pre-defined or Roll-yer-own...

[Hawkwind]

So I have a question for the group...

I noticed that there are a ton of store-bought adventures for RPG games these days...when I was active in the game, we tended to create our own adventures...The DM was responsible for creativity, continuity, balance, etc -- rarely did we go thru a module. Although the module that shipped with the original Basic set was an instant classic (did I just date myself?)

The question is, where do you all stand on this? Do you prefer to use a prefabricated adventure, or to create your own?

[llew silverhand]

Being mainly a PC, rather than DM, I do not really have a preference, so long as the DM has the ability to run a smooth game, keeping it balanced, and rolling with any punches we might throw at him. If the DM can't keep it balanced (you know, for example, if say, a party of 6 level 2 characters in D&D 4E take out a young adult white dragon, 5 drakes, and 10 goblins, all higher than minion class) well, then, it's not so fun.

[Rush]

Back in the long, long ago...when I gamed religiously, I was fortunate enough to have run across a few people who were literal masters in the art of creating not just adventures, but full fledged campaigns.

Um...of course, I used to get stoned quite often in those bygone days, but I really do remember being impressed with their creative talents verses the talent that went into store bought adventures.

Playing a game with a DM, who created the adventure, offers more accessibility in times of need, for instance, when something within the game needs more of an explanation. A store bought adventure offers no such options.

---Rush.

[Randomizer]

When I started playing all the DMs created their own worlds and almost every adventure. Most of the time it was just randomly rolled up encounters based upon an encounter table with different monsters for the different terrains. No planning ahead, it was just whatever happened unless we reached an area with a fixed encounter like a special dungeon.

One time the DM used a prefabricated adventure module where we were supposed to go to Hell. However we picked the best looking road since we all assumed that it would be deceptively nice to lure us in to that place. After killing several progressively more powerful angelic beings, the DM pointed out that we were going the wrong way and we had to travel down a rutted overgrown path. We didn't play that adventure that long.

I do miss those worlds since there was plenty of freedom to just explore and not have to do preset tasks. For instance once we just spent a few months circumnavigating the world.

[Dragonlady]

I have my own made up world called 'Knu-mythia'. I do use some modules but change them to fit the places and people living there. I also make up some adventures, more in the past than now. I am prepared for my players to go off on side trips and it stretches my imagination to make things work out, not to mention add new things/ places and people that didn't exist before. Some of my story lines come from my dreams or paperback books I've read.

[Rune_74]

I am one of those sad people that always wanted to be the player but was volunteered to be the DM because I was too good at that. However, I sometimes cheated and playhed a character(although limited) so I could at least be a party member.

[Hawkwind]

You guys are awesome. Thanks for the feedback. Makes me feel better about my cheesy little homemade adventures. My friends always made me be the DM...even with my cheesy lines like, "You are strangely compelled to avoid the unfinished areas of the map..." It's good to know that creativity is still alive and well in the RPG realms...

[CrazyBernie]

My answer to the original question would be "Yes."

It's always good to take someone else's idea and make it better ^_^

For instance; about a year ago I was playing Star Wars D6 with some friends and we were going through a period of taking turns playing the GM while the "real" GM worked on some storyline. I was going to be my turn to GM; and... well... I didn't have enough familiarity with the Star Wars universe to really pull it off (I'm a D&D fan, I was only playing SW 'cause everyone else wanted to). So I took an AD&D campaign and worked it into the SW game. The "how" for those of you who are wondering was actually quite simple. The party was travelling along a hyperspace lane investigating some ship disappearances when they're suddenly pulled out of hyperspace by a large object in their path. They see a plethora of derelict ships floating in front of a huge "wall" that was actually a planet sized ship created by one of the "Ancients." While exploring, a large beam of energy shoots out from the "wall" and engulfs the ship. The players are knocked unconcious, with the last thing they can remember being flashes of light and glimpses of the ship plummeting out of control towards a planet. What really happened was they were teleported from their ship onto the Ancient vessel and inserted into virual reality pods by the vessel's out of control AI (The vessel used to be an entertainment facility). When they come to, they're in a dungeon and find they they're not quite their original selves... i.e. the human-turned-cyborg who was a sharp-shooter with a blaster rifle suddenly found himself quite human again with an affinity for a bow... Next thing you know they're on a quest to defeat a Lich to earn their freedom as well as get the location of a crashed ship that they think might be theirs...

[Hawkwind]

Love the blending of the Genres.