My friends started trusting me less and less as a DM because my homebrew campaigns are too "weird". However, they'd like to play a game if I followed a published adventure, in a published, established setting, a thing which I've never done before.
Any system goes. D&D, Pathfinder, Cyberpunk, WoD, anything. What's important is that I have a book in my hands telling me what happens every minute. I can improvise, but I do so even too much, I need my hands to be tied somewhat.
Can anyone suggest a book or publication with a starting adventure, something to help along a few beginners and a DM that needs to be guided?
(I know Darksun, Ravenloft, Forgotten Realms and shit like that exists, I just don't know where to start. Also it doesn't have to be D&D as I said).
Owen Butler
Against the Cult of the Reptile God is a favorite of mine.
Ryan Carter
If these people aren't going to appreciate you GMing, why are you running a game for them?
Aiden Martin
They are my friends, and roleplay games are fun.
Thanks for the suggestion! Will look it up.
Bentley Garcia
>weird Whats weird maybe we can help.
Cooper Watson
Try out a LotFP module. You'll get to run an unconventional adventure with room to adapt and improvise while still using a published format.
Eli Gutierrez
Yeah, what said We can recommend cool games, but if there are some things your party consider weird, then even some modules might not be palatable.
Jason Howard
I honestly think it's just a kind way to say they dislike my worldbuilding. Every time I make up a name they roll their eyes. They feel like they're inside my "magical realm" all the time, although there is never any sex and everything is sterile and buttoned up. Everything reeks of "me", everything always has some grotesque, or funny, or overly serious twist, orcs are never just orcs, there's always some backstory.
Which is really fun for me as a worldbuilder, but irks a guy in particular. Also it's never linear enough, so they are always wandering in a world of my creation, which seems masturbatory, in a way, and they can get bored because nobody tells them what to do.
I can make it as small and as linear as I want, they also just don't trust my judgment for skill checks, difficulty, or puzzles because I apparently don't get it right.
They're sick to death of my stories, my twists, my quirks. They want something normal and standard, from a professional.
Blake Phillips
Broodmother Sky Fortress Blood in the Chocolate A Red and Pleasant Land
all of these are compatible with OSR shit but they're written for Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Joshua Nelson
I can't blame them. I'm a DM most of the time, but I'm playing in a sandbox game on Fantasygrounds, and honestly I'd much, much rather play a fucking published adventure with a clear setting, story and end-goal. It's arrogant to think that your homebrew crap is better than the published stuff when you've never even tried the published stuff.
Jordan Russell
Damn, dude. I'm starting a group with my friends this weekend; I think the DM is going to be super railroad-y, and I'm praying his style will be more like the description of yours. The appeal of ttRPG to me is the collaborative aspect, like a one-word-each story but with rules to keep it grounded. He's a hobbyist writer though, and while that's cool, I feel like the game is going to cast us as parts of some grand tale he's set up.
/blogpost
Have you considered any of the call of cthuhlu stuff? A lot of their pre-baked scenarios are aimed at newbs. Should be good for the beginners. Depends on how far they're willing to stray from the D&D experience though.
Jacob Johnson
They kinda sound rude, but I can see their perspective a bit because I used to despise it when my brother DM'd for all of those above reasons. I think taking a break from the stuff you come up with and then going back to it later would help out a lot.
To fix similar issues I had with my brother's DM'ing I started running games based in a lot of source material and despite me using some of the same hacks and tweaks that he did, I did it in a more believable manner (poker face too strong). This helped his games because he started to see other ways in which games could be run and after a few sessions by me, his DM'ing became a lot more refined and toned down.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think it's a good idea for you to use a module. It will help your people see that what's cookie cutter might not be what they're really looking for, and it might help you see new and interesting ways to plan out your games.
I like the Forgotten Realms box set from AD&D and used it for a 5e game once that went pretty well. It's got a good bit of creative freedom for you as a DM but also has 2 fully fleshed out dungeons. The dungeons are in an Elven ruin recently abandoned but the ruin can be a playground for the DM with treasure hunters, mercenaries, nobles and other adventurers all clambering for the treasure held in the city.
If you use any old school box sets you'll have to adjust difficulty classes since back in AD&D saves had a fixed target value. In other words you'll have to assign numbers to all the saving throws and skill checks in the game. Another issue is that some of the monsters in the dungeons aren't in the 5e monster manual and you'll just have to improvise a bit on those ones. I reccomend playing it with AD&D rules or 5e rules if you don't have an AD&D Player's handbook and monster manual.
You can get it used for less than $30.
Hunter Perez
go to the share thread and look up the TSR trove. Then go read Treasure Hunt. It's the perfect first adventure IMHO.
Jose Young
X1 Isle of Dread
Adrian Watson
>Broodmother Sky Fortress >suggesting a "everything is fucked" endgame adventure as a starting adventure dumb raggidrone
B4 is good if you like weird. Plundering Poppof from Dungeon 72 is good if you want something slightly more conventional.
Cameron Thomas
>"My adventures are too weird, I need something else" >Gives him a few of literally the weirdest published adventures ever
Zachary Allen
B10 Night’s Dark Terror + Gazetteer 1 Karameikos. Better ”standard” fantasy is hard to find.
Kayden Murphy
Maybe check out Rise of the Runelords. Starts with saving a town from a goblin attack, which is a really straightforward way to start an adventure.
Jayden Ramirez
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Kayden Wood
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Nathan Turner
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Owen Miller
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Jason Bailey
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Nolan Sanders
City State of the Invincible Overlord is 12 MB The Caverns of Thracia is 8.1 MB