Deathbat actually runs a module - Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle

I'll admit it: I've felt some burnout lately. The main problem is easy to figure out: I've run so many games so consistently over the last 34 years that I've all but exhausted my own avenues of exploration. The secondary problem is more recent: finding time to prep.....I don't have a lot of free time to do that. That's why games like D&D 5E and 13th Age appeal to me so much.....they are an easy sell to my groups and make the DM's life easier.

That said, when you've run hundreds of scenarios and dozens of campaigns over the last decade and a half, it's easy to start feeling a little repetitive. Even if my players don't notice, I do.

On a lark one of my players earlier this week asked if I'd be willing to run some official D&D modules for a change of pace. I decided...why not?....and proceeded to prep for the first scenario in the Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle. As it turns out, that was a GREAT idea. The module was fun to run (we're only partially through the first module in the four-part set) and it provided a framework that I could manipulate and feel challenged as a DM managing while not stressing me with the effort of trying to come up with something new from my usual repertoire as a DM. Simply put...I probably have about three or four dozen tricks and concepts I tend to use a lot in my games, and for the last year or so I sort of feel like I'm just rehashing old, well-trod territory. By running a module I'm breaking out of my comfort zone. Plus, I can still "make it my own," too. I've reskinned it so it's set in my Pergerron setting....changing the names to protect the innocent, so to speak (and any players who might have poked around and read a copy).

So: running a module is proving to solve that issue nicely. Think I'll look at running a module this weekend for 13th Age, too....maybe an adaptation of an old classic, such as Against the Giants or something equally interesting.....

Collecting D&D Modules in PDF

It's kind of addicting, really. I sort of hope WotC has a lot of people doing the same thing, as it would send a good message to them (that message being: more of this stuff, please) that we're buying up lots and lots of these $5 classic adventures.

Aside from my recent obsession with the simple elegance of Basic and Expert D&D I've been trying to snag more modules. I started with Night's Dark Terror (B10) because it seemed to come highly recommended and was one of the many Basic set modules I had never owned. Quick bit of advice: it's worth looking at, the module is surprisingly good and has the makings of a full-on wilderness campaign within. A lot of depth in it.

When dndclassics.com popped up they gave away B1: In Search of the Unknown as a freebie, so I already had that. It's more of an interesting look at how the early days of the game handled introductory modules. A lot of the "DM advice" of the era was basically end-loaded into the modules themselves rather than the rulebooks. I can't recall if I ever owned this module or not, honestly. I know I started with B2: Keep on the Borderlands, but I think B1 escaped me. B3 (Palace of the Silver Princess) was memorable to me as the module I did not run, but actually played in. My sister had it as part of her early collection, back then.

Anyway, I owned few of these Basic edition modules, so they are mostly new to me. I also snagged B5: Horror on the Hill. It sounds fun, and the scan is good. I'll have to read it this week. I then got derailed by the AD&D modules, most of which are much more familiar to me and/or were scenarios I actually ran.

Specifically for my first round I snagged N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God and another old favorite of mine, the Conan "Red Nails" influenced I1: Dwellers in the Forbidden City. Both modules I ran in the early eighties. My hope right now is that I will find some fascinating stuff within each that, much like the Basic and Expert books did, trigger a new level of interest in me as an adult over my childhood memories. I do recall using both modules to put some characters through the ropes, and to this day they both have a "home" somewhere in my old Lingusia campaign. I never ran anything in Greyhawk or FR...I always ported the scenarios to "home turf."

If I snag two or three every pay period I suspect my wife will be lenient on punishment and sooner or later I'll have them all in PDF. Good thing, too! WotC is cranking out a lot of them now.

As an aside, has anyone bought "The Secret of Bone Hill" in PDF yet? One review suggests that this one has a botched scan job, and I don't want to find out the hard way if the reviewer is just obsessively pedantic about these things or there really is an issue with the PDF. All the other purchases I have made at dndclassics have been great so far.



I don't know if I'll get to run these modules again or just enjoy reading them, but I have some ideas. My ideal situation would be to find some willing players keen to explore Basic/Expert D&D with a bit of the LL Advanced Edition Companion mixed in for flavor. A second (likelier) prospect would be to do an official adaptation of these modules to 3rd edition or Pathfinder....this would require a teensy bit of work (by my standards) but is doable. If I decide to tackle these modules in such a fashion, I'll try to stick up the conversion notes/stats on the blog for those interested.