08/16/2024
While working on my Shadowdark campaign (which has a good chance of never being played), I stopped to think about campaigns I have run over the past few years. Sorry, this is going to be a long post!
Starting in 2017 and running through 2021, I was a volunteer Dungeon Master at a boardgame club called the Malted Meeple in Hudon OH. My wife and I were there every week, sometimes twice a week, playing D&D 5E.
The Meeple advertised that they held D&D sessions and everyone was welcome to come and play. There was a $5 charge but then you were placed into a group and given a pre-generated character. If you liked the game and planned on continuing with the group, you could talk to the DM and create a character. I made some good friends there and had my tables grow to the point where we had to split and one of my players would become a DM.
The Malted Meeple preferred you run “Published” adventures, so they could ask new players what campaign they would like to join. In my time at the Malted Meeple, I ran quite a few adventures:
Tomb of Annihilation
Curse of Strahd, two times (Same Group)
Out of the Abyss, two times (Different Groups)
Princes of the Apocalypse
Lost Mine of Phandelver
Homebrew campaign based on the Basic Fantasy Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign
This thought made me consider the different campaign methods and their pros/cons. Here’s a breakdown of the pros and cons of each approach as I see it:
Pre-Written Adventures
Pros:
Time-Saving:
Pre-written adventures are ready-made, requiring minimal preparation time on the part of the Dungeon Master, depending on how well the module was written. The story, characters, and world are already developed. Some modules would require some extra prep to make the module “playable”, the time was considerably less than creating everything yourself.
When I was running two different campaigns at the same time, it REALLY helped to have some if not all of the prep work mostly complete. I would just have to read up a little before the session and I was good to go.
2. Structure and Guidance:
These adventures provide a clear structure, helping new Dungeon Master or those less confident in their storytelling abilities. These modules often include detailed maps, NPCs, and plot hooks, reducing the need for improvisation.
All pre-written adventures have text boxes with information the DM reads aloud to the players. This usually has descriptive language about the scene, the people, etc.
3. Balanced Encounters:
Pre-written adventures for D&D 5E are usually playtested, ensuring that encounters are balanced for the intended player levels and group size. Some modules, like Lost Mines of Phandelver, are designed for new DMs and give hints on running the encounter.
While I don’t see the need to balance encounters for experienced players (who know when to run from a fight), a lot of new players come from a video game background where they are used to being able to handle whatever they encounter in the game.
4. Community and Resources:
Popular pre-written adventures often have a wealth of online resources, such as forums, additional content, and advice from other GMs who have run the same adventure. You can find community-drawn maps you can hand out to players, artwork you can share that shows the locations, etc. You can even find more encounters and guides on running adventures.
While running Death House in Curse of Strahd, I used a guide from Lunch Break Heroes that gave better descriptions of the rooms and more background into the Dursts. They even changed the name to the Durst Manor. You can see it here.
5. Consistency:
Pre-written adventures offer consistency in tone, pacing, and theme, which can be harder to maintain in a homebrew campaign.
Some homebrew campaigns become very episodic and the quests seem very unrelated. While some side quests can be totally spontaneous, there should be an underlying thread even if it is totally driven by the players.
Cons:
- Limited Flexibility:
Pre-written adventures can feel restrictive. Deviating from the script can be challenging for the Dungeon Master, and some players might feel constrained by the lack of creative freedom.
If you are running Lost Minds, for instance, your players feel like they are ‘trapped’ in the area of Phandalin. What if they decide to go to Neverwinter? What if they decide to join the Black Spider instead of fighting him? Changes like this cause the rest of the adventure to become almost useless to the DM.
2. Predictability:
If players are familiar with the adventure, it can reduce the element of surprise. Spoilers or prior knowledge can diminish the excitement of the story.
Most D&D players have heard of Curse of Strahd and have ideas of how to kill a vampire. Other famous locations like the green demon face in the Tomb of Horrors are so legendary that players will act with that knowledge even if their character wouldn’t know about it.
3. Lack of Personalization:
Pre-written adventures may not align perfectly with the interests or backstories of the player characters, making it harder to create a deeply personal or immersive experience.
Your player might show up with a character with a great backstory full of hooks that would be wonderful to add to the campaign, even if they would be just small side quests. If you are playing Curse of Strahd, none of that matters as they are whisked away to the land of Barovia.
4. Dependency on Published Material:
Dungeon Masters might feel overly reliant on the published material, which can limit their ability to adapt to unexpected player choices or introduce new elements on the fly.
Most adventures give you a few ideas about how the players will react in certain situations, but those limited ideas never seem to cover all of the choices your players can make.
In an early game at the Malted Meeple, I was playing as a 3rd level druid. The adventure had a single drawbridge that had goblin archers watching over it so we couldn’t get into the keep unless we engaged the goblins in a firefight. The encounter was supposed to have us fight into the keep, grab an item, and then exit. The DM was planning on the encounter taking the entire game session. I used my wild shape to change into a small spider and crawled across the bottom of the bridge into the keep. I changed back into a humanoid, grabbed the McGuffin, wild-shaped back into the spider, and crawled back to the party waiting safely away. It was over in a matter of minutes.
Homebrew Campaigns
Pros:
- Creative Freedom:
Homebrew campaigns allow Dungeon Master to craft a completely unique world, story, and characters. This creativity can lead to a highly personalized and tailored experience for the players.
In my Shadows of the Sundered Throne campaign, the game world is unique and able to change with the input of the players. We can change locations outside the immediate area to accommodate a player’s backstory. We can add or change NPCs. Almost everything is on the table.
2. Flexibility:
The Dungeon Master has the freedom to adapt the story based on the players’ actions, making the game more dynamic and responsive to the group’s interests and choices.
The players want to use the ruined temple as a base of operations to form a demon cult, no problem. Since there is no pre-written plot thread, the players have the freedom to change their own fate. All I do is ask the players where they want to go and do at the end of the game session and they can’t change that before the next session (so I can prep for the session).
3. Player Engagement:
Players may feel more invested in a homebrew campaign, especially if their characters’ backstories and decisions directly influence the world and plot.
In my friend Justin’s game, I was a cleric of the Knowledge God Avenroo. I decided that one of the tenets of the followers was that they would not lie. Spreading misinformation would be against their beliefs. Justin allowed it in the game and it became one of the things that I clung to during roleplay.
4. Custom Challenges:
The Dungeon Master can design encounters, puzzles, and story arcs that specifically cater to the strengths, weaknesses, and preferences of the players.
Pit traps are useless when the party has flying characters like Aarakocras, but you could add something living on the ceiling above it that grabs the flying character. Dwarf characters might see signs that their family built part of the trap, maybe a family rune or crest carved into the trigger stone.
5. Unique Experience:
A homebrew campaign offers a one-of-a-kind experience that can’t be replicated, making it memorable and special for the group.
Most memories from the game are the unique things that your party did when going through the adventure. When more of the game is unique and engaging, the more the players will remember.
Cons:
- Time-Consuming:
Creating a homebrew campaign from scratch requires significant time and effort. World-building, story development, and encounter design can be daunting, especially for new Dungeon Masters.
I have been working on my Shadows of the Sundered Throne campaign for more than a few months now and I still have ideas I need to finish before I would even consider running it for players.
2. Potential Imbalance:
Homebrew content can be unbalanced, leading to overly difficult or easy encounters. Balancing mechanics, story pacing, and player engagement can be challenging.
While not a big issue when running for experienced players, new Dungeon Masters might over-estimate their player’s abilities and create an encounter that is a TPK, which might make the players feel that there is no need to put a lot of thought into the character if it is just going to be killed.
3. Inconsistent Quality:
The quality of a homebrew campaign can vary, as it relies entirely on the Dungeon Master’s abilities. There is a risk of plot holes, pacing issues, or lack of cohesion in the story.
Sometimes the thoughts you have might not translate easily to the adventure. Grand ideas about conflict and factions might seem good to you but might end up being flat and boring to the players. Maybe your encounters with the undead are gripping and engaging but when you go into the city, you lack the same level of engagement with the players.
4. Overwhelm for the GM:
The responsibility of creating and maintaining a homebrew world can be overwhelming. Dungeon Masters may struggle with the workload or feel pressured to continually produce content.
Since you are creating content based on the last session, you might feel pressured to finish enough content to cover a couple of sessions but end up tossing some of it out as the players make their choices in the game.
5. Risk of Burnout:
A homebrew campaign’s extensive preparation and creative demands can lead to GM burnout, potentially causing the campaign to fizzle out or lose momentum.
I have had DM burnout several times over the years. Even with pre-written adventures, you get “tired” and lose the fun of the game. While I always enjoyed hanging out with my friends, I feel that the game session suffered from my lack of excitement, which would cause the players to lose excitement. That would make me feel worse about the burnout so I would just try to press through it. Usually, the best way out of the burnout is taking a couple of weeks off from the game. Maybe play a one-shot of something else.
Conclusion
Both pre-written adventures and homebrew campaigns offer distinct experiences and each has weaknesses. Pre-written adventures are great for those Dungeon Masters looking for structure. They save time and offer ease of use. This is especially true when the Dungeon Master is new. Homebrew campaigns excel in creativity, flexibility, and personalization. However, they come at the cost of extra work for the Dungeon Master in prep time. The best choice depends on the preferences, skills, and time availability of the Dungeon Master. It also depends on the desires and experience level of the player group.
Keep on gaming!
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