Quote from: Serious PaulIn the end my rules is if you're having fun, you're doing it right.

Even if it's badwrongfun?

Quote from: Serious PaulIn the end my rules is if you're having fun, you're doing it right.

Yup. I just don't like the assertion (which I've yet to see in this thread, btw) that people who do use modules are creatively bankrupt.

Quote from: James McMurrayEven if it's badwrongfun?

Badwrongfun?! Perish the thought!! :haw:

Quote from: DrewYup. I just don't like the assertion (which I've yet to see in this thread, btw) that people who do use modules are creatively bankrupt.

I was one of those suckers. But I have seen the light! Now where can I get some of this badwrong fun? I want a double dose.

Quote from: jrientsLike any good rant, Spike's OP is a potent combination of personal bias, slipshod research, and undeniable truth.

Yup. My rant is composed of pure Win!

Always.

I fell into the same boat, way back in the day.  I did manage to get a few modules, but they weren't really used all that much.  For me it was because of my enormous pre-teen/teen ego.

I did use them for inspiration though.  I'd read them to find new ways to structure my own adventures and I'm glad I had the few that I did.  B4 - The Lost City and B10 - Night's Dark Terror were very inspirational in my formative years.

Nowadays I buy a few published adventures here or there, mainly stuff from Goodman Games.  But again I do this more for the inspiration - and to crib interesting bits when I don't have time (which is almost always)

Quote from: StuartYou need to look at the earlier exploration based modules, rather than the later narrative / "story" modules.

Yep. We made our own dungeons before we bought any. And they were awesome. But White Plume Mountain was awesome too; half-flooded hallways, a giant scorpion in a volcanic caldera, jumping over swaying disk above a pool of bubbling lava to the tomb of a magic-hammer wielding vampire, two effreeti brothers who try to catch you before you make off with the loot. That stuff was pure awesome to the mind of a 10-year-old.

And it's not just nostalgia. Caverns of Thracia is still frickin' cool today. So is the Vault of the Drow. And the Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan. No railroads or metaplot - just incredibly evocative and fun settings.

I like modules. As any other product, they may be good or bad, but I'm not against them on principle. Mostly, it depends on the game.

Quote from: HaffrungYep. We made our own dungeons before we bought any. And they were awesome. But White Plume Mountain was awesome too; half-flooded hallways, a giant scorpion in a volcanic caldera, jumping over swaying disk above a pool of bubbling lava to the tomb of a magic-hammer wielding vampire, two effreeti brothers who try to catch you before you make off with the loot. That stuff was pure awesome to the mind of a 10-year-old.

And it's not just nostalgia. Caverns of Thracia is still frickin' cool today. So is the Vault of the Drow. And the Hidden Shrine of Tamaochan. No railroads or metaplot - just incredibly evocative and fun settings.

Agreed 100%. The rewrite for Thracia was awesome.

I can still take many of the 70's/early 80's TSR modules and turn them into something viable and exciting even for today's jaded crowd. They're superbly written templates that can be spun in all sorts of different directions with a few cosmetic changes. Rotate the Isle of Dread map 90 degrees, set it in a subarctic zone, change the monsters accordingly and the players will never notice. The tribesmen of the southern peninsula become a settlement of cannibalistic Vikings, the dinosaurs are now wooly mammoths, rhinos and wendigo-inspired supernatural forces of nature etc. That sort of thing. The underlying structure allows for all kinds of cool reinterpretations.

Quote from: architect.zeroI did use them for inspiration though.  I'd read them to find new ways to structure my own adventures and I'm glad I had the few that I did.  B4 - The Lost City and B10 - Night's Dark Terror were very inspirational in my formative years.

Nowadays I buy a few published adventures here or there, mainly stuff from Goodman Games.  But again I do this more for the inspiration - and to crib interesting bits when I don't have time

This is what I do as well.

I'll buy modules from the local used book store and critique them to see what works and what doesn't for me. Then use that info in the next game I prep for. If the module sucks, I'll just sell it back to the used book store (although I've kept a few sucky ones as a reference of bad examples).

If a module is a good adventure or set of adventures, with sufficient information to give you a story without over-burdening you with someone elses idea of what makes NPCs interesting, then its a useful tool. You don't have to use them just as written, and they can be very entertaining to use.

In my current (D&D) campaign, with two sets of PCs, I've used B2, B3, elements of B4, B5, B7 (heavily modified), X1, X2, X3, X4 and 5 together (again very modified), XL1, CM1, CM2, CM3, CM4, M1, M4 (modified) and DA1. But inbetween there have been loads and loads of other adventures, in fact comfortably the majority of adventures are of my own devising.

I think that my campaign is richer for using the best of published adventures as well as my own material.

Quote from: SpikeI'll tell ya what! Toss the god damn module/adventure model into the trash and burn the fucker.  The hobby doesn't need it. I don't need it. And I don't need players who think that the only way to play is reading some bad 'dialog' from a book. Gimmee back my limitless sandbox you damn dirty dogs!

Go and get Keep in the Borderlands, module B2 for classic D&D. See how a module can be constructed such that it provides weeks of gaming, has enough info so you can end up constructing a whole campaign from it, and how the organisation of creatures within a cave complex setting can be done so that its believable, interesting and challenging. And all without 'boxed text' to read out to the players.

Or failing that go and get module X3 (Curse of Xanathon), giving you a city setting with a complex but achievable set of problems to solve and a good balance of combat, thinking and social interractions, again all without having to read lots of stuff out.

Maybe CM1 (Test of the Warlords) will suit you better; its a module that covers an entire year of game time, detailing what you need for a set of high level characters to claim baronies in a wilderness kingdom, multiple mini-adventures giving them a chance to defend their territory, extend it, make allies and discover some fundamental truths about the world, all culminating in a major war using the War Machine rules in whicih the PCs can have a major impact in resolving, ultimately dictating the fate of a whole kingdom.

Modules, done well, are great. Done badly... Well, just leave 'Return to the Keep in the Borderlands' well alone, eh?

The only thing I really liked about the old D&D modules were the maps!  Same goes for the boxed sets.  Sure, I could have drawn Waterdeep or Undermountain, but since someone had already saved me the trouble, I wasn't going to pass it up.

But other than those, I have never purchased modules or adventures for any other game.  Core books for me all the way.

I've had issues with just about every module I've read. Somewhere along the way there would be several things that just didn't make sense to me, like the plot becoming utterly unbelievable.

Still I do get a lot of mileage out of adventures, usually for the maps, NPCs and overall hooks and ideas.

I get the feeling the railroad story-modules of the 2E era have soured lots of folks on modules. Or they don't know how to customize and bring a setting-based module to life.

Old-school modules =/= stories; they're keyed maps to an evocative and tactically-challenging setting. Nothing more. They may have elements with great potential for story - the insane mage looking for a lost staff, the hostility between the lizard-men and the gnolls, the tale of a civilization's downfall told through wraith-haunted tombs and ancient scrolls - but they presuppose no story.