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Why did Wizards of the Coast move away from the modular adventures?

Started by Ulairi, April 18, 2018, 02:10:56 PM

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fearsomepirate

#45
April 20, 2018, 11:39:53 PM
Quote from: Haffrung;1035063The thing WotC isn't providing is support for DMs who run their own settings and campaign worlds. The DMG includes a lot of good advice on creating a world and running your own homebrew campaign. But since they published the DMG, they've provided nothing. And I'm not talking about shorter adventure modules, which as  you point out, 3rd party publishers have covered. I'm talking about DM aids. Lairs, NPCs, organizations, inns, ships, caravans, mercenary groups, bandit gangs, wizard guilds, maps of ruins, support for exploring forests, deserts, or underwater. Stuff that inspires and takes the load off a DM running his own campaign. Because at this point, a DM has the choice of A) running an entire campaign in a book, or B) making up everything himself. I think a lot of DMs want something in the middle.

I'd really like something like this. Could be wrong, but I don't think they'd be cannibalizing their sales if they put out a sandbox-oriented product line in parallel with the campaign hardbacks. Basically I would like something like the 1e Greyhawk box updated to 5e, but fleshed out better. The DMG actually has a surprising amount of decent stuff for a modern book, but it lacked monster tables. I've tried to use the Xanathar's tables before, and they are pretty bad. Every time I've rolled on them, I've ended up discarding the result and using the 1e tables instead.
Every time I think the Forgotten Realms can\'t be a dumber setting, I get proven to be an unimaginative idiot.

KingCheops

#46
April 22, 2018, 10:52:58 AM
Quote from: fearsomepirate;1035294The DMG actually has a surprising amount of decent stuff for a modern book, but it lacked monster tables. I've tried to use the Xanathar's tables before, and they are pretty bad. Every time I've rolled on them, I've ended up discarding the result and using the 1e tables instead.

What was it about the X tables that didn't work?  I haven't used them yet and just want to know what to look out for.

S'mon

#47
April 22, 2018, 12:23:33 PM
Quote from: KingCheops;1035467What was it about the X tables that didn't work?  I haven't used them yet and just want to know what to look out for.

Me too - I thought the Xanathar tables looked decent?
Shadowdark Wilderlands (Fridays 6pm UK/1pm EST)  https://smons.blogspot.com/2024/08/shadowdark.html

fearsomepirate

#48
April 22, 2018, 06:55:36 PM
Quote from: KingCheops;1035467What was it about the X tables that didn't work?  I haven't used them yet and just want to know what to look out for.

They just keep coming up  with things that don't really fit the location I'm rolling for. They might just be too big.
Every time I think the Forgotten Realms can\'t be a dumber setting, I get proven to be an unimaginative idiot.

Christopher Brady

#49
April 22, 2018, 10:40:41 PM
Were there modular adventures?  I remember Keep on the Borderlands being relatively linear, your goal is to find the big treasure, right?
"And now, my friends, a Dragon\'s toast!  To life\'s little blessings:  wars, plagues and all forms of evil.  Their presence keeps us alert --- and their absence makes us grateful." -T.A. Barron[/SIZE]

S'mon

#50
April 23, 2018, 05:10:28 AM
Quote from: Christopher Brady;1035563Were there modular adventures?  I remember Keep on the Borderlands being relatively linear, your goal is to find the big treasure, right?

Modular/module = can put into an ongoing larger campaign.
No, Keep on the Borderlands is not linear and does not have one big treasure as the goal.
A module could be linear, some of the later B series were quite linear. But you don't really see true linearity until late 2e era.
Shadowdark Wilderlands (Fridays 6pm UK/1pm EST)  https://smons.blogspot.com/2024/08/shadowdark.html

Ulairi

#51
April 23, 2018, 09:24:34 AM
Quote from: S'mon;1035601Modular/module = can put into an ongoing larger campaign.
No, Keep on the Borderlands is not linear and does not have one big treasure as the goal.
A module could be linear, some of the later B series were quite linear. But you don't really see true linearity until late 2e era.

Yup. It's during 2E that TSR found out about the popularity of the novels and that fans of the novels would start buying gaming product if it had fluff and crap for them. And the hobby really got into 'story telling' being the purpose of the game. I hate late era 2E.

RandyB

#52
April 23, 2018, 01:01:37 PM
Quote from: Ulairi;1035620Yup. It's during 2E that TSR found out about the popularity of the novels and that fans of the novels would start buying gaming product if it had fluff and crap for them. And the hobby really got into 'story telling' being the purpose of the game. I hate late era 2E.

I've read an argument that the move to storytelling can be benchmarked with Dragonlance, which IIRC was mid-to-late 1E.
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