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I'm a man want of time, and as such I rarely have enough of the commodity to truly develop the rip-roarin’, pulse-poundin’, hero-makin’ adventures I used to. Now, in the interest of keeping my hobby alive, I’ve been reluctant to shoot from the hip and just create as I go. So, I’ve developed something of a conundrum for myself. As many of you have already suspected by the direction I’ve started this post, I’ve turned to prepackaged adventures…at least I’ve tried to.
There is a serious lack of really good adventures out there! I’ve spent enough time looking through the drudgery of the RPG industry that I could have made two or three quality adventures myself! The irony…
If you’ve got ‘em, share ‘em, folks! At least the name and where people can get them, anyway. Then, explain why they are so great. Everyone obviously has different tastes—I like realistic approaches; you know? If there’s a monster in the next chamber over, there better be a good reason it didn’t come investigate the noise the PCs were making as they dispatched its neighbor. Why are all those beasties inhabiting, and co-inhabiting , those ruins? What’s there to gain? How do they manage? Etc., etc., etc.
Tell the GM a story so he can involve the players in a story! PLEASE! And thank you.
posted by Bromern Sal on 4/15/2024 at 01:11:10 AM
     
9 Comments
Personally, if it's done well (RP, plot, encounters, etc.), I find that the adventure "Expedition of the Ruins of Greyhawk" (or something like that) is a solid campaign. It's v3.5, for those who are curious.
Plane jumping, demon lords, demigods, thief, orc and goblins, large T-Rex's... It is a very good campaign.
I found it last year in my local bookstore, but since the release of 4th edition, I've noticed a decline in the production of v3.5 books. It's for level 8-13... So if you're looking for something, that might be a good place to look. I'm not sure about the exact name, but that's the gist of it.
I wish you luck in your search!
-Gboy
posted by gboy on 11/04/2009 at 08:21:59 PM
I've always felt dissatisfied with the pre-packaged adventures. They just seem so...I don't even know what they seem so like. I suspect I'm much like you, wanting my encounters to have a sort of ecosystem approach to a dungeon, not just a "you stumble upon a horde of goblins who didn't hear you fighting a dragon behind a 2 inch door".
Not that I'd ever use them anyway (or so I believe at this point) I am interested in finding a good one, just for the read really.
posted by Grugg on 11/04/2009 at 09:03:11 PM
I have played a lot of pre- done modules in my time. Problem is, the best ones I have found are the old TSR Modules. Castle Amber is one of my all time favourites, as well, as White Plume Mountain and Palace of the Silver Princess (That was available to download free from WoTC). Ravenloft I and II, The Giants series etc etc.
But I have often wanted to take some of the many modules I have written up and create my own line of modules to share. But I play 2e and very few people are familiar with that anymore.
posted by Alacrity on 11/05/2009 at 09:37:24 AM
The other aspect of premade adventures is that I presume a lot of them are rather linear in their approach. They probably often don't question the PC's motives; they simply assume that the party is good, so they'll do the right thing. Of course, those are just my thoughts about premade adventures, based on my assumptions that the majority of those authors are assuming that their audience is a group of gamers looking for a hack and slash adventure just for kicks or similar. Truthfully, I haven't tried getting or looking at them, so perhaps I shouldn't shoot the concept before I see it.
However, for a module to be realistic, it should have a nonlinear approach, even if the objective is straight forward. This sort of thing is difficult to write (which is another reason why they seldom appear), but if done right...
I guess I should stop talking to myself here and just get to making that 'would people like me to try writing up several 'premade' adventures?' thread I seem to be building myself up towards... I think I have an idea as to the formatting I'll use...
I'm sorry if this hasn't really been helpful at all... but if you'd like, I could try writing one up for you.
posted by Reralae on 11/05/2009 at 12:35:36 PM
Well, I have a really good experience with a 2nd edition adventure called: The Silver Key.
Some time ago I translated it to edition 3.5, which can be done without too much trouble.
I believe it is for download on some websites in pdf file. Of course you have to pay for these.
The story: A town has lost its finest general to an orcish raid. There has been a definite increase in orcish activity around the country for some time now.
The adventurers are approached to rescue the general. To do so, they are transformed into Orcs (something like polymorph). The trick is though, that if players get too much into the role of being an orc, they can be given orc-points by their fellow players. If you have more orc-points than your Con-score, you become an orc perminantly.
As the players find themselves surrounded by orcs, they discover that not everything is as they thought.
I can't tell you too much without giving away some plot-twists, but I can reveal that this is a very open game, which requires quite a bit of thinking on the PC's part.
This one always stuck with me, and rarely has a store-bought module brought so much fun and adventure.
posted by Almerin on 11/05/2009 at 01:22:09 PM
Well when Halloween comes again I have made up a Trick of Treats Dungeon Crawl, Beside monsters, there are random attacks of Exploding popcorn and candy corn piercers, gummy bear and worm jellies. Chocolate morasses, Tootsie rollers, Peanut crawlers, and other delicicious Halloween treats to attack you. The best thing is when you bet it, you get to eat it. :)
On a more serious note, My favorite gaming aid system (And yes, I too hate the way the prepackaged scenarios go) uses tables where the players roll what is encountered, in that they roll the numbers and I look it up on my tables which are quick and easy to use. As in real life there are mundane things they can come across during their adventures as not everything encountered is something to fight.
Somethines some odd occurances and creatures are rolled in odd combinations, but listening to the players as they try to make sense of what they encounter might mean, can lead to some very interesting situations.
The only thing set is what is taking them somewhere, after that comes a lot of twists and turns depending on what the players decide to do.
posted by Dragon Mistress on 11/05/2009 at 01:52:54 PM
I love prepack stuff. Of the two games I've run here, both were prepacked free stuff from WOTC.
However, I find that the prepack stuff is good only for the basic story line and the pre-gen NPCs. They still require me to adapt to the players' wishs.
Star Wars: Dawn of Defiance has been a big exercise in this very thing (adaptation).... I :LOVE: you guys!!
posted by Ayrn on 11/05/2009 at 03:23:35 PM
For the record, the current Loaded Dice storyline is based off of a prepackaged adventure. To be fair, though, this was not a storebought adventure, but rather one I downloaded off of the web.
posted by t_catt11 on 11/06/2009 at 12:12:33 PM
I've recently written a short eBook that might help a bit. While not an adventure in and of itself, it talks about how to take a legend and turn it into a whole campaign, using an example legend. That sample legend and the breakdown that comes with it could shorten preperation time considerably. The eBook is being published by Silver Crescent Publishing and will be released in December at www.dungeonmastering.com and www.realmsoftwilight.net. I hope to get a subscription based adventure series going once I get my feet on the ground. Give me time and I'll attempt to solve your dilemma.
posted by Steelight on 11/19/2009 at 07:19:25 PM
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