Prewritten vs Homebrew: Which is right for you?

[@misfitadventurers]

Check out the return of these awesome shirt designs: www.intotheam.com/MISFIT

[@michaelcrumlett187]

Benadryl, Star Trek, and a good night’s sleep - the cure for everything. I tend to run published adventures due to time constraints, but I homebrew the snot out of them. Monsters, loot, encounters, and locations all get modified (or invented) to suit my needs. I like my encounters deadly, my loot purposeful, and for my stories to take up a disproportionate amount of my players’ mental capacity between sessions. Existing modules provide a good foundation for building what I want.

[@notearz76]

Homebrew because it is more authentic to the person facilitating it. Thankful for Sarah being a good friend to lean on. Allergies suck. Glad you are better!

[@kaneofmars]

My first campaign was homebrew. Stole some ideas from Inuyasha. Introduced the villain as an NPC in need of rescue. The villain was searching for these ‘blood shards’ that would form a stone needed to resurrect an ancient black dragon. The players could attune to these shards to gain some additional powers but could become corrupted if attuned to more than one.

[@qwertsgamingchannel7504]

I started playing and GMing on college. Back then, I saw pre-written adventure modules as a waste of money. I figured I could do the same a lot cheaper! So I didn’t run any of them. I was all homebrew, all the time. Recently, about five years ago, I decided to try a written adventure. It was so hard. I didn’t understand how to prep a pre-written adventure, and all of my prep sessions were miserable. Now that I understand, they are getting easier. Not easy yet, but easier. I’m working on a system to learn how to do it. Thank you for the great video!

[@MikChaos]

I tend to take a prewritten adventure and then modify it to suit my players. Favourites so far are Curse of Strahd (the original Ravenloft is my all time favourite adventure), and the Dungeons of Drakkenheim campaign.

[@kyhumphrey5247]

I kinda do both, but I think I go much further with “prewritten” modules than I do homebrew. So I often take notes on details to remember, ideas to steal, and adding personal touches like using a specific character to flavor an NPC or details to expand on that I feel are lacking. But with adventures like Curse of Strahd, I have a handful of pages of just the overall changes I wanna make, not just individual chapters. On top of that, I also jot down notes on potential additional monsters & possibly any other details (stuff from other modules or books, NPCs, new hooks, etc). And that’s before I even incorporate any potential player connections. With homebrew games, I might have a list of details like monsters and terrains (and organizations) to draw from in addition to the crucial information, but I also edit stuff I find necessary in between games.

[@Gaming4ever-pd7jv]

I like a compromise. I use a pre-written campaign setting book for an established world but create an adventure myself.

[@nathanaelthomas9243]

For me, I find it challenging to be creative starting from nothing so I like to purchase campaign settings that I modify how I see fit and then make homebrew adventures set in that world based on my players backstories. I find once I have an interesting world with some exciting conflicts in my hands, a few cool maps, and general information about factions and locations, I can very easily generate fun adventures and an overall story arch for my players. Doing all that pregame work myself, however, just comes out flat or samey because I’m relying on just my creativity and ideas and I find creativity blossoms with varied and different perspectives and ideas.

[@MauOlivares1]

Never done a homebrew but in my first campaign I made up a lot of things that were going on, like Nezznar being a woman and attacking the town, and then the second part of ¨Mines of Phandelver¨ released so I had to wing that to create a second part. Needless to say my PCs were shocked to realize about the second part and were not very happy but eager to start the new one. Anyway we got CoS on in our hands right now 😂

[@MarkCherkowski]

My first campaign I did complete homebrew, more story/railroad. It was fun, but demanding. Second campaign West Marches style, and I found that even harder, as my internal battle to have an over-arching plot was so strong, and to leave to to evolve organically was so tough. Third campaign I am now running Lost Mines Shattered Obelisk intermingled with Dragon of Icefire Peak with a bunch or twists that are homebrew. Now I started a ShadowDark RPG campaign, based on the Darkest Dungeon video game. I am most excited by this one and I think the reason is It give a very general outline, locations, enemies etc., but everything else I need to fill in. I feel empowered to add my own flavor, but not without direction. I think I will use this style going forward. Of course DMing 3 different games per week is also challenging. 😂

[@lachrymalquietus]

I have the best of both worlds right now

[@kaneyoung7439]

I use both, primarily homebrew just by necessity of volume. Favourite module i've run and converted into three different systems is the Lost Tomb of Kruk Ma Kali by Kenzer co for their Kingdoms of Kalamar setting. Has a good mix of overland adventure, potential for faction play and several nasty dungeons. Second would be the intro adventure for Black Crusade called Broken Chains, great set up and team building.

[@B42UC4]

I like reading the background of a Game World. This gives me a sense of discovery as a DM, since I usually read those as the Campaign advances. I have added to a Game World, or mixed two or more together, but never created one from scratch. As for adventures, I almost always modify prewritten and I prefer to write my own adventures. Cheers!

[@cadenceclearwater4340]

I like to take a world setting and bend it out of shape. Currently, Toril is swirling implosively down an actual vortex, and the main continents are populated by the undead. Fun so far 😊

[@fateddie6201]

We are a very new group and new to the game our 2 year gamiversary is coming up but we started with prewritten and are now on our first homebrew campaign! I really enjoy building for the brew but think doing the other stuff first help me get a grasp of what this game even is!!! I fell in love immediately and cant wait to game every week loll

[@dmeep]

Personally i find the "we left gaps in here for you to fill" as bad craftmanship. If you run a prewrittn module because you dont have time to write your own stuff or maybe struggle with writing your own stuff the gaps are annoying because you paid for a product that was advetised as prebuilt furniture and instead what you got was flatpack with some assembly required. If i want to expand or switch out parts for my own stuff i can do that even if there are no gaps. the gaps are a design error/weakness and not a kindness from the developers

[@metsonyoung]

I am homebrew, and though I do love a good pre-written AP, I can go in and break. My favorite is Red Hand of Doom.

[@simonrogers6830]

Good, quality video, keep it up.

[@davidwatches]

Admit it, that popped blood vessel happened when the party bard once again said they were going to seduce the dragon.

[@misfitadventurers]

🤣

[@INTOTHEAM]

🔥🔥🔥

[@fpassow1]

Homebrew can be easier with ADHD when learning and remembering someone else's stuff is just too hard.

[@masteringmarv446]

I love the “Prewitten” misspelling on the image. I hope you don’t fix it. Steal from rewritten material to improve your home brew! This of the writers of it as part of your personal writing staff. 😊

[@misfitadventurers]

Lmao 😂 This is what I get for working on my thumbnails super late at night

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

I’ve DMed for over 35 years and have never run a module. I have a few and have stolen ideas from them. I like homebrew myself. Hopefully you won’t have a reaction like that again. Yes Star Trek

[@cadenceclearwater4340]

Allergies suck 🤧 _from a constant sniffer_