Do you buy adventure modules?

[ramza]

Hi all,

 

I just bought Return to the temple of elemental evil for a mere 13 euros and I can't say I am disappointed. The adventure and the maps look pretty neat, and they will allow me to gain precious time as a DM.

 

I like to make my own stories but it's a time-consuming occupation. I have thus decided to buy a few of the adventure modules released by WotC. Some of them are awesome and give many details for a campaign. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

I have been recommended the following: City of the spider queen, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Expedition to Undermountain, and the following trilogy: Anauroch: The Empire of Shade, Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land, Cormyr: The tearing of the Weave.

 

I already have the old 3E adventure modules in PDF format (those that would take you from lv 1 to lv20) and I plan to print them anytime soon. I have also ordered the Red hand of doom.

[Kelverin]

Hi all,

 

I just bought Return to the temple of elemental evil for a mere 13 euros and I can't say I am disappointed. The adventure and the maps look pretty neat, and they will allow me to gain precious time as a DM.

 

I like to make my own stories but it's a time-consuming occupation. I have thus decided to buy a few of the adventure modules released by WotC. Some of them are awesome and give many details for a campaign. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

I have been recommended the following: City of the spider queen, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Expedition to Undermountain, and the following trilogy: Anauroch: The Empire of Shade, Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land, Cormyr: The tearing of the Weave.

 

I already have the old 3E adventure modules in PDF format (those that would take you from lv 1 to lv20) and I plan to print them anytime soon. I have also ordered the Red hand of doom.

I used to and would recommend the following games most are 1st or 2nd edition but can be adjusted also you can find a lot of them for free on the web;

A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords

B1-9 In Search of Adventure

C1 The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan

C2 The Ghost Tower of Inverness

EX1 Dungeonland

EX2 Land Beyond the Magic Mirror

GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders

H4 The Throne of Bloodstone

I2 Tomb of the Lizard King

I3 Pharaoh 5

I4 Oasis of the White Palm

I5 Lost Tomb of Martek

I3-5 Desert of Desolation (reprints the 3 adventures listed above)

I9 Day of Al'Akbar

L1 The Secret of Bone Hill

N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God

N4 Treasure Hunt (interesting take; starting at 0 level)

N5 Under Illefarn

O2 Blade of Vengeance (solo adventure)

S1 Tomb of Horrors - or as like I like to name it - How to kill a party

S2 White Plume Mountain

S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth

T1-4 The Temple of Elemental Evil

U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

U2 Danger at Dunwater

U3 The Final Enemy

X2 Castle Amber - possible the best game I ever played. Good stuff!

REF5 Lords of Darkness - A group of small adventures about variuos undead

 

Check here for an almost complete list

[J.E. Sawyer]

Our 3.5E campaign is using the Pathfinder series of modules, which is very good overall.

 

http://paizo.com/pathfinder/v5748btpy7zkr

[BobbyN]

Over all I prefer to create a unique story for the games I run, but sometimes use smaller modules and drop them in to save some time. My typical design goes something like...

 

 

1) Write the main path for the story.

2) Collect alot of mini modules (from the WotC website, or some of the small 1 session type writeups.) to use as sidequests if the group goes off on a tangent.) But I have to admit sometimes just making sidequests up on the fly is half the fun of Dming.

 

 

I did recently get the Expedition to Castle Ravenloft module, and to be quite honest, I am chomping at the bit to run it. One of the cool things about running pre-made material for me is, when I don't have to design the adventure, I can use that time to the extra things for the group. Paint minis, get some cool mood music, lighting, handouts, etc etc.

 

Unfortunatley with the current campaign I run and another I play in, I'm not sure when I'll actually get the time to run the thing. And now 4E is on the way....

 

Old Count Stahd Von Zarovich may have to wait a year or two.

[Stephen Amber]

For coolness factor G3 Hall of Fire Giant King is my favorite.

[ramza]

I already own Return to the temple of the elemental evil, the red hand of doom and expedition to castle ravenloft. I am far from disappointed since these books allow me to run campaigns with a coherent storyline and with tons of details on the combat situations. Whenever I feel like it, I add some extra content to flesh out the story. My main preoccupation was to get a pre-made adventure that would give data about characters, rooms and monsters so that I wouldn't have to sit for hours in order to put all the necessary info together on paper.

 

Our Pnp sessions are a bit similar to NWN in the sense that they are combat-oriented. Sure, we do some rp but my players are more interested in leveling up and fighting loads of monsters. That makes things easier for me... The books explain how each combat should be managed (and the more recent ones even give the monster stats on the same page - it's the new encounter format), which allows me to save some precious time (especially from page shuffling).

 

I don't know if I should buy expedition to undermountain, expedition to the ruins of greyhawk, and expedition to the demonweb pits. All these books got good and bad reviews, and my main concern was that many people said that the story was very confusing (for the two latter). I think about only buying the first one. Does anyone have any suggestions about these?

 

How about the FR trilogy I mentioned (Cormyr, Shadowdale, and Anauroch)? Has anyone tried them?

[Kelverin]

Tried to help best I could, but the only 3rd edition games I play are on the PC.

 

Conversion's are not too hard to make, just use your imagination

[Gromnir]

am gonna second josh's recommendation of pathfinder. #1 were ok, but 2, 3, & 4 were all pretty outstanding in very different ways. #5... given how much Gromnir pleads for moral challenges, shoulda' been right up our alley. we did like much o' 5, but it weren't as kewl as 2-4 for Gromnir. haven't played or seen #6 in the series as yet. some o' the iconics feat selections and attribute point distributions baffle Gromnir, but is not as if you gotta play with the pregenerated characters.

 

rarely does Gromnir buy a prefabricated adventure. is only a couple o' wotc 3e modules we gots. however, we does have pdf versions o' all the available pathfinder: runelords stuff, and we is looking forward to crimson throne.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[walkerguy]

HaHaHa you euros are so funny. Modules? When I think of modules I think of advanced machinery, not video games. Sorry I don't have time to reccomend adventure games right now, but then again I don't need to looks like list already about full ^ ^ ^.

[Skunkeen]

sometimes creating your own stories isnt as time consuming as you think. table top pnp or with the NWN games.

 

tons of adventures start out with a location be it even a cliche spot and the players storywise often go looking for trouble themselves. and creating trouble for them on the fly as a DM is sometimes more easy then following a module to improvise the whole adventure. locations and people can be created on the fly as well. players will likely have fun doing this and having their part in creating this game with you.

 

I game pnp modules and often when there is a location that has plenty of other possabilities like Shadowdale you mentioned Ramza. ill run my own adventure if the players complete a module with in that location to enhance the feel for the mental visual place and people. the huanted house there, elf Leap , the hidden Lair within Fox ridge. the watchers knoll. harpers, Elminsters tower, the Twisted tower, eventing such stories and possabilities before hitting a module like the recent FR trilogy modules could help prepare you and your players for an awesome adventure and when the destruction actuly hits Shadowdale you and your players will feel the effects more in awe.

[ramza]

Thanks for your reply, Sunkeen (and welcome to these boards as well)!

 

I have finally decided to only buy City of the spider queen. The new-encounter format used in WotC's adventures is quite inconvenient and requires A LOT of page shuffling.

 

My decision allows me to save money and maybe to buy a few cheap miniatures that might be useful to my p&p sessions.

 

PS: I will follow your advice of creating adventures on the fly. The thing is that I am mostly good at creating side-quests. That is the reason why I need a core story to keep my players going...

Edited March 28, 2008 by ramza

[Atom523]

PS: I will follow your advice of creating adventures on the fly. The thing is that I am mostly good at creating side-quests. That is the reason why I need a core story to keep my players going...

 

I also have trouble coming up with adventures which is why when i do i use a simple formula. I think of an adventure i really like (be it from P&P, movie, or a video game) i think about the core things about it that made me like it, and then dump everything else. Then i am left with a bare bones adventure, then i start making side quests, each of them only partially related to the primary quest. This way my group has a goal that they are striving for but at the same time they aren't just going straight toward it. I believe that this keeps the players guessing and gives them more variety. Most of the time my groups enjoy it. I use the choices that the players make to fill in the main quest as i go along. This works well for me as i am decent at coming up with stuff on the fly. Of course there are many moments where my players will kill the wrong person, or go off on a tangent which throws a wrench into so many well laid plans, which is why i don't like strict scrips and plans, if i do that then i become a slave to the plan and it is hard for me to adapt to my players.