Why can't WOTC design good modules now? There is no modern equivalent to masterpieces like Keep on the Borderlands. Lost Mine of Phandelver is a fucking joke, and now they reprinted it as the first half of another module.
Why can't WOTC design good modules now? There is no modern equivalent to masterpieces like Keep on the Borderlands.
Because 5e isn't a good game, thus impossible to design a good module for
>our worst troll, always rushing to make the same kind of shitpost
Holy shit you've genuinely got a disease.
It's a common enough opinion.
Generally, KotB doesn't provide the kind of experience that players want, the support DMs want, or the sort of fun "feely" product that gets off the shelves at a good rate.
They i guess 5e players & dms want massive dogturds sprayed with pink glitter & canola oil
Not really?
The straight-up dungeon raid is dying off because computers do it better and (let's be honest) the tactical infinity is a lie if all you do is stalk room to room and steal coins.
Modules have to have some sort of pacey narrative because they only sell if DMs like reading and exploring them. Those same modules need to contain support for climactic scenes and a smallish number of very detailed areas and characters. The idea of a sparsely keyed map for a Jacquayed dungeon of, let's say, fifty rooms doesn't fill the newer generation of players with joy. Not least because sites like donjon can spit out functionally infinite amounts of said content.
This ^ the dungeon crawl is dead, long live the dungeon crawl. Video games are great at simulating a particular experience, especially if it is something hyper specific as tactical fantasy.
Oh hey, our actual worst troll is back. Why do you insist on being such a braindead gay immediately after getting unbanned again?
5e is literally the worst dnd has been besides essentials and none of your normiefagging will change that
Keep on the Borderlands is dogshit. I could have taken you seriously if you said Caverns of Thracia.
Caverns of Thracia is another really good one. I do like Keep on the Borderlands a lot, though
any 3rd party publishers or zines that do make good modules?
what makes them shit specifically?
Basically because the perception is that players want narrative railroads and the whole podcasting scene does a lot to solidify that especially from a conventional market research perspective. It's also simply easier to create a complete, polished narrative adventure than an open location based NPC driven one which, with an equal amount of effort, will quickly become hazy and in need of DM creativity as players follow their own emergent story arcs.
Goodman Games is my favorite third party publisher. I don't super love the Dungeon Crawl Classics core rules but the modules are compatible with B/X or BECMI and they've been publishing loving large format hardcover 5e conversions and expansions of classic AD&D modules in their Original Adventures Reincarnated line. They've always had a philosophy that aligns nicely with mine.
>the problem is people wanting narrative railroads
>anyway this publisher who does primarily narrative railroads is great!
>dcc is compatible with b/x or BECMI
>from the namefag who runs 5e and pretends to know fuck all about 1st ed ad&d
You fucking retard.
Goodman Games is brilliant. I can't wait for their expansion to Caverns of Thracia.
Anyone got a download of Phandelver and Below yet?
what's the least worst new modules though
WOTC is creatively bankrupt. Especially now that anyone can self publish their shit there’s no reason for anyone with any talent or drive to work there.
>Lost Mine of Phandelver is a fucking joke
Nah, it’s pretty good. Good enough that most 5e modules skip the first few levels because they can’t top it, so the presume that the DM will run it to bring new characters up to third level or so.
That you think it’s a joke show how little you know about the game, but really you probably don’t play any games at all if you’re down to making thread like this one.
No it sucks.
>Good enough that most 5e modules skip the first few levels because they can’t top it,
...How the fuck do you think D&D, character levels, and modules work?
Compare these two goblin lairs.
What module is this from?
The Sanctuary Ruin.
Ironwood Gorge is good too.
There is literally nothing stopping you from playing Keep on the Borderlands in 5e. It doesn't even have any special snowflake monsters in it.
A well made module is no longer required for, or is even an impediment to successful hype, social media clout and sales.
Wotc can’t do anything properly anymore. Even their latest game designs are made by retards as evidenced by the 2024 playtests.
The mainstream of the market has shifted into selling the rules and aesthetic for homebrews.
>Why can't WOTC design good
Because they're corporate whoooooooores
To be fair wotc have never put out a good adventures.
You were just new
>another module
Post it then.
Because 2E killed any genuine attempt at location based modules over linear adventures with prescribed plots. Even 3E's "return to the dungeon shtick" was most just hamfisting the dungeon locale into the same 'narrative adventure module' formula. 4E didn't change that. And 5E has inherited that legacy so thoroughly that they didn't think the dungeon procedures from the beta or wilderness travel rules were necessary at all anymore.
Oh shit. Good post while I was trickling out my long winded version of the same sentiment - trying to be slightly more positive.
>wotc
>good
Does not compute
At what point has wotc ever been good? Revised mtg?
I tried running Rime of the FrostMaiden but it petered out a bit before the dragon encounter. It had individual bits that were good, but the connecting metaplot was weak AF.
>Why can't WOTC design good modules now? There is no modern equivalent to masterpieces like Keep on the Borderlands.
99% of the published modules were always dogshite. Nothing has changed.
And you, personally, have never actually played Keep on the Borderlands.
What are some good modules? Ravenloft/Curse of Strahd?
NTA but if there aren't any good modules for 5e, is there a module universally considered good from 1e or 2e?
I6 Ravenloft for AD&D is almost impossible to criticize objectively and Curse of Strahd recreates it pretty well for 5e and massively expands it into the entire Domain with enough content to take 1st level characters all the way to 10th and a good shot at bullying Strahd (with certain MacGuffins).
GDQ1-7 Queen of the Spiders is pretty awesome although it's kind of light on safe zones (I might combine it with Night Below in the future, although I haven't finished looking at how that might work out).
I personally love T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil it's super comfy with two towns nicely described in addition to a large 4 level dungeon plus bonus twilight zone shit but it suffers from TSR having had somebody other than Gary Gygax finish it up. There's a pretty obvious point where the tone changes dramatically and then those bonus zones are pretty sketchy but if you don't want to organize them yourself there's lots of later fan arrangements (Plus Goodman's OAR version).
Isle of Dread is a good hex crawl to check out how those things were laid out back in the day.
The Desert of Desolation series (you want the individual modules on this one over the supermodule) is a really cool not-Egyptian linked adventure.
Good list. Thanks anon
>keep on the borderlands
>masterpiece
wow a series of rooms with random monsters in them, what mind blowing game design
Rary The Traitor is the mod I cut my ttrpg teeth on playing. Fantastic module! My first time running a mod, I ran The Chaos Bell which was a hell of a lot of fun to DM. This is all 30 years ago. Lol
Digits confirm!
Because a bunch of minorities are running the place, controlled by their biggest shareholder-- Blackrock
Mostly because it’s a game that doesn’t have a major focus. 1 & 2e are exploration games where combat isn’t heavily encouraged. 3 & 4e are entirely combat focused with different opinions on customization.
5e is trying to appease both crowd that love the combat elements of 3.5 while simultaneously trying to please the people that play more RP focused games, like WOD and such. Because of that lack of focus in design you fall into a situation where you don’t know where to put your efforts towards. Wizards wants these products to be evergreen and please as many people as possible and thus can never truly satisfy any of them.