So Veeky Forums what do you all think of modules, do you use them or are they for scrub newbies who aren't good enough to build their own world? And do you prefer to use them for ideas/inspiration or run them as they come.
Give me your favourite as well
Modules serve two important functions:
1. Entry point for new GMs who don't have enough experience to make their own adventure
2. A tool to reduce required prep by the GM, very important for GMs without a ton of time to devote to the game
I think that they're useful for these two functions. Clearly an experienced, competent GM coming up with an original storyline based around the PCs is going to be a superior experience in most cases. That doesn't mean that modules don't serve a purpose, though.
I despise them usually.
That said, they can help new DM's get a feel for the job. So I applaud that.
I don't like that they are used by lame dms on a regular basis.
I guess, I both hate and approve of them.
I wish Wizards would realize that not every module has to be either A: An adventure league thing for levels 1-4, or B: A giga adventure that takes you from levels 1-15. They tried with Tales from the Yawning Portal, but that's all just repacks of existing adventures. Their output is so low it didn't even make sense until I realized the whole department is like 4 people and contractors because Hasbro.
Yeah as a uni student I find them invaluable but I always find them a bit underwhelming, especially modern WotC ones
They create a sort of shared narrative between DMs and players in the community as a whole. People can give tips on how to run specific encounters and talk about their specific takes on them. While this can homogenize adventures, it helps makes sure that more people complete campaigns instead of dwindling out from lack of material and effort.
So I'm in favor of them generally. I look forward to running ToA.
Wow, that is why they take ages to put anything out. That's pretty shit. More variation would be great as well. I find the older 2e,3.5 and 4 modules are pretty damn good and numerous though.
Actually that might give me a better experience with the newer modules, I've always run them in isolation without looking them up to see what people are saying about them
Modules are great for beginners and DMs that don't have the time/energy to make up an adventure. great for stealing ideas, enemies, quests, or maps.
Isle of Dread is a pet favorite
I figure they're gunshy from pumping lotsa books and flooding the market like they did with 3rd edition and OGL.
>. I find the older 2e
I tried a 2ed thief's solo module.
Fucking thing was crazy impossible.
ive never ran one but i wonder if it would make everything easier
It helps in that it provides things like rough plot points, statblocks for encounters, layouts for explorations and so forth. The issue is that it's a glorified mad-libs with "insert your players here". Due to their very nature, the module itself can't really conform to the eccentricities of the PCs and can't properly respond to out-of-the-box actions. In this regard, a GM willing to use the module as a rough guideline may get a more compelling experience. For a discount, madlibs version of a TTRPG, they can be decent.
I put my friend through a 1v1 1e thief module from Dungeon once. I think the designer didn't realise you could bypass the entire thing by climbing the walls of the manor. Or that putting a ogre up against a 5th-level thief in a featureless round room and clearly stating that it will have been alerted by any combat on the floors below, also basically impossible to avoid, is a recipe for pasted thief.
I find 5e modules overwhelming, I've GMd OOTA and SKT and storm king was a nightmare holy shut the amount of prep needed to run that was insane, all the side quests are listed in the second chapter but they're so brief it's basically "so and so wants the players to get this for her from some fucking guy in a fortress." And gives no further information so you basically have to make it all up as you go anyway. Out of the abyss was slightly better but still total cluster fuck. Personally I like pathfinder modules better but I prefer 5e as a system so I'm torn.
But yes I exclusively use them I work a 9-5 wage slave job so I have no time to make my own thing up, I just read chapters on m my lunch break and on the train every day and by the weekend I have the chapter memorised and ready to go
The one I played was a thief washed up on shore, gets attacked by a couple giant crabs( no chance of avoiding). Then finds out there is like 50 pirates (that he can't join). The captain was a lv 4 fighter...vs lv 1 rogue.
I can't remember the name of it.
One of the players in my group also DM's, occasionally- we both have different styles and strengths. I have to make things up whole cloth, and prefer long-form campaigns with the same characters, but I also struggle with the mechanics run smoothly. My buddy prefers modules, and runs them super well, and offers a different kind of experience. If you want a shorter, more "gamey" dungeon crawl with room to experiment with a brand new PC, modules are a great way to jump into something new for a bit.
(Of course, this doesn't apply to the particularly long ones, and I have no experience with those. This mostly applies to TftYP.)
What does everyone think of Curse of Strahd, you've mentioned a lot of the other ones but not CoS.
>Good DMing very much needed to save bad module.
One of the HHQ modules, provably. One if the two Thief's Challenge modules.
It was so bad. The author put a fireplace on the first floor, then forgot to draw the chimney onto the second and third floors. The Wooden Mouse, if anybody cares.
>The author put a fireplace on the first floor, then forgot to draw the chimney onto the second and third floors
Literally unplayable
2ed ravenloft was great. Not sure about the newer ones.
I love them, if only because they're great seeds. Sure, I can run them as is, or I can bolt on a few bits of oddness and let everything go berserk over a long enough campaign.
>Good DMing very much needed to save bad module.
It was fucking horrible. Literally the only time I've ever wanted to kill my character. Just hopeless.
>Try to ambush a couple pirates on patrol around the island? That brings 2 more groups of 4 to look for them.
>Flee into the jungle? Snakes, quicksand, and worse.
>Hang on the beach and look for ships? Crabs everywhere plus pirate patrols
>Surrender to pirates? The enslave you. Cut off a hand, etc.
>Steal the ship? Need 8 people to sail it.
>Kill the captain? He's a lv 4 fighter and almost never alone. You're a lv1 rogue.
>Start a distraction fire? They put it out and do a detailed search of the island.
Fail one hide check....dead.
Miss one backstab.....dead.
Wait...dead.
Dead dead dead dead.
Fuuuuuuck.
On the one hand, they are good, because as
pointed out, they are great for inexperienced GM's and GM's without free time.
On the other hand, during the reign of 3e, they started printing out pre-generated modules like fucking candy, and people started leaning on them heavily, and I gotta say, it changed the attitude that players have towards the rules. A lot of players who grew up on module after module, who similarly had access to charop forums for the first time, started to see the DM as an intermediary between the rules (who were seen as above the DM) and the players, rather than a judicial authority higher than the rules. Ultimately, this period in D&D history bred a lot of bad players, and their play philosophy is still alive and well.
So.... it's a give and take.
>during the reign of 3e
>implying that shit ain't as old as TSR
TSR did loadsamodules before they even got into doing loadsasplatbooks. Though they didn't get into it before Judge's Guild showed them it'd make a bunch of cash.
yeah, but before everyone had the internet
>A: any given DM could only be expected to have a few
>B: the secondary effect of the charaop forums, making people feel like they spent time learning a skill and were being cheated if the game wasn't being run RAW wasn't a thing yet.
3e and the culture that grew around it are both inseparable from the early internet.
I've DM'd three complete modules.
Over time I grew to dislike them and now all I want to do is write my own. I'd probably never DM a wotc 1-15 again.
But they were a good tool to learn the craft and norms.
I rely on them a little too much. I love modules that give you locations to explore and NPCs with goals along with what could happen if they fulfill those goals. Modules that serve to usher players along encounter after encounter and explicitly tell the GM that such-and-such should happen at X moment otherwise the thing falls apart seem to be the prevailing way of running things though.
Started with the AD&D First Quest and Karameikos KoA (both with the audio CD) with my 10 years old and 3 friends.
It is great for starters, and I still nostalgia them. But now I only go with my own creations.
>for scrub newbies who aren't good enough to build their own world
This. Furthermore, running a module doesnt make you any better of a GM unless its your first time.
Even I could make better 1-4 modules, then expand them if they sold well. Its not THAT hard. I think the problem is that they havnt turned them into an assembly line. You need a structure/plot guy, a mechanics guy, and two technical writers to put meat on its bones. Having done document control in a major pharmaceuticals company, I can tell you that a similar structure in that context can output hundreds of discrete, detailed, and complete SOPs, reports, and citations in no time flat.
Why not just make your own? Practice with one-shots and learn to be a real GM.
DnD modules are generally underwhelming, but a solid source of inspiration for me.
On the other hand, I've had great success running CoC modules like Masks of Nyarlathotep, since I suck at writing the kind of stuff that makes CoC fun.
They're really good at helping you get a 'feel' for the world.
I personally think that the Call of Cthulu modules are the highest-quality ones I've seen.
I tell myself I don't have enough time to prep a good session this week, and then spend an hour searching for a good adventure on DMs guild and a few hours adapting it to my setting after that. In the end I probably spend just as much time on prepping, and I end up with a more "on-rails" result. My group doesn't care about railroading though (and will often play like limp fish without heavy direction). The end result is just as good as a normal session, netting myself just a tiny amount of time saved, if any.
But I like using modules for sidequests and one-shots. If it's a one-shot and I don't care about continuity, there's some crazy fun stuff out there.
I just illegally download the PDF, modules are ok but as an experienced GM I don't really have any use for them, especially since I never use Forgotten Realms as my campaign setting.
Tales from the Yawning Portal was the only good module I bought, and that's just because it was just a bunch of really good dungeons all put together into one book and weren't setting specific.