So, you've decided to run a game. Maybe
you picked D&D or Shadowrun or Savage Worlds or something else
that caught your fancy.
What now?
One of the easiest things to do is pick
up and pre-written, or “canned,” adventure. Everything you need
to right there and ready to use. They list out what level the party
should be when you start, what monsters and NPCs they'll encounter,
and give you the layout of what happens.
Before we go further, I need to point
out that I'm a fan of canned adventures and use them myself. If
you've been reading the adventures of Ferner Five, you can see that
they're mostly canned adventures.
Why used canned adventures? In addition
to what I've said above, they also tend to be much more epic in
scale. The fate of nations can hang in the balance. The fate of the
whole of existence can be on the line. And that's really fun for high
level groups. It's also hard to think of challenges for high level
groups, too. Or so I've found.
Canned adventures are great for when
the DM doesn't know what to do next. Or needs a break from designing
their own adventures. And you don't have to follow everything in the
adventure as written. I've seen a few people discuss how they use
them as a basis for their own adventures. And that's totally okay.
And cool, if I'm being honest.
Low level adventures are great for
getting your game started, as many of them will give a good reason
for why the group gets together. That can avoid the “you all meet
in a tavern” trope that exists for a reason. It's why I picked
“Comin' Around The Mountain” for my Deadlands group. If you run
it as written, each character can have their own reason for being on
the train, letting them set up their backstories. There's also plenty
of role playing opportunities for the players and the Marshal.
There's a reason why I've run it three times now. I've tried others
as an introduction (“Pass The Salt” and “This Harrowed Ground,”
if you're familiar) and they don't work as well as that one.
I'm sure if you look around, you can
find a good introduction adventure for the game you want to run. Many
of the games out there will have one in the back of the game or the
DM's book. If they don't have one, ask around and see what ones
people recommend for getting started.
Inserting a canned adventure into a
campaign that's already in progress might take a bit of doing, but
shouldn't be impossible. I've done it here and there, and aside from
some minor tweaks, it was pretty easy. You have to make sure that the
adventure isn't too jarring for the group, that there's a smooth
transition. Some gaming magazines (and websites now, I guess) would
have “side tracks” which are just small encounters that you can
just drop into a larger campaign. Something like an evil Druid that
is using blood on a tree. A little backstory, some stats and tactics,
and you have something unique and interesting to throw out there.
Perfect if you're not prepared for the night's game.
One thing to keep in mind when getting
ready to run a canned adventure, either to start things off or adding
to a campaign already in progress, you have to remember the GM's
Maxim: Expect The Unexpected.
Most canned adventures will give you
several ways to go from section to section (assuming it isn't a
dungeon), but some only give you one. And as we all know, players
rarely go in the direction you can anticipate. So, if the adventure
doesn't give you the options that the party picks, you need to roll
with it. Don't try to force them to go the way the adventure wants
them to, let them find their own way. If you don't know what to do
when the jump the rails, take a break. Give yourself some time to
think about what to do now. And if the party doesn't want to follow
the adventure, I mean REALLY doesn't want, let them walk away. It's
there choice. Don't be afraid to end the world because they gave up.
Hey, you gave them the choice!
If you know the party isn't going to
follow the hooks in the adventure, change them. Make them fit your
party. For example, the adventure calls for the party to be motivated
by goodness and you're running an evil (or morally gray) group,
change the motivation that matches them. If you know the party is
going to miss something or do the absolutely wrong thing, remove it
or change it. The best thing to do is look at your players, their
characters, and edit the adventure around them. If you know them well
enough, and you should after a few games, you can anticipate them and
how they'll react to what the adventure presents them.
Another thing you can do to really draw
the characters in is to change the main bad guys in the adventure.
Let's say you're running a D&D game and you have a recurring bad
guy. For example, we'll go with the old stand by of the Evil
Necromancer. Sure, why not? So, the party has been running up against
this necromancer and his minions. You find an adventure that will
give the players a new experience but it has another stock villain
that doesn't quite fit the theme of your campaign. Everything else is
perfect. So, change it. Either make the villain part of the Evil
Necromancer's cabal or you can even make it the Evil Necromancer
himself. Adjust it as you see fit. However, keep in mind that you
might have to make more changes to the adventure itself the more you
change the antagonist. You don't want your players to ask “why is
our devil worshiping adversary suddenly using summoned demons?” It
can break immersion.
The nice thing about canned adventures
is that they give you everything you need. Maps, monsters/enemies,
and rewards. And what you need to do is make sure you know what's
coming. The first thing you do with a canned adventure is read
through it a few times. After the first or second read through,
you'll want to make notes about what you want to change and what
you're going to change it to. Then, you need to do some prep work. If
you can, make a copy of the player's map. I knew a DM that would make
a copy of the map and then cut it up so he could plop down the next
area as the characters advance. You can also write down the stats,
and page numbers, of the various enemies and have them ready to go.
And you can make a note of which enemies will attack which character.
You can look at the tactics the adventure provides and make it fit
your party better. I'm not saying you always want to make it harder,
because that's not okay. For example, when I ran the Ferner Five, I
had to be careful about magic. Since none of the original posse had
any real magic, I had to make sure there were other ways to get
around or solve problems. Of course, I didn't really have to worry
too much about them using magic to short circuit adventures. But, it
was always on my mind when I was getting ready for the game. I didn't
want to hit them with a major whammy because the adventure assumed
that they had a Huckster in the posse, when I didn't. Remember what I
said about making sure there's more than one way around problems and
the way the enemies act.
Let's talk about what happens when you
pick up a canned adventure and it just doesn't work for you. Maybe
the monsters don't match your world or you don't like the layout or
you just don't like it. What do you do now? That's the fun part. I've
seen people take maps from an adventure and put in their own monsters
and enemies. I've taken monsters from an adventure and plug them into
something else. I've take plots and ideas from an adventure and put
them in a game.
It's really hard not to find SOMETHING
you can't use for something else. Maps are one of the hardest things
to design on your own. There's a reason why people will just put out
books of maps, not even adventures, and make good money from them. I
have a 1,001 Dungeons collection from Kickstarter ages ago and, while
I haven't used it yet, it gave me tons of ideas for games.
To wrap this up, don't listen to the
Old Guard Of Gamers that say Real Men Don't Run Canned Adventures.
It's total bullshit. Use what you want to use. And don't just ignore
something because of what someone else says. Do what works best for
you and your group. If you've never run a game before, ask around for
opinions on what are some good adventures for new DM/GM and players.
Many games will include a starter adventure in the back of their
books. And you can ask around about what adventures are fun or
interesting or hard or famous and give them a whirl. As they say:
It's your game.
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