Wrackspawn
ChristopherGroves
Warlord
6093 Posts
    
 | | 04/30/2006 12:36 AM |
| So, we've gone through this cycle ... for a number of years there were a few large-scale campaigns / adventure paths but not many and certainly not many of consistent quality. However, the consensus these days seems to be that the quality of many of these are improving. Further, there are now a good number of full-scale adventure paths you can drop someone into.
Question 1: What major adventure paths / campaigns are there now? I'm talking semi-proven, major and can-run-the-entire-campaign-with-them paths.
Mark of Heroes
Legacy of the Green Regent
Red Hand of Doom
Shackled City
Age of Worms
World's Largest Dungeon
Fantastic Locations, etc.
Question 2: How many folks are running a campaign where the main arc is primarily their own versus something pregenerated? I have to say, I'm considering running some stock adventures/paths when I venture back into the realm of DM. Consider this an opinion poll ... and a guage of how the general community feels (are we fatigued with developing our own material constantly?) | |
Triangle DDM Skirmish Group | My Email | 45-ish trades and counting | Stuff for Trade
* * * Show your brother some love and click here * * * | |
|
Knight of Argenis
Corim Danex
Warlord
6614 Posts
West Valley City, Utah
| | 04/30/2006 1:00 AM |
| I'm having fun doing Red Hand of Doom with my group for however long it takes us to get through it. Near the end, I will need to figure out how to tie it back into my homebrew stuff. It is nice not having to plan out stuff. I think I will be planning out a little side thing with our group that won't take very long just to help them get more experience, since they are being challenged by RHoD at the moment.
My problem is that I don't spend quite as much time preparing as I should, and am figuring out too much on the fly.
I prefer a mix of good premade campaigns and homebrew. | |
"Look to God and live." Alma 37:47
Vindicated Champ of Hippogriff (Arcadian Hippogriff) and Uncommon Horse | |
|
dagonet
Sergeant
442 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 1:13 AM |
| Answer 1: I'm not sure I'd include Legacy of the Green Regent and Mark of Heroes in the semi-proven category. I've read through the first four "modules" of Mark of Heroes, and, frankly, they could use a *really* thorough proofreading. Bad (really elementary) text and grammar mistakes, missing maps, etc. They would, I think, require a fair amount of effort from a GM to straighten out before springing on players.
Regarding your list, I'd add:
The (loose) campaign arc which starts with Sunless Citadel and ends with Bastion of Broken Souls.
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil.
City of the Spider Queen (does this count?)
That uber-campaign which combined the old G, D, and Q series of 1st Edition modules (i.e. let's go kill Lolth). This might have been a 2nd edition publication.
Answer 2: I generally prefer to run my own (original or semi-original) campaigns. The King in Yellow adventure from this (or is it last by now?) Dungeon is actually going to be the first time I've modified a pre-printed adventure for my own use. Having said that, I've bought Dungeon religiously for pretty much the past two years, mining small ideas here and there.
| |
"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."
Champion of Kyuss and his Servants of Squishy Doom | |
|
zenthrus
Commander
4811 Posts
SLC, UT
| | 04/30/2006 3:57 AM |
| | I switch between pre-published and home brew. Primarily depends on my available free time and the consistency of my players. Lately I've had extremely inconsistent players and little free time so I've run the fantastic locations strung together with homebrew elements for continuity. I'm hoping to get a consistent group going this summer for RHoD. One day if I can manage to put together a really consistent group of role-player (as opposed to role-players) I'll run my homebrew campaign world. | |
Knight Warlord a.k.a. Commander (#32) in only 6 months. Where's my pie?
Champion of Dwarven Thunderlashers
Knight of the Large Dire Chicken
Have/Want List
Trade References | |
|
Zeb
Underboss
2027 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 6:20 AM |
| I do both...currently still running the WLD, but the players are getting bored (and I am too). Sound concept in theory, I'd say semi-proven. This group is going to run through RHoD beginning this summer...I hope.
In my kiddie campaign (my two older kids, wife, and various drive-by gamers), I tend to write the adventures or tweak existing Dungeon adventures. Many times I'll just expand a couple random encounters.
Overall, I'd have to agree with Zenthrus, it just depends on time and what fits. | |
Email Offers | Trade History
Champion of the Frost Giant Jarl
"Pray that you meet death standing on your feet, rather than on your knees." | |
|
Wrackspawn
ChristopherGroves
Warlord
6093 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 7:57 AM |
| I was, for the most part, thinking of 3e modules. The TOEE certainly fits (and Return) but the G/D/Q series is definitely not current. There were plenty of other arcs in the 1st edition stuff denoted by their letter designation (Tx, Ax, etc.)
I forgot about that initial 3e Sunless Citadel arc.
For the second question ... the reason I asked is that unless you're REALLY serious about developing something specific it seems as if we're all suffering from a bit of fatigue. We're plain worn-out supplying people with new content and we (the general community) need a break. | |
Triangle DDM Skirmish Group | My Email | 45-ish trades and counting | Stuff for Trade
* * * Show your brother some love and click here * * * | |
|
LargeMarmot
Sergeant
463 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 9:47 AM |
| | I run my own campain however I am not above tweaking some premade locations or missions if they fit well within my own work. When Return to Castle Ravenloft comes out I may run a campain based on it, it appears to be the same length as Red Hand of Doom. | |
Champion of the Tohr-Kreen.
WotDQ Called Shot: Fang Dragon. | |
|
orcdoubleax
Sergeant
692 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 10:53 AM |
| | I run my own games in my own homebrew world. A lot of the fun for me is the creation of the story. I general start with a 0-20 or 0-15 outline and then start flushing out. This outline is only a half a page and I use it to keep me on track. I do use modified published locations and encounters when they fit. | |
Yes I am Gelatinous.
www.gelatinousdudes.com
| |
|
bigbadjon
Sergeant
546 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 11:02 AM |
| | My group plays Star Wars and I am running the Tempest Feud Campaign right now. However with the lack of printed material I often have to write my own material. | |
Evil triumphs when good men fail their morale saves. | |
|
Dragon Snack
Warrior
285 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 6:51 PM |
| I'll go with an answer to question 2...
I usually run my own stuff with some published adventures thrown in to mix it up. Overall I think my players prefer my style better than the published stuff, since I get more complaints about published stuff (and if all they wanted to run was published stuff, then anybody could DM). I don't run many long story arcs or paths though.
I'm currently running RHoD because it got great reviews and one of my groups just happened to be at the right level (well, close enough). I have to admit I like being able to just read the module before running it. Not sure if I want to call that burnout though... | |
| |
|
Knight of Argenis
Corim Danex
Warlord
6614 Posts
West Valley City, Utah
| | 04/30/2006 6:56 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by ChristopherGroves
I was, for the most part, thinking of 3e modules. The TOEE certainly fits (and Return) but the G/D/Q series is definitely not current. There were plenty of other arcs in the 1st edition stuff denoted by their letter designation (Tx, Ax, etc.)
I forgot about that initial 3e Sunless Citadel arc.
For the second question ... the reason I asked is that unless you're REALLY serious about developing something specific it seems as if we're all suffering from a bit of fatigue. We're plain worn-out supplying people with new content and we (the general community) need a break.
I agree. I would love for WotC to put out several long campaign adventures (like RHoD) over the coming year(s). I can even see more room for improvement (I am thinking mostly in regards to the maps that were included in the adventure). I think that more maps could be supplied with the big adventures. One of the sides of the map in RHoD has two parts, and it's difficult to show one side of it without showing the other. Also, it's too easy for the party to need to move off that map, and by covering up the other half, it makes it hard for miniatures to move off the map in that direction. | |
"Look to God and live." Alma 37:47
Vindicated Champ of Hippogriff (Arcadian Hippogriff) and Uncommon Horse | |
|
Bert the Troll
Commander
3840 Posts
Adelaide
| | 04/30/2006 7:21 PM |
| | Home made with some use of published modules/maps. | |
"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer." Bert the Troll - The Hobbit
Semi-Secret sig business: "Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?"
Champion of Epic Lolth, Orcus, & Demogorgon and bring us Asmodeus! | |
|
IHawk
Underboss
1049 Posts
Lisle, Illinois
| | 04/30/2006 7:47 PM |
| Chris,
there are a few RPGA campaigns, not entirely different
in structure as the Green Regent type of campaigns.
Living Greyhawk is by far the largest of these, but there is
Living Arcanis, Living Spycraft and Legacy of the
Shining Jewel. All have an absolute TON of published
modules that can be "ordered" for free from the RPGA
and downloaded for your use (actually now I'm not sure
if shining jewel is RPGA, but the mods are still pretty
good). In my opinion, these campaings are perfect for the
casual group or hardcore player who does not have a
hardcore group to garuntee to satisy his/her gaming needs.
My wife and I have been playing these for many years now
and they are certainly fun.
All of that being said, I LOVE HOMEBREW CAMPAINGS. you have
fewer logistical and accounting restrictions and in my opinion,
you have the opportunity to cater to you're players desires
on what kind of game play to invest each of your time into.
Sure it is more time, but it is worth it by a long shot. The
real downfall is making sure that your gaming group will continue
to show up. We've had some turn over in the past two years, and
unfortunatly life gets in the way of gaming more frequently than
I would like, but when that happens, it is off to local gaming
events again to play the Corporate Campaings. There have been a few times
that we've run the published mods at home, where we wanted to play
but I didn't have time to come up with an entire session or was
to brain dead to do so.
All in all, it depends on your group and the DM's williingness
to invest extra time to prepare a homebrew world or homebrew
campaing off of an established setting...Ebberon is growing on me.
Hope that helps.
mark kelly - ihawk
| |
mark - Champion of the Goblin Worg Riders | anteblue_at_yahoo_dot_com
IHawk's Have/Want List | IHawk's Trade List | Completed Trades - 214 | Pending Trades - 0
| |
|
Professional Fan of DDM
Shoe
Sergeant
804 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 8:19 PM |
| I've run the Ashardalon arc (sunless citadel, et al), though I adapted the names, places, and plotlines to fit my own campaign. The "stock-ness" of the adventure depended on how much time I had to convert it...
I've also done pure homebrew campaigns - but they do take alot of time and energy.
Sometimes I interweave homebrew and published stuff - I had an FR-Silver Marches campaign that was mostly my own adventures, until I merged it into the City of the Spider Queen superadventure.
I ran the Eberron adventure trio, and then a homebrew Eberron campaign for a while. I haven't looked to see if Voyage of the Golden Dragon successfully continues that adventure series.
Now, I'm running Red Hand of Doom for one group, and something "secret" for another.
When one of those wraps up, I'll probably run Ravenloft (the new one) - and for the other I'll devise some sort of Eberron game or maybe revisit the Realms. I might revisit the Age of Worms adventure path (I bailed after adventure #2), or pick a couple standouts from Dungeon to tie together. Haven't seen it yet, but the Gamers: Dorkness Rising adventure tie-in from Goodman Games will at least be worth a look.
I've noticed recently that there are alot of games I want to run, based on stuff that's out there and ideas I've had from our recent and upcoming products. For instance, I'll probably use MM4 to continue the Red Hand of Doom campaign to involve a larger assault of dragonspawn into Khorvaire, allowing the PCs to come up against a Godslayer or three (since I'll have at least 3).
Of course, I've also noticed that there are quite a few PCs I'd like to play - so I need to start finding an outlet for that...
To answer the second question - even when I run a pregenerated adventure, I try to tie the story arc more closely with my own iteration of the campaign world, and to the PCs in the story. Though I must admit that I've run RHoD pretty much straight.
One key to massive-length campaigns is to be upfront with the players about the scope, tone, and tenor of the adventures to come. A ranger with goblinoid or dragon as a favored enemy, or a dragonborn (from Races of the Dragon), has much more fun in RHoD than a social-skills focused bard. So when a player started the game with a Dragonborn Paladin, he already had a built-in hook that would keep him going throughout the adventure arc. | |
Professional Fan of DDM | |
|
Talistran
Warrior
310 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 9:29 PM |
| I have never run a published adventure. All home-brew stuff.
I have read some of the stuff out there, and find it lacking in a lot of ways. But I must admit I haven't read anything since around 1995.
Talistran | |
Fun little game...
http://www.mgcluster.net/?ac=vid&vid=11028679ac=vid&vid=11028679 | |
|
kyrin
Commander
3152 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 11:03 PM |
| I run my own homebrew world which I developed in 1985 or so. I always try to incorporate published stuff. For example, the Sons of Gruumsh adventure fits nicely into the "A" plot of my campaign, which pits the characters against an organization of renegade orcs. Humans and orcs are at peace, albeit a peace in which the orcs are forced to live on very marginal lands (think Native Americans). These renegades are trying to rekindle the war, heedless of the fact that it could well mean the extinction of the orcish people. So at times the PCs act something like a counter-terrorism unit, acting on leads about Blood Talon activity.
The main problem I have with published campaign worlds is their gods. Most of them are essentially pantheons designed for role-playing games, and not gods people would actually, y'know, worship. In my world, different nations have different gods. The nation the PCs live and work in mainly has the Greek gods, while the nation next door worships the Babylonian gods. Some nations have this nutty notion about one God. The various demihumans and humanoids have their gods. And the githyanki? They don't worship anything, and someday, that will be a problem for *everybody*.
JIM
aka kyrin | |
My Have/Want List <-|-|->My Trades and References 1 <-|-|->My Trades and References 2
Pronounce "Drow" like "crow"! Viva la Revolution! We Shall Overcome!
Vindicated Champion of the Stirge! Vindicated Champion of the Githyanki Knight on Red Dragon!!
Vindicated Champion of the Androsphinx! | |
|
Wrackspawn
ChristopherGroves
Warlord
6093 Posts
| |
The Defenestrator
AesophDarkfable
Warlord
5628 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 11:16 PM |
| Back when I first started playing I always did my own worlds and own adventures. Then I started in the Realms and became a premade world guy, but I still made all my own adventures.
Though I haven't DMed as much of late, the premade campaigns have gotten ahold of me. Last time I seriously DMed I ran City of the Spider Queen (worked it into my Unapproachable East campaign), after the TPK that we didn't get all the way through it, i ran a Silver Marches campaign that was mini adventures worked into my own.
Im now hooked on Eberron though, if I were to DM it right now I'd use a combo of premade and self made stuff in it, but I just love pre-made worlds.
I think pre-run adventure paths are a skill to run, Maijstral is very very good at running pre-made adventures/ adventure paths. I find myself not as good as it for example.
Also adding to your list, RtTEE might as well be a full blown adventure path/campaign | |
Im out- find me on Hordelings if you want to chat. | |
|
Professional Fan of DDM
Shoe
Sergeant
804 Posts
| | 04/30/2006 11:51 PM |
| I would note that I homebrewed alot more frequently during the college years and during the first few "career" years.
Two things happened to change that: 3e adventures that were actually compelling, and a reduction in my available time (becoming married/homeowner, freelance writing, etc). | |
Professional Fan of DDM | |
|
Bert the Troll
Commander
3840 Posts
Adelaide
| | 04/30/2006 11:54 PM |
| quote:
Originally posted by ChristopherGroves
Yeah I'm aware of the RPGA materials. I guess what I'm more thinking about is a state of mind ... we all have ideas (lord knows I've got plenty) but these days people seem so ... fatigued ... that prepublished arcs seem to be very popular.
Dunno.
Maybe you are getting old ;)
| |
"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer." Bert the Troll - The Hobbit
Semi-Secret sig business: "Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?"
Champion of Epic Lolth, Orcus, & Demogorgon and bring us Asmodeus! | |
|
Wrackspawn
ChristopherGroves
Warlord
6093 Posts
| | 05/01/2006 8:41 AM |
| quote:
Originally posted by Shoe
I would note that I homebrewed alot more frequently during the college years and during the first few "career" years.
Two things happened to change that: 3e adventures that were actually compelling, and a reduction in my available time (becoming married/homeowner, freelance writing, etc).
Oh yeah ... what are those things in my house that make messes and take time and money? Kids? Something like that ...
Maybe that's it in a nutshell. I'm old (thanks Bert) and I haven't the time compared to the past ... and so is this community in general, thus we're all moving a bit more towards the pre-mades.
That's an interesting question - I wonder how the age demos trend for D&D these days ... | |
Triangle DDM Skirmish Group | My Email | 45-ish trades and counting | Stuff for Trade
* * * Show your brother some love and click here * * * | |
|
Sulaco
Underboss
1605 Posts
| | 05/01/2006 11:57 AM |
| | I run almost exclusively custom, usually off-the-cuff. Occassionally I drop in a pre-pack module if it fits or if there is a request for it. The key is finding a way to integrate these into your existing game/meta-plot. | |
Champion of the Gelatinous Cube. Nemesis of Gnomes and Dinosaurs.
Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. ~ Terry Pratchett | |
|
jacksonm
Warlord
5560 Posts
River City
| | 05/01/2006 12:23 PM |
| Currently perhaps one in three camapigns I've been running over the past few years have been in custom game worlds. I go that route when an existing setting doesn't fit what I need or I feel it's time for a change.
That being said the majority of my games have been run in the Forgotten Realms, it's a campaign setting I'm resoanbly familiar with. It's like an old friend, always there for you.
As far as published campaigns and adventures go I haven't used them in a long time. About a year ago I was planning on reviving the old Against the Giants modules in a home brew world but the campaign died before the PCs got to an apropriate level.
Pretty much every arc in my campaign comes from something I've taken the time to make up, although I suppose some things have been borrowed and modified over the years.
Pregenerated settings and modules can be good, certainly with younger players as I've found they are less likely to come up with "creative solutions" to get around the problem in the adventures. | | | |
|
Benimoto
Underboss
1125 Posts
| | 05/01/2006 12:36 PM |
| I'm running a custom campaign set in Eberron, and I play (and GM) Living Greyhawk, which is pre-made.
The home game is winding up, and if I run another one, I suspect it will be a pre-made one. I had a lot more time to work on adventures and stuff when I started the campaign, but now that I'm busier, pre-made stuff is looking more and more attractive. | |
Champion of the Rakshasa. Check out my Mini Terrain Maker, or my new Dungeon Map Maker (under development). | |
|
Link
Warrior
314 Posts
Netherlands
| | 05/01/2006 3:12 PM |
| My campaign and main story arc are homebrew, but I incorporate a lot of existing material, adapted to my own concoctions. I spend quite some time just leafing through modules, looking for things I can use in my campaign.
The thing I like most about DMing is plotting and scheming, setting up different storylines and thinking of how I can connect them; making my PC's run in circles until someone finally figures out what is going on. Using existing material is a good way for me to have a lot of different storylines running at the same time, without losing the big picture, and I save time by using the premade NPC's, maps, treasure stats, etc, etc: All the more time to plot and scheme [}:)] | |
trade reference thread
(30 completed trades, 1 pending)Vindicated Champion of the Noble Salamander | |
|
Thoth, Gatherer of Knowledge
MerricB
Underboss
2350 Posts
Australia
| | 05/02/2006 12:29 AM |
| I've found I don't have the time to really develop my own campaigns any more. I'm currently running the Age of Worms, Mark of Heroes, Living Greyhawk (which will shortly include Red Hand of Doom), and my own Ulek campaign - which draws heavily on published adventures which I adapt, such as Sons of Gruumsh.
Cheers! | |
Merric Blackman
| |
|
bshugg
Underboss
1814 Posts
| | 05/03/2006 9:28 AM |
| | I was 100% homebrew until very recently. I found I couldn't give my group a quality time with the amount of time I had to spent. So I merged their group into Age of Worms at 5th level. So far it has gone very well. I only use the basic structure and theme and incorperate my own plotlines that run parallel with the main one. Its nice to have maps, balanced encounters, pictures, flavor text, and pregenerated treasure. It is very time consuming to come up with all these myself. I think the players are really enjoying it. We are most of the way done with Hall of Harsh Reflections and things are going very well. | |
Looking for someone to cosponser a midwest DDM event. let me know if your interested!
Check out my brand new blog:
http://bshugg.blogspot.com | |
|
Venport
Sergeant
738 Posts
| | 05/05/2006 1:10 PM |
| | I ran my first campaign as Shackled city... I loved it... Now i'm trying to do a homebrew Eberron with some dungeon stuff in it.. i have not started the campaign but it is in the planning prosses... and my god it's alot of work... I love the stuff that dungeon dose | |
Sacramento DDM http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16854
New world Project http://www.maxminis.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20745
| |
|
TYGRHobbes
Sneak
149 Posts
| | 05/05/2006 4:42 PM |
| I personally run Red Hand of Doom and it's been one of the best modules I've ever ran. I would like to run a homebrew adventure but once again there's that time factor. I have an 'Alice in Wonderland' type adventure rough draft that I need to flesh out. I figure by the time I finish RHoD I'll be moving on to the FR Mysteries of Moonsea story arc coming out this summer. I've also been planning on running the Dragonlance Age of Mortals campaign with the final book 3 comming out next month hopefully. I have to say that it's a pretty darn nice 3.5 adventure that will take adventurers from 1-20.
Since I rotate with 2 other DMs I get to play PC quite a bit as well. One is running the Dead Gods Planescape campaign updated to 3.5 and the other is running an Eberron homebrew. I have to say that I've been enjoying the homebrew quite a bit more. We are archeology students from Sharn University and our instructor is Xendrik Jones. I guess you can pretty much guess where this is leading. I have to say the DM has done a great job of making the adventure feel like the movies. Lots of exotic locations, tombs, temples, treasure, neat encounters! | |
Champion of the Lamia
www.tygrhobbes.com | |
|
wildmage
Sneak
123 Posts
| | 05/06/2006 3:51 PM |
| As a player I've played through published adventures and enjoyed them but also thought the DM would often show a lack of preparedness by spending time reading text (to himself) and flipping pages while we were waiting for the next encounter or the results of our spot/listen checks etc.
As a DM I'm currently a major fan of using campaign sourcebooks (such as Silver Marches or Serpent Kingdoms from Forgotten Realms) and inserting my own adventures in these already rich environments. As things progress though I would like to "drop in" a few published adventures such as Sons of Gruumsh, the Fantastic Locations, and eventually maybe even RHoD (or Mysteries of the Moonsea if I steer my PCs in that direction). | |
Champion of the Bone Naga
(There's just so much roleplaying to be done with a large skeletal snake!) | |
|
Knight of the
Round Table
Thenameless
Warlord
8993 Posts
The Fortress of Solitude
| | 05/07/2006 2:09 AM |
| | Our DM uses a pre-made world (FR), but opts to create his own storyline. It's worked out well for three years. | |
Over 270 successful online DDM trades. | |
|
Fun Guy from Yuggoth
Cthulhufnord
Warlord
10787 Posts
Umass Amherst Baby!
| | 05/07/2006 3:38 AM |
| | I like going for pre-made, then adapting some existing adventures to fit. I'm more of a big picture DM. | |
Pathetic Earthlings. Hurling your bodies out into the void - without the slightest inkling of who or what is out here. If you had known anything about the true nature of the universe - anything at all - you would have hidden from it in terror. | |
|
Zenako
Commander
3466 Posts
| | 05/08/2006 2:35 PM |
| What I have done for the past couple of decades is create a world and story arc and then fill in the world with situations and adventures culled from published material, modules and Dungeon mag in particular. I was also able to call on lots of OLD obscure items that few if anyone else had ever seen thus maintaining a sense of unknown for the players. The one downside to using a published module is that some of the players may have read it or read about it and that can kill some of their spontenatity when playing in it. I usually would modify things, since most of our campaigns had lots of house rules on top of the core rules (We had feats before D&D had feats and we called them Masteries. We got one Mastery per level, so a Fighter might take Longsword 1 (gaining an extra +1 to hit with longsword, and the Longsword 2 and 3 at second and third levels. Once he was a master (with three levels of mastery) he could take some other special masteries, like extra damage up to three times with each mastery adding a point of damage.) This was older D&D so it was real hard to get much past 12th level.
All us older farts probably have too little time available to craft whole cloth worlds and adventures these days... | |
Built the addition for this addiction, now on to the "gaming table" project....
http://www.maxminis.com/hw_list.asp?user=Zenako last updated 29 May 2006
Set Status: in a nutshell = all of all
In Process trades 0), (Sig last updated 05/29/06) 300 plus Completed Trades -
If I seem scarce at times...blame DDO - Sarlona | |
|
PatEllis15
Commander
4462 Posts
| | 05/08/2006 3:15 PM |
| I've never been one for complete homebrew. To do a good job takes a LOT of work. That said, Greyhawk has always fit my bill. A canvas to which I can apply the paint.
I've always use "canned' Adventures, but they rarely resemble the original.
My example: I'm currently running Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Greyhawk has traditionally not been a world with a lot of Dragons, but they appear all over the place in RttToEE. I decided to play up the connection between the ultimate bad guy, and dragons, and figured that his power attracted dragons, and also corrupted them. So, remove all troglodyte, and replace them with Draconian's... works great!
Next up, RttToEE has a very high party kill rate. I'm not such a big fan of that, so what do I do? Fudge rolls? Nah, I'll have a second part trying to figure out what is going on at the same time. BUT, they aren't friends of the PC's, so now there are 2 sets of enemies, but also a group that can hit the Strong area's first, to soften them up, and add to the intrigue... At the end of the day, there will be a TON of differences from the modules, and what my players experience.
Pat E | |
"Games evolve. Otherwise we'd still be pushing rocks around the dirt. What do you think the cavemen said when some dude showed up with sticks?" - Chairman7w | |
|
willoh
Warrior
319 Posts
Columbus, Ohio
| | 05/10/2006 1:04 PM |
| | Our gaming group typically does home brews with an occasional module for distraction. Currently we are in a homebrew campaign, but have quite a bit before we finish. A typical campaign lasts 3 - 4 real years. I have been working on my newest campaign world for the last couple of years and have about 120 pages of background material prepped so far, but am still working through some issues, including Pantheon and reactions between faiths and teachings. Since many of our players have played a while, the homebrews, especially creatures, can help keep things interesting and add a lot of flavor. | |
Champion of Bar Maidens | |
|
Skyscraper
Sergeant
659 Posts
Montreal
| | 05/11/2006 11:20 PM |
| I run a homebrew (using some published maps and other stuff mixed in).
The main problem i see with published adventures is that they are linear. Some give the illusion that they're not, but they are :) They have no choice, the publishers can't provide you with a world entirely described, and the story of how people will act in it over time including some specific mischivious vilains, and then let a bunch of PCs loose in there and see what happens. Or could they? :)
Sky | |
The wise man doubts often. The ignorant, sometimes. The fool, never. | |
|
hazel monday
Warrior
338 Posts
Baltimore MD
| | 05/15/2006 10:20 PM |
| Where I learned to play, people did'nt consider you to be a "real DM" if you ran prepublished modules. It's kind of an elitist attitude (because I now understand that some DMs can run the hell out of a module) but it's an elitist attitude that's stuck with me.
so nothing but homebrewed campaigns for me. | |
Champion of Phanatons. | |
|