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I can only imagine how many times this question has been asked before. It seems like a biggie. I apologize in advance if I missed some big thread on this topic.
When GMing, do you prefer to use premade adventures, or make your own stuff up? Or, what combination of both do you use (if applicable)?
I, personally, have always made my own stuff up from scratch. I never even fathomed getting a module or adventure path until I went on here and saw how many GMs did just that.
I mix everything I get. I've never ran a straight, by-the-book published adventure; something always gets altered. When I run Pathfinder modules, they tend to be one-shot and usually transplanted to Ravenloft, a Ravenloft-themed world, a homebrew developed specifically for that module, a Victorian-Golarion variant (no elves, halflings, or orcs, plus a few other changes), space (a pathfinder scifi hybrid), or a mostly standard Golarion (altered cosmology) minus halflings.
As for the actual adventure/mystery/etc.? I always end up padding the material because of the linear nature of published adventures. You see, I always (99.5% of the time) run open-ended sandbox campaigns; the players can do anything and become anything. Kingmaker is something I'd like to run as-is, with minor custom kingdom event additions, because it closely fits my play-style. The fact that I haven't successfully gotten the AP off the ground can be blamed on my last group. You could probably chalk my choices up to laziness, but having a set of preconstructed encounters ready to run can sometimes save a failing session.
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Almost all APs have areas where there can be a shortfall of experience if you have a large group or your party skips encounters. I usually like to use an AP as the "skeleton" and flesh it out some with my own added story threads that integrate character's backstories with the AP. For example, a ranger in my RotRL game took orc as a Favored Enemy and had a great backstory. Unfortunately, as you might know if you have played this AP, there are really no orcs in the storyline. Enter an orc clan of poachers that are hassling the farmers and voila, problem solved. I also added in some orc NPC leaders later on down the line, like an orc priest that was an ambassador to the stone giants from Belkzen, etc.
I like making my own stuff, that is most of the fun. In society play you are not able to do that though, but a good way to learn structure.
The fun for me lies in building my own adventures too.
I use both, I've had a lot of fun running Carrion Crown and look forward to taking my group from 14 to 20 after we complete it. The adventure path leaves me with enough time to make sure the high level stuff my group goes through is really fun.
I used to love building my own adventures, but I just don't have the time or energy anymore (as above, pretty much since 3.5). Too much real world stuff. So, for a long time I've tended to concentrate on creating ancillary material - plot lines, npcs, grand conspiracies, the odd building here and there - and drop them into modules (being better for that kind of thing as they tend to have less constricting story elements than APs, and you can build them into a greater storyline). I love the APs though, I think they're full of awesome stuff (and I've always enjoyed reading through adventures even when I haven't run them), so I'm trying out Serpent's Skull with my wife and kids at the moment, and having a blast. At the same time creating a massive family tree for one of the npcs going back a couple of hundred years and detailing the history of the clan, just because it's fun.
I like to write my own adventures. Sometimes I'll throw in something from Dungeon or Pathfinder, but only if it fits nicely into the ongoing storyline, and even then I end up altering it somewhat.
I tend to run sandbox-type campaigns and I intensely dislike railroading too much, so I end up doing a lot of impromptu interweaving -- the party can do Part I of Adventure A, maybe they then decide to go over to where Adventure B takes place and they end up playing parts III and VII of that, and then maybe go over to Adventure C for a bit before returning to A. Part of my job is then to weave the whole thing together seamlessly so that it seems like it was all intended as one adventure from the start.
That's an ideal scenario, anyway -- sometimes I get lazy, though.
I take an adventure path and then write over it.
I try not to just run the book as written. I'm always editing, inserting encounters, changing NPCs, inserting my PCs backstories. Something's gotta change every session.
It works well. I don't have to do encounter prep, all of my encounters are pre-excused ("It's in the book!"), all of the treasure is pre-excused ("I'm not favoring him-- it's right there, in the book"), the art is pre-rendered and begging to be shown off, and maps are already drawn for me (I have a horrid habit of drawing maps that should be very small as very, very large).
I like it.
Adventure Paths for me. I don't have the time or inclination to invest energy in anything else. While the APs may have their problems, that can be addressed during the course of play.
Note - once we finish Kingmaker, there is a slight chance that we might continue play within our kingdom, albeit with a new set of characters.
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Before I switched campaign settings from Forgotten Realms to Golarion (which was almost three years ago), I used to almost exclusively use my own stuff. Having made the switch however, I have used modules and APs exclusively...
Though once my group and I are more comfortable within Golarion (and have a few more of the APs under our belts), I'll probably start coming up with my own material...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
I take an adventure path and then write over it.
I try not to just run the book as written. I'm always editing, inserting encounters, changing NPCs, inserting my PCs backstories. Something's gotta change every session.
It works well. I don't have to do encounter prep, all of my encounters are pre-excused ("It's in the book!"), all of the treasure is pre-excused ("I'm not favoring him-- it's right there, in the book"), the art is pre-rendered and begging to be shown off, and maps are already drawn for me (I have a horrid habit of drawing maps that should be very small as very, very large).
I like it.
I tend to this way as well. My campaign at the moment has the players as halfling rogues working for one of many Thieve's Guilds in a city of over 2 million. I tend to use modules as Jobs that they are sent on, but what the players are more interested in is the interaction between the NPCs - trying to work out if their boss is half-dragon and what that really means, avoiding the brother of someone that they weren't meant to kill but did, slowly learning who the members of the Greater City Council really are, and so on.
So my prep for the game is reduced because the module provides a lot of it, but it has a rich and unique and non-linear feel because of how they interact with the backstory.
I personally suck big time at writing my own adventures. (Every time I do, it consists of: Walk down a hallway, fight an encounter. Walk down the next hallway, fight another encounter. Repeat until there's been enough encounters.) I find I'm at my best when running a published adventure, that I've altered moderately-heavily to incorporate the players.
Historically when running D&D in whatever edition I've almost always run pre-made modules. That said I find myself frequently tweaking, usually on the fly, various encounters or adding elements in response to player side tracks. Also, when using older materials with newer editions I tend to tweak the encounters quite a bit or rewrite NPCs to fit better with the later system.
Now, I have a number of adventures for the old WEG D6 Star Wars system but when running that 90% of what I ran was all homebrew. I'm not sure why that is per se but it just worked out that way.
L
Published, exclusively. I've never been creative enough to be able to create a compelling adventure on my own. Tried once or twice when I was a teenager, but always was dissatisfied. I always was more inspired by the ones I bought than anything I could come up with. And now, with a family, I barely have enough time to prep a published one let alone write my own.
Greg
I prefer to write, but I am so nit-picky about it that it takes up an extremely large amount of time, so until the day I retire I doubt I will write anything unless I decide to write professionally, which I don't have time to even try right now. So at the moment I run adjusted AP's.
I've always run my own adventures--to date. I prefer to run quasi sandbox style (although it depends on the players--some like to take the plot and run with it, others seem to prefer to be led along), and I find many modules are far too linear to my tastes.
That said, as I've gotten older with less time on my hands, I've started looking at modules at least for ideas or for an opportunity to run a brief one shot or few-shot game (I still have no problem going "off script" if the players come up with a plan Q to the plans A and B outlined in the module, and knowing my players, they will). Of course, one module I started adapting to my own world I probably put as much time into revising and Pathfinderizing as it would take to have just written an adventure on my own. ;)
I haven't YET actually run any pre-written modules but hope to in the not-too-distant future.
I also think modules and APs are a good source for unusual NPCs and maps, if nothing else.
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I tend to run my own adventures, because, for some reason, whenever i run a pre-made adventure, my players get really bored or break it unintentionally.
However i never ran sandboxes, as i have realized that my players need moderate to heavy railroading from rime to time and that i cannot let them careen about doing whatever they want.
I have tons of side quest material that i can pull on random and adjust it a little for the current setting so there is no problem when they go somewhere where the main story does not go, but somehow, every sandbox i ran fell appart.
I play Pathfinder on a daily basis, seven days a week and I believe if I would rely on published material I would have run out of stuff to use by now.
So I make up my own adventures. Most of them are of a social nature, some are dungeon crawls and a lot are encounters with improvised roleplaying built around them.
Sometimes I use a module or a published adventure, when the mood strikes me and I find something that fits. However, most of the time during play I stumble over a mistake, missing explanation, meaningless encounter, etc. and I just hate that feeling when the gaming comes to a halt and I sit there, frustrated.
So, own adventures, most of the time.
I love to homebrew, but I am a perfectionist.
So I polish, and retcon, and plan, and write, and map, and guess what? We never play.
Then I found adventure paths. Sure, they have some drawbacks, and each has its fair share of cheese or cliché, but that's okay. I focus my attention on smoothing over the rough patches rather than trying to create something amazing from scratch. And guess what now? We play all the time.
Homespun - always and only.
Currently starting RotRL. This is the first time I will be doing a published AP. Well, technically the second. I started running it last year, but moved, thereby killing that campaign. Starting it again with a new group.
In the past I've run published adventures, usually changed at least a little bit, but for the most part I run my own stuff. Usually, it heavily involves the PCs backstories, and each character gets their own session "in the spotlight". "My own stuff", however, is usually cobbled together from various sources, including my own imagination, TV and movies, published adventures, and other peoples homebrew stuff I've read online.
I run homebrew, with a custom world. I can make things on the fly as needed and I make things when ever I get a moment, like on the bus to school, walking to work, etc... I have wanted to run an AP, but right now I have no players. The last 2 players have moved to the USA.
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As others have said, back in the day I would create my own worlds, pantheons, etc. All completely homebrew, though I do still have a good number of the two toned modules from 1E and did use those for single shots or short term runs between campaigns.
Post 3.5 I have run primarily with the APs, though I have tweaked out the story lines a little or made slight adjustments to better suit the individual groups of players.
I can only imagine how many times this question has been asked before. It seems like a biggie. I apologize in advance if I missed some big thread on this topic.
When GMing, do you prefer to use premade adventures, or make your own stuff up? Or, what combination of both do you use (if applicable)?
I, personally, have always made my own stuff up from scratch. I never even fathomed getting a module or adventure path until I went on here and saw how many GMs did just that.
I always prefer to make up my own scenarios.
(Check out http://zhalindor.com/4e/ The Bold Beginnings WWW Site.)
There are some trade-offs.
The biggest off the top of my head are time spent in prep and consistency (both in adherence to the gaming system and in overall editing) versus GM control and fun derived from the creation process.
If you are using adventures that are published under the same gaming system that you are using then it can save you a lot of time. You will always want to spend some time preparing. You need to ensure that there is nothing in the module that will disrupt your campaign, and you want to be familiar enough with the module to identify where your particular group may require you to bolster the adventure.
You give up the pure fun of putting together an adventure that is perfectly tailored to your group's playing style and individual goals and objectives.
Doing your own modules also let's you adlib more easily than if you use a published scenario.
In service,
Rich
http://zhalindor.com/
When I was younger, I mostly made up my own stuff - at least 80% of my adventure material, if not more (though I always loved modules).
As I age, that has vastly decreased and essentially reversed - nowadays it's about 80% modules/adventures and 20% of my own stuff. My own stuff will likely continue to shrink as I get older.