Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 DaleMcCoy Nov 03, 2014 13:52:46	Link to Original Blog Post   Every Wednesday, I sit down at my local game store and play in the Horde of the Dragon Queen (written by Kobold Press). I still find published adventures to be an odd duck with me personally because I got my GMing start with White Wolf games where published adventures were non-existant and generally frowned upon by those that played it. Even after playing D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder for years, it took me quite some time to actually use a published adventure myself. To this day, I still prefer to make my own adventures fully customized for my gaming group. But I am busy so published adventure are a tool that keep in my GMing back pocket now.    This is especially true now that my own company, Jon Brazer Enterprises, has started publishing adventures. Our first one, Reign of Ruin, is being loved by fans of 13th Age far and wide. Currently we are working on the Pathfinder version of this adventure as well as the next title in our Deadly Delves adventures.    But what about D&D 5e? Do you want adventures for 5th edition game? Do you regularly rely on published adventures or do you make your own? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
#2 Lashan Nov 03, 2014 15:27:56	I don't need any.  I'm just going to convert all my old 1E, 2E, 3E, and 3.5 E stuff to 5E.  I've got enough for a lifetime of adventure.
#3 Rhenny Nov 03, 2014 15:34:07	DaleMcCoy wrote:
#4 abs1nth Nov 03, 2014 16:03:04	NAY! I just started DMing and I got the Starter Set thinking I was probably going to use it first and after that do my own campaign which I was already gathering ideas for. After reading a bit into the adventure I realized that across the board they were going for something different than I was. A goblin ambush that leads to a goblin hideout to save a NPC seems like the least interesting thing any person can come up with. The structure seemed too linear, the dungeon pretty uninteresting/okay. The idea of a main quest with side quests is the opposite of what I want out of my game. Tabletop RPGs allow me to make the video game I dream of and doesn't quite exist yet a reality. A game where the story is created by the players and the possibilities are limitless (depending on how much I prepped and how good I improv). I also don't like the Forgotten Realms setting that much, I quite prefer the idea that magic is rare, gods are mysterious/may not even exist and not something you meet and fight, that races largely keep to themselves and that there is racial tension between them.   So in the end I created my own setting, own campaign for my first session as a DM and it worked quite well. I don't see myself ever using a pre-made adventure. I might if it's something that would be one cool location/quest that I could add into my world but considering Lost Mine of Phandelver is something that is considered good by most people and just arose feelings of mediocrity from me, I'm not sure when I would find an adventure I would actually want to use.   Edit: Oh, I almost forgot the most important reason: World building and level/quest design is probably the most enjoyable aspect of DMing for me.
#5 CCS Nov 03, 2014 15:42:01	When I DM I use 3 types of adventures: 1) straight, unmodified, published ones. Admittedly, this is the least used type - because no matter how good someone else's work its rarely a perfect fit..... 2) self written adventures. 3) "Blended" adventures. A little bit of your stuff, a little bit of our stuff, Mix it all together to fit our games.....
#6 ren1999 Nov 03, 2014 15:57:25	I think Wizards should beautify all the old modules from 1st edition and rerelease 5E versions of them for fun and profit.
#7 Touc Nov 03, 2014 16:18:03	I appreciate modules to a point. Maybe I'm picky, but I find many modern modules to be chocked full of "creative laziness" which force me to correct or supplement after I've already paid for a product. Very rarely do I find material that is so well-written it stands alone as a "must-play" that you fit into the campaign. For example, while I praise the Pathfinder Adventure Paths and had a blast running Kingmaker, book #3 created a fantastic tale about a tribal centaur culture and then reduced interaction with them to a "diplomacy" roll. Boring and creatively lazy.  Forum users helped one another create a tribal culture in which the party could visit sacred sites, understand the history of the centaurs, then compete in a race (4 legs vs. 2) that young warriors run to become warriors in the tribe.  I'm also aware than one of the authors in the series had great material cut from the module to save space, and he gave it to players who asked on the forums.    Anyways, modules work for those of us who don't have time to create everything from scratch, but again to a point.  If great material has to be cut for print space, I'm also a fan of online supplements.
#8 Kishri Nov 03, 2014 16:28:25	I think WotC should produce quality adventure modules.  Done right, they can produce a steady revinue stream while showcasing what the system (5e) really can do.  This has worked well for Paizo's Pathfinder, for example.   I almost always make my own settings and adventures.  Always have.  That said, I know far more DMs who like to use published material to help their game along.  It would be unfortunate for WotC to miss the opportunity.   I am also fine with 3rd party makers.  Anything to make the hobby and games more fun.  Even though I tend to make my own material, a quality product will certainly get a purchase from me and I will then use it.
#9 draegn Nov 03, 2014 16:32:43	For the most part I create my own, however, I will on occasion borrow something obscure when limited time prevents planning.
#10 Elfcrusher Nov 03, 2014 17:22:13	ren1999 wrote:
#11 iserith Nov 03, 2014 18:03:51	DaleMcCoy wrote:
(Reply to #10) Azzy1974	Elfcrusher wrote:
(Reply to #3) Azzy1974	Rhenny wrote:
#14 MechaPilot Nov 03, 2014 19:07:30	Azzy1974 wrote:
#15 crimfan07 Nov 03, 2014 19:27:58	I'm of two minds. I tend to get published adventures and even start using them for inspiration/ideas. However, I rarely run them as written and usually depart pretty fast from the book. That said, sure, publish away.
#16 sleypy Nov 03, 2014 19:29:13	I don't reallly care for the adventure modules with 30+ pages of settings material I'll never use.  Dungeon has always been great for short adventures that are 1-3 sessions that you could easily plug into any campaign; I particularly liked Dead for a Spell, from Dungeon 206.
#42 Bluenose Nov 05, 2014 11:05:32	In order of priority I'd want:   Small sandbox areas that could be fitted into an existing map without too much trouble but would have enough happening to be interesting.  Short adventures based on themes such as races. So if I've got an area where there's problems with orcs, I could pull out "Orc Adventures Vol.1" and run something from that. Longer series of adventures that were linked in some way where I could play a part in a few sessions, and characters could either carry on to the next one or do something else.  Any random short adventures that could be played through in a session or two.    Purchase intent would rather depend on quality, probably firstly from reviews.
#43 DaleMcCoy Nov 05, 2014 11:10:50	Phobos wrote:
#44 Ansbach Nov 05, 2014 17:27:42	I've always felt like once I learned how to improvise and prep effectively, published adventures take much *more* time and effort to run than developing and running my own stuff.  Once you know how to do it, you can whip up a game from a Savage Worlds One Page Adventure or Dungeon Worlds Adventure Front in a fraction of the time it takes to read and study a module well enough to run it.       I still like reading published adventures, but more for the ideas to steal and incorporate into my own games - I almost never run them as written.
#45 iserith Nov 05, 2014 17:28:34	Ansbach wrote:
(Reply to #32) Azzy1974	DaleMcCoy wrote:
#47 shpelley Nov 06, 2014 5:11:34	I use a published adventure for my group of newer people where we play a casual game (Lost Mines of Phandelver, if you are interested) while I build a custom campaign world/bible for a group of veteran gamers. Basically, if I had to maintain a custom campaign for two different groups, I'd be hard-pressed to make it any good. The published adventure saves me a lot of time and hassle. This is the first time using a published adventure even, and I'm quite pleased with just being able to pick it up and play with it and hope they continue make good modules/adventures.
#48 Rastapopoulos Nov 06, 2014 7:31:48	DaleMcCoy wrote:
#49 RichardMoore Nov 09, 2014 7:29:48	I'm very pleased to see that there is still positive reception out there for good-quality adventures with malleability. I know that I got a lot of good use out of published modules over the last decade or so of gaming, especially from companies like Goodman Games as well as from Dungeon Magazine in its twilight years (and that's just with regard to previous editions of D&D and its descendants). I've both run and played through cool titles like Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, The Mysterious Tower, Bloody Jack's Gold, Hollow's Last Hope/Crown of the Kobold King, Seven Swords of Sin, Temple of Orcus, Razor Coast, and many more besides. It's really nice to have a ready-to-run dungeon or scenario at your fingertips and just read a few sections ahead to get prepped for a session. I love designing my own material too, and I typically do for climactic campaign moments, but there's also something magical about finding a great published adventure and making it your own, even if you are mostly homebrewing your story and setting.   Having just finished converting Reign Of Ruin to another ruleset for future release (it was originally written for 13th Age), I'm very excited for what the future holds for fantasy gaming, and for the emerging strategy for official D&D products given the quality of HotDQ/RoT. I can also say without a doubt that if licensing were a possibility and there was sufficient demand for it, I'd be happy to do the leg work on converting Reign Of Ruin for use with the newest edition of D&D, with Dale's blessing. (Of course, in the meantime, an enterprising GM can pick up the adventure in any of its existing formats and use those ideas for a 5E game, and I'll be thrilled to hear about the results if folks do!)   Jon Brazer Enterprises is committed to providing high-quality game material anyone can use, and we want to reach the broadest possible audience. We've got some really exciting stuff planned for 2015, and it's our hope that the Deadly Delves line will be in quite a few gamers' collections as we continue to release those products. We've got a lot of awesome talent lined up to bring people more adventures to play!
#50 Artifact Nov 09, 2014 10:55:47	DaleMcCoy wrote:
#51 Desrimal Nov 09, 2014 13:33:32	Hoard of the dragon queen is the first pre-made adventure I've run for years. I like the adventure, but for me part of being DM is making your own adventures, that are tailored to suit the PCs and players in the group. So to answer the OP: No, I'm not going to buy any more adventures regardless of their quality.