M is for Modules

I missed the April A-Z Blog Challenge this year, so I'm doing my own...in June. This year, I will be posting one post per day discussing my AD&D campaign, for the curious. Since 2020, this is the ONLY campaign I run. Enjoy!

M is for Modules...not Magic. I considered writing about magic in my campaign setting, but I've already written extensive blog posts on the way I run magic in my game here and here and here. If you missed those earlier (or just want to refresh your memory), they're still there and I'm still handling magic the same.

Nope, instead I'm going to talk about modules. "Module" is the term given and used by TSR to describe their published adventure scenarios. I assume their choice is because these adventures were meant to be "modular:" easily slipped into any Dungeon Master's home brew campaign setting. Portable, in other words.

I own a lot of these old modules...something in the number of 75+, not counting compilation "super modules." Only one or two are from the 2E era; most (close to 60) were written for 1E AD&D. That is a ton of adventure modules...enough for YEARS of play, even if I was running a weekly game. Which I'm not.

I received an email a couple weeks ago from a rank novice D&Der, asking me about the general purpose of adventure modules: how important are they, what are their purpose, what makes a module "good" or "bad," and some specifics about the DragonLance modules. Here's (some of) what I told him:

There are three types of people who play D&D: DMs, players, and folks who alternate between the two roles. Only DMs have any concern for modules. A module is a modular advenure: a scenario designed to slot into a DM's campaign; in my experience, the term ALWAYS refers to a pre-written, published adventure (i.e. something you buy or download).

In my opinion, modules serve TWO purposes: 1) they provide an adventure scenario/situation for the convenience of the DM (i.e. so the DM doesn't have to come up with something themselves), and 2) for NEW DMs, it provides a 'blueprint' of sorts to show how to create adventure situations/scenarios for their home campaign. The Moldvay Basic set is (IMO) the best introduction to D&D concepts one can get...that the module B2 Keep on the Borderlands was included in the box is MAINLY additional educational material for the starting DM.

The DragonLance modules were published during the age of 1E...yes, 1E...and were a grand experiment for TSR. In my estimation, their popularity was due mainly to the bestselling novels that accompanied them. They allowed players to game the events in novels, using the characters of the novels, i.e. follow the Weiss/Hickman plot/storyline (without actual agency and thus sans what makes the D&D game great).

Many early modules, including the Slaver series you reference, were written as tournament scenarios for conventions. As such, they had 'win' conditions (because parties competed against each other). The only thing they "test" is players' ability to meet the objectives the module sets. I wrote a tournament adventure for last year's Cauldron con (Europe's only OSR con) and the only thing it measured was how much treasure one group could find over another. That is, it measured players' adventuring skill.

The reason to use modules is to reduce the amount of work the DM has to do; your DM can write all his/her own adventures, OR he/she can just use modules, OR they can do a little bit of both. Most DMs choose to do both. They are a labor-saving device, although (for the new DM) they can also show what is possible in adventure design (that is, they can be a teaching tool). But a bad DM running a good module can still result in a poor experience for the players. Such is always the case with a "bad DM" (that term requires a lot of unpacking).

A campaign setting is a WORLD; understand that. It doesn't need ANY dungeons (though we are playing "D&D," right?), nor pre-published modules. What it does needs is a DM to run it, who's willing to create and/or provide SCENARIOS that will lead to adventures...THAT is what adventure gaming is all about.

I post this transcription because I liked my answer to his questions and I felt it outlined my attitude towards adventure modules.

For me, I'm not so much interested in "learning how to write adventures;" at this point in my DMing career, I've got a fairly good handle on that. But I still use modules...many modules!...because they are, as I wrote, a labor-saving device.  None of them are "perfect," but they all provide ideas and concepts (scenarios), maps stocked with dangers and rewards...all things that are welcome for a night of D&D adventure. 

To date, I've repurposed some dozen pre-published adventures for use in my campaign (since going back to AD&D); that's around two to three per year. At that rate, it'd take me a couple decades to use up all the material sitting on my shelves...which isn't my goal, just by the way. When I pull out an adventure module, I'm not looking to "complete" its "story;" all I am looking for is an enticing scenario that players will be interested in tackling (for fun and profit). My world is one that is FULL of such scenarios (many of which I've written myself), but their existence doesn't constitute any sort of "story arc" for the campaign. 

My campaign has no 'arc;' it just IS.

I let the players tell the stories..."war stories," that is...of what happened during a particular session or series of sessions. But the modules aren't there to lend any sort of "coherence" or "narrative framework" to the adventures we're playing. I've used both DL1 and DL14 of the DragonLance series in my campaign, without any of the DL characters, drama, or storyline...just simple (if heavily modified) adventure scenarios. And they were delightful...that is to say, they delighted my players. Without any need for a heroic or epic "plot." D&D doesn't need anything like that to be successful as entertainment. 

My campaign is a world of "dungeons;" modules provide me with more dungeons. That makes them useful to me.

[Happy Father's Day, folks!]