put something like this out myself. I guess I just posted this out of curiosity or maybe on the off chance that a d20 publisher would see that the idea has merit and potential customers.

Maybe somebody will take my idea and run with it. Of course, it would be nice if they took me too.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

No.

I might pay $55 for 20 stand-alone individual modules that took characters from 1-20 though. They could have an arcing plot, but I'd have to be able to run them standalone. That way I'd have more freedom with the product.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

The biggest problem with doing several linked adventures is the cost. You just couldn't do 3 boxed sets with all the goodies for $20-$30 each. Ask TSR.....

That's really all the adventure path series is. The advantage is that if you crammed it all into one box, you could cut down on production costs.

The only other way I could see it would be to do 2 boxed sets, each encompassing 10 levels and costing about $50 each. I really don't like that option because you end up spending $100 on a product you could have got for $65 or $70 if you had bought it all at once.

Boxed sets are expensive, but they are the only real option for all the additional material.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

No no!

I mean one box with 20 adventures that were stand alone.

Sorry I wasn't clear.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Hmm.. I see. It is actually similar to what I was proposing.

My idea: A prelude that got the characters through level 2 and then 6 adventures made up of three levels each. They would have an overarching plot, but could be used seperate with little trouble.

I think it would be hard to write an adventure that made sure you only earned a single level. They would all have to be really short.

 

[MarauderX]

Well, WAY back in the Basic D&D days, I ran Night's Dark Terror with characters starting at 1st level and they ended at 8th-10th at the end. It was one long journey over a year, but it worked out very well. The module had great settings and details and although the party strayed from the somewhat linear path the adventures were placed in it was easy to get them back into it with a few cues.

I think a Mega module/campaign would have to include several off shoot mini-adventures in case the PCs want to go exploring in different directions and need clues to keep the plots alive. Also the effects of what the party has been doing needs to be evident almost everywhere they go - for example at high level if they have been framed, entire villages might flee from them.

I would look at it as one of the 'never-ending adventure' books that have a bunch of different endings and possibilities for rewards, and one party cannot do everything to achieve all the best consequences.

 

[The Sigil]

My personal major caveat to such a thing?

Can you say, "DM Railroading?"

Hard to imagine a 1-20 adventure without a large degree of railroading involved... or so much writing that it would get out of control cost-wise.

--The Sigil

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

-edit-

 

[bwgwl]

2. How easily can I customize it?
Virtually all adventures and modules I run are customized, some quite heavily. This is probably well beyond the intended scope of your project, but you should consider including electronic aids with a product of this magnitude. Though many would not use such tools, many of us would, if only to save countless hours of prep time.

like you, i tend to heavily customize most things i use for my campaigns (i am an inveterate home-brewer). however, if this levels 1-20 mega-adventure were fairly well-written, i'd be tempted to just run it straight -- it pretty much is an entire campaign and setting unto itself, so i'd see less need of trying to adapt it into an existing campaign.

i guess what i'm saying is that the more complete it is, the less messing around i'd feel like doing to it, and the more likely i'd consider buying it.