I'm getting back into DMing after a fifteen year break. I'm amazed at how much material there is on the web. Every single D&D book ever written is available for download, including all the adventures. When I used to DM I would spend hours designing every aspect of my game, and I took great pride when a campaign would come to a close. Nowadays I have kids and a job, so I don't have the endless hours to devote, not to mention the mental energy it takes to design an adventure (kids are exhausting).
I seem to have.a mental block of running a pre-made adventure. For my first couple sessions I've stolen selective material from pre-mades, but I think that the adventures I'm reading are all perfectly designed and complete. It would be way more time-efficient to just run one of those. I'm sure I'll add my own flavor to it, but it still feels cheesy.
Does anybody else have the same hold-up about running pre-mades?
I take pride in and put a lot of work into my settings and building a lore set around a world. I do not have every possible location. That will often gut an adventure for me. I had to create one to run the original slavers series. I had to be talked into running the old B series, and it was a lot of talking.
I ran the freebie Phandelver one and still do for playtesting stuff, but the big thing I do is "localize" an adventure. I am slowly taking some time to localize a few of the ones in the newest book -- which is the first 5e adventure set that I have purchased. I don't really do pre-made things, I follow my players' lead on things and create original stuff within some form or other of the framework of D&D.
I am, though, fairly rare here on DDB, lol. There are a lot more folks who use the premade setting and tend to work within the premade stuff.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
The amount of published material use is up to each DM and how they feel is best for their campaign, some don't have the time or talent to design anything and rely 100% on published material, some run only material of their own device and many fall somewhere in between partly homebrewing pre-made stuff. Personally i'm more of the latter running a campaign homemade, and running another using published adventure & campaign setting.
I'm getting back into DMing after a fifteen year break. I'm amazed at how much material there is on the web. Every single D&D book ever written is available for download, including all the adventures. When I used to DM I would spend hours designing every aspect of my game, and I took great pride when a campaign would come to a close. Nowadays I have kids and a job, so I don't have the endless hours to devote, not to mention the mental energy it takes to design an adventure (kids are exhausting).
I seem to have.a mental block of running a pre-made adventure. For my first couple sessions I've stolen selective material from pre-mades, but I think that the adventures I'm reading are all perfectly designed and complete. It would be way more time-efficient to just run one of those. I'm sure I'll add my own flavor to it, but it still feels cheesy.
Does anybody else have the same hold-up about running pre-mades?
I recently ran Dragon of Icespire Peak after having run homebrews for a good few years. In truth I don't feel cheesy but I do look at published material and generally feel like it's a bit pants. I am a storyteller though, I've had novels, poems, plays and a lot of other fiction besides published. I've been an actor, director and producer too so am comfortable with being creative.
In truth WotC's weakpoint is in world building. That said, going back to a prewritten adventure did give me a good back to basics insight that has helped strengthen some of my own world-building.
Ultimately, there is no objective 'right' way of playing D&D it's the way that suits each table and each party. Don't let yourself feel penned in. You don't need anyone but your own permission to just outright change the way the adventure is delivered. If you think something is cheesy, change it.
There's no reason to avoid ALL published content - but some published content (such as Icewind Dale) requires a lot of work by the DM to get it to work anyway.
Do I feel cheesy? No, but I definitely prefer running games in a world I made up, rather than one someone else did. I didn't grow up reading R.A. Salvatore novels, so I don't have a sentimental attachment to the Forgotten Realms, and I got into the hobby long after Mystara, Dark Sun, Krynn, et al were introduced, so I don't have experience or nostalgia there either. Jumping into adventures for those settings makes me feel like a tourist rather than a storyteller. And thus, I stick to my own stuff when I run games.
I have, however, played a few modules and enjoyed them. And I frequently steal third party drop-in adventures and repurpose them for my campaigns when I'm short on time - but even then, I mostly just use them for the premade dungeon content and encounters rather than the storylines. Even the pre-made one-shots I've run, I heavily altered to suit my needs. I'm a homebrewer through and through, I guess.
This is real life. I have family, wife, kids, job, real world commitments. ANYTHING that saves me time these days is valuable and that includes pre-made adventures. I'd pretty much never run them previously but it is about all I have run with 5e. This is especially true since I have been running online. Having the maps and encounters already on a virtual table top saves an incredible amount of time and effort without significantly degrading the play experience.
The main issue is that pre-made content can be a bit variable in quality. There are often things that happen without sufficient explanation, tie in or foreshadowing. This means that when I run it, I read it over and figure out how to polish it from my perspective and what to add (or remove) to make for a better play experience for my group.
As whole modules, I've run Dragon of IceSpire Peak, Curse of Strahd and I am currently running Out of the Abyss. In addition, I have a separate campaign with a homebrewed storyline that has been overlaid on the modules from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Tales from the Yawning Portal and a bit of Candlekeep Mysteries thrown in. I just adjust a few elements here and there to support my additional plot arcs while minimizing the preparation time required as much as possible. It still requires some prep but not nearly as much as if I was creating the entire adventure with locations/setting/buildings/floor plans/encounters NPCs etc.
So, no, I don't feel cheesy about it at all ... it is just a fact of life :)
I usually would say yes, but a lot of that is because I just enjoy the act of writing my own stories. But they certainly have their place. Some people don't have the time for it, or just are honest enough with themselves to realize they aren't good at it. So I'm not going to judge.
For me, I have an ongoing game with some family who live far away. We only see each other in person maybe twice a year, so its nice to be able to just hop into Phandelver, and run a session whenever we can, and not have to worry about trying to keep track of backstories and side plots when we play so irregularly.
No. For the same reasons that I don't feel cheesy for building a custom seat, or custom set of fenders, to replace the stock parts on an old motorcycle. If the module/adventure scenario has good bones, then adding my own touches, to fit the players involved, works well, and I can always fit such things into an existing home-brewed world; just like others have mentioned here.
I don't have a problem with running adventures someone else has written. This is especially true if I'm running a game set in someone else's game world - instead of bothering to create my own adventures just let the creative team behind the world put in the effort.
However when I'm running in my own game world I'm very selective as to what I'll let in. It's very rarely worth the effort of adapting someone else's adventure to my world. I might as well put in the time and effort that would take and create my own.
I'm getting back into DMing after a fifteen year break. I'm amazed at how much material there is on the web. Every single D&D book ever written is available for download, including all the adventures. When I used to DM I would spend hours designing every aspect of my game, and I took great pride when a campaign would come to a close. Nowadays I have kids and a job, so I don't have the endless hours to devote, not to mention the mental energy it takes to design an adventure (kids are exhausting).
I seem to have a mental block of running a pre-made adventure. For my first couple sessions I've stolen selective material from pre-mades, but I think that the adventures I'm reading are all perfectly designed and complete. It would be way more time-efficient to just run one of those. I'm sure I'll add my own flavor to it, but it still feels cheesy.
Does anybody else have the same hold-up about running pre-mades?
Nope, none at all. I don't have a monopoly on good ideas.
A published adventure is a more complete frame for you to build on. It isn't complete, nor is any particular part of it required to be there. You can (and are encouraged to) add, delete, change or modify any or all material that you incorporate into your game. This includes rules. So if I don't have a problem using the base ruleset and altering it, why should I feel some-kinda-way about using a mostly (aka: already) written chunk that I'm going to massage into my world? If someone else writes a good story that my players might enjoy, I'll integrate it.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I much prefer to run my own campaign as it takes away the fear of "getting it wrong". If I miss something in a prewritten module, and it's important, I have to retrospectively add "oh, before you stabbed the dude, he said...", making it obvious that A: I messed up, and B: that's very important, which makes for the meta being a bit swayed.
In my campaign, I miss things too, but because I'm the one writing it, I can rewrite on the fly without worrying about something I've forgotten in the future!
I can sort of get why somebody might feel a little cheesy running a pre-made adventure as if they are outsourcing their creativity to somebody else but I also think this is one of those irrational hang ups that we tend to form about certain things. Nothing wrong with running a pre-made and honestly nothing in them is set in stone so you can chop and change whatever you like, add your own unique flair to a scene or change it entirely.
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I'm getting back into DMing after a fifteen year break. I'm amazed at how much material there is on the web. Every single D&D book ever written is available for download, including all the adventures. When I used to DM I would spend hours designing every aspect of my game, and I took great pride when a campaign would come to a close. Nowadays I have kids and a job, so I don't have the endless hours to devote, not to mention the mental energy it takes to design an adventure (kids are exhausting).
I seem to have.a mental block of running a pre-made adventure. For my first couple sessions I've stolen selective material from pre-mades, but I think that the adventures I'm reading are all perfectly designed and complete. It would be way more time-efficient to just run one of those. I'm sure I'll add my own flavor to it, but it still feels cheesy.
Does anybody else have the same hold-up about running pre-mades?
Sometimes.
I take pride in and put a lot of work into my settings and building a lore set around a world. I do not have every possible location. That will often gut an adventure for me. I had to create one to run the original slavers series. I had to be talked into running the old B series, and it was a lot of talking.
I ran the freebie Phandelver one and still do for playtesting stuff, but the big thing I do is "localize" an adventure. I am slowly taking some time to localize a few of the ones in the newest book -- which is the first 5e adventure set that I have purchased. I don't really do pre-made things, I follow my players' lead on things and create original stuff within some form or other of the framework of D&D.
I am, though, fairly rare here on DDB, lol. There are a lot more folks who use the premade setting and tend to work within the premade stuff.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
The amount of published material use is up to each DM and how they feel is best for their campaign, some don't have the time or talent to design anything and rely 100% on published material, some run only material of their own device and many fall somewhere in between partly homebrewing pre-made stuff. Personally i'm more of the latter running a campaign homemade, and running another using published adventure & campaign setting.
I recently ran Dragon of Icespire Peak after having run homebrews for a good few years. In truth I don't feel cheesy but I do look at published material and generally feel like it's a bit pants. I am a storyteller though, I've had novels, poems, plays and a lot of other fiction besides published. I've been an actor, director and producer too so am comfortable with being creative.
In truth WotC's weakpoint is in world building. That said, going back to a prewritten adventure did give me a good back to basics insight that has helped strengthen some of my own world-building.
Ultimately, there is no objective 'right' way of playing D&D it's the way that suits each table and each party. Don't let yourself feel penned in. You don't need anyone but your own permission to just outright change the way the adventure is delivered. If you think something is cheesy, change it.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
There's no reason to avoid ALL published content - but some published content (such as Icewind Dale) requires a lot of work by the DM to get it to work anyway.
Do I feel cheesy? No, but I definitely prefer running games in a world I made up, rather than one someone else did. I didn't grow up reading R.A. Salvatore novels, so I don't have a sentimental attachment to the Forgotten Realms, and I got into the hobby long after Mystara, Dark Sun, Krynn, et al were introduced, so I don't have experience or nostalgia there either. Jumping into adventures for those settings makes me feel like a tourist rather than a storyteller. And thus, I stick to my own stuff when I run games.
I have, however, played a few modules and enjoyed them. And I frequently steal third party drop-in adventures and repurpose them for my campaigns when I'm short on time - but even then, I mostly just use them for the premade dungeon content and encounters rather than the storylines. Even the pre-made one-shots I've run, I heavily altered to suit my needs. I'm a homebrewer through and through, I guess.
Nope. Not at all.
This is real life. I have family, wife, kids, job, real world commitments. ANYTHING that saves me time these days is valuable and that includes pre-made adventures. I'd pretty much never run them previously but it is about all I have run with 5e. This is especially true since I have been running online. Having the maps and encounters already on a virtual table top saves an incredible amount of time and effort without significantly degrading the play experience.
The main issue is that pre-made content can be a bit variable in quality. There are often things that happen without sufficient explanation, tie in or foreshadowing. This means that when I run it, I read it over and figure out how to polish it from my perspective and what to add (or remove) to make for a better play experience for my group.
As whole modules, I've run Dragon of IceSpire Peak, Curse of Strahd and I am currently running Out of the Abyss. In addition, I have a separate campaign with a homebrewed storyline that has been overlaid on the modules from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, Tales from the Yawning Portal and a bit of Candlekeep Mysteries thrown in. I just adjust a few elements here and there to support my additional plot arcs while minimizing the preparation time required as much as possible. It still requires some prep but not nearly as much as if I was creating the entire adventure with locations/setting/buildings/floor plans/encounters NPCs etc.
So, no, I don't feel cheesy about it at all ... it is just a fact of life :)
I usually would say yes, but a lot of that is because I just enjoy the act of writing my own stories. But they certainly have their place. Some people don't have the time for it, or just are honest enough with themselves to realize they aren't good at it. So I'm not going to judge.
For me, I have an ongoing game with some family who live far away. We only see each other in person maybe twice a year, so its nice to be able to just hop into Phandelver, and run a session whenever we can, and not have to worry about trying to keep track of backstories and side plots when we play so irregularly.
No. For the same reasons that I don't feel cheesy for building a custom seat, or custom set of fenders, to replace the stock parts on an old motorcycle. If the module/adventure scenario has good bones, then adding my own touches, to fit the players involved, works well, and I can always fit such things into an existing home-brewed world; just like others have mentioned here.
You should not feel bad at all about using published adventures.
The Lost Mine of Phandelver (FREE) is especially great because it gives you GM tips.
I think most folks use some material and modify the rest.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
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I don't have a problem with running adventures someone else has written. This is especially true if I'm running a game set in someone else's game world - instead of bothering to create my own adventures just let the creative team behind the world put in the effort.
However when I'm running in my own game world I'm very selective as to what I'll let in. It's very rarely worth the effort of adapting someone else's adventure to my world. I might as well put in the time and effort that would take and create my own.
Nope, none at all. I don't have a monopoly on good ideas.
A published adventure is a more complete frame for you to build on. It isn't complete, nor is any particular part of it required to be there. You can (and are encouraged to) add, delete, change or modify any or all material that you incorporate into your game. This includes rules. So if I don't have a problem using the base ruleset and altering it, why should I feel some-kinda-way about using a mostly (aka: already) written chunk that I'm going to massage into my world? If someone else writes a good story that my players might enjoy, I'll integrate it.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I much prefer to run my own campaign as it takes away the fear of "getting it wrong". If I miss something in a prewritten module, and it's important, I have to retrospectively add "oh, before you stabbed the dude, he said...", making it obvious that A: I messed up, and B: that's very important, which makes for the meta being a bit swayed.
In my campaign, I miss things too, but because I'm the one writing it, I can rewrite on the fly without worrying about something I've forgotten in the future!
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I can sort of get why somebody might feel a little cheesy running a pre-made adventure as if they are outsourcing their creativity to somebody else but I also think this is one of those irrational hang ups that we tend to form about certain things. Nothing wrong with running a pre-made and honestly nothing in them is set in stone so you can chop and change whatever you like, add your own unique flair to a scene or change it entirely.