M1: AGAINST THE MODULES
As I've gotten some feedback about the mini-module I've posted, I've been working on the "master list" of modules I'd like to write and publish here on the web-page, and as I've investigated a bit, I've found that modules seem to get a bit of bad press from some of the gaming community.
I think a lot of the complaints about modules stem from the fact that too many Dungeon Masters used them as complete adventures unto themselves, as if the whole campaign started the minute you stepped into Nosnra's Steading, or the Tomb of Horrors or whatever.
I feel that the modules themselves were frameworks on which great campaigns could be built.
So you're asked to investigate the mischief the Giants are causing - what are the repercussions of your actions? There could be scheming generals looking to profit from the unrest - although they didn't cause it. So perhaps they send a thief or two along with the party to spy and report back, hmm? And speaking of
thieves, what of the NPC thief rescued in the G series? There's a whole back story
there that can be played with.
Same can be said of the Sirine in S1. What about the countryside lying around the Hidden Shrine of Toamachan? What happened to the Olman natives there? Will they revere the party as Gods for banishing the curse on their once-holy place, or will they wrathfully pursue the party for defiling it or stirring up something they had hoped had been laid to rest?
...and so forth.
No, I don't think that the modules can stand on their own very often. But consider this: if The Lord of the Rings had simply been the fight against the
barrow-Wight, the journey through Moria, the battle at Helm's Deep, and on the Pelennor Fields and at the gates of Mordor then the whole thing wouldn't have been but about 100 pages long and not well received.
This is the task laid before the Dungeon Master. Take the modules, fill in the blanks. No Dungeon Master worth his hat should ever just rip open a module, look at the notes and say "Okay, let's play!"
"Tuning" a module is the first and most important task. Remember, each of the modules mentions that "This module may stand alone or be incorporated into an existing campaign." But they need help. It's like buying, say, a video card and sticking it in your PC. Drivers must be loaded! In this case, you, the Dungeon Master, are the drivers! You must drive the story forward by making Against the Giants exist in a living, breathing world and not as some kind of weird island that just hangs there in
"Adventureland" and has no bearing or impact on the rest of whatever world you choose to set it in, be it Greyhawk, Mystara, Krynn or something you've cooked up all your own!
Are there some modules that may require too much work to incorporate into your campaign? Certainly. For example, dealing with the 'tech that you might let loose in S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks could upset the game balance of your own world. Such pitfalls, if they cannot be avoided with careful planning, must be avoided by perhaps not playing the module in question at all, or by significantly redesigning the module to better suit your own game world.
Ultimately, this is what one should strive for in a module. A module is not a sourcebook any more than a video card is an entire stand-alone computer that can function on it's own. Modules, thusly, are made to plug in to the power supply and central components of your game world!
If this care is taken, then a prospective Dungeon Master now has a vast library of adventures at his or her fingertips - instead of simply saying "This is a pointless 'hack and slay'
exercise," and discarding what might end up becoming a key piece to the whole story that makes the campaign world go around.
...
Finally, as an aside, I'm working to remove the word or phrase "1st edition" or "1e" from my web-page for personal reasons. "Second Edition" wasn't much of AD&D at all, and 3rd edition isn't <i>any</i> kind of AD&D at all. So look for that change in the near future!