[The DM reading some long, boring text from
a module while his players either star in
disbelief, doze off, or screw around.]
Oh, come on!
Are you kidding me?
This sucks!
Indeed.
You know, running a module doesn’t just
mean the dungeon master reads everything out
of the book.
Yeah, Mr. Dungeon Master, sir.
Did you—did you even prepare for this game
session?
I’m just an intern here, but, um, yeah this
is probably going to be reflected in your
yearly performance evaluations.
Of course I prepared for this game session.
Now what do you want to do with all these
bones?
Well, uh, I’d like to go take a look at
that cottage we passed a while back.
Yeah, we can just kill the owner and take
his stuff.
Well, um, ACTUALLY, that cottage isn’t in
the module.
It was just flavor text.
Holy crap!
Well, uh, how about a random encounter then?
Would that be too much to ask for?
No, no, I can do that.
Just let me find it real quick.
Welcome to the DM Lair.
I’m Luke Hart, and I’ve been a dungeon
master since high school.
On this channel I give practical dungeon master
advice that you can implement at your game
table.
Today in the Lair, we’ll be talking about
how to run a published D&D module or pre-made
adventure.
In fact, to make this a wonderful little list
video—because we all now how tantalizing
they are—I have assembled twelve tips for
you.
And number seven will SHOCK you.
Wait, what is number seven?
No, well, number seven is good, but it’s
mostly just filler to make the list longer.
However, number eleven is actually very important.
By the way, if you have any questions about
this topic or anything else dungeon master
or D&D related, I have live streams over on
Twitch most Mondays and Wednesdays, and here
on YouTube every Friday.
The streams generally start around 6 pm Eastern
US time, and a link to my Twitch channel is
conveniently placed below.
Now, a quick note before I start listing off
these tips: for me, the golden rule for preparing
to run a module is that I’m trying to reach
a point where I can refer to the text in the
module as little as possible.
I reach this point through a combination of
preparation and willingness to deviate from
the script.
And allow me to blunt.
It is boring as crap when the players have
to wait for the dungeon master to flip through
the pages of a module to find something, read
about it, and then run it.
Like, either prepare appropriately, be willing
to wing it, OR DON’T RUN A MODULE.
But preparation is key.
If you don’t want to have to prepare for
your games, and you just want to pull stuff
out of your butt, modules and pre-made adventures
are probably not for you.
That said, I’ve found that modules take
far less time for me to prepare than when
I create my own homebrew adventures.
#1 You Don’t Have to Read the Whole Module!
Wow, I am so sick of finding advice online
where people are like
The first thing you need to do is read the
entire module from cover to cover.
Yeah, genius, you wanna read this entire thing
from cover to cover?
You think you’re going to remember all the
details?
And if I’m only reading it to get the main
idea of the module, well, last I checked most
modules have introductions at the very beginning
that explain that.
So do not feel like you need to read the entire
module.
If you have time and you want to, it won’t
hurt anything, and doing so might have some
value, but it’s certainly not a requirement.
However, what you do want to read through
is the next adventure in the module that the
heroes will go on.
Are they going into level 4 of the module?
Well of course you want to read through that
level.
And many of my remaining tips are going to
deal with what exactly you want to do when
you read through and prepare for that the
adventure the players are about to do.
Now, the caveat to this is open-world sandbox
modules like Curse of Strahd.
I’m planning to run this for my Sword Coast
Guard group right now, and I AM trying to
read through the entire module because it
is very sandboxy.
And having at least read it and having a general
idea of everything in it will help me react
when my players go somewhere my plot hooks
were NOT guiding them.
#2 Print Off the Map and Make Notes on It
I have found that one of the most important
parts of preparing a module is this.
Having a physical copy of the map in front
of me with important notes on it about the
rooms in dungeon or wherever it is they are
going is clutch.
I three types of notes on the map: Which creatures
are in each area and how many, the name or
purpose of each area—kitchen, barracks,
throne room, etc.—and the names of important
NPCs in the adventure.
If I’ve read through the adventure and have
those notes on a map, I’ve found that I
can run it fairly well without referring to
the text too much.
#3 Print Off the Adventure and Use Highlighters
to Mark Important Parts
Now, when you do refer to the text of the
adventure, it’s really difficult if you’re
staring at a massive wall of text.
So get your highlighters out and highlight
anything you think is super important and
you want to be able to find quickly when you
scan the text.
Things like creatures, NPC names, magic items,
traps—I don’t know.
You decide what’s important for your game,
what you want to focus on, and what you don’t
want to accidently leave out.
This is what my print-offs generally look
like after I’ve marked them all up during
game prep.
#4 Prepare to Roleplay Important NPCs
Making a module more than just a hack and
slash adventure is important for me, and preparing
how I’m going to roleplay NPCs—and many
times even the mundane creatures—is a critical
part of that.
Many times modules include roleplay notes
for important NPCs, but if they don’t, I
think about WHY the NPCs are there and what
motivates them.
What are their goals?
Do I have a basic physical description of
them?
How will they react to the characters when
they show up?
Am I going to use special voices for them?
#5 Study Monster Stat Blocks
Guys, don’t skimp on this step.
Know what the creatures can do.
Take a look at their spell lists and think
through which spells you’ll have them cast
first.
Or CHANGE their spell lists if they totally
suck, or you just want to tweak them to fit
your style of campaign or reinforce a theme
you’re going for.
One thing that can kill pacing in a game and
provoke your players to whip out their phones
and start building dice towers is the dungeon
master taking too long on their turn trying
to figure out what the enemies are going to
do.
So, please, try to spare your players that
experience.
Oh crap!
Now I gotta start all over again.
#6 Plan Enemy Tactics
So one thing you’re gonna notice about modules
is they often just take monsters and plop
them into the middle of the room without giving
you any notes about tactics they might use.
And let’s be clear, a handful of creatures
in the middle of a room does NOT an interesting
encounter make.
Just taking a moment to think about an interesting
setup or basic tactics will make a huge difference.
The hobgoblin wizard casts hold person upcast
at fourth level before the hobgoblin warriors
and their attack wolves charge in to mop up.
Then the wolves are tripping the characters,
giving the hobgoblins advantage on their attacks—just
in case some of the heroes break free of hold
person.
A great blog that goes in depth on monster
tactics is The Monsters Know What They’re
Doing.
Link below if you want to check it out.
#7 Plan Any Special Terrain for Encounters
Again, something modules perhaps aren’t
the greatest about reinforcing is how the
terrain is factored into an encounter.
Now, usually a module will describe the terrain,
which is a solid B-Team effort.
But if you want to be on the A-Team, then
you’ll have to put a little though into
how that terrain might influence a combat
if one breaks out.
For instance, perhaps there is a table piled
high with jars of oil in the room, and with
every attack there’s a chance someone hits
it and breaks several open.
And we all know what might happen once oil
has been spilled all over the ground.
ESPECIALLY, if you have a character wielding
a torch because they don’t have darkvision
because their player is a happy little min-maxer
who took variant human for an extra feat at
first level.
Man, I love min-maxers.
#8 Adjust the Encounters for Your Group
Maybe you have more players than normal.
Maybe fewer.
Perhaps the adventure was designed for level
five, but you’re all level seven.
Well then, you’re going to need to make
some tweaks to the encounters in the module
to make sure they are of appropriate challenge
for your group.
And, you’re in luck, too, because just last
week I made a video that talks about how to
do just that.
Wow, it’s almost like I plan this stuff
around here.
Anyway, link down below to that video if you’re
interested.
#9 Pick Out Your Minis
Hey, hey, this is a legitimate problem for
some dungeon masters.
We have more minis than we know what to do
with, and selecting the minis we need for
a particular game session is a VERY IMPORTANT
STEP in the game prep process.
However, if you don’t have minis because
there are too dang expensive, I have news
for you.
I have another video for you!
It’s all about how to get inexpensive miniatures.
Link below.
#10 Study Lore and Locations
Yeah, we’ll just lump these together.
Make sure you have a general idea of the lore
surrounding the creatures your players will
encounter in the upcoming adventure.
You know, just in case they want to make History,
Religion, Nature, or Arcana checks to see
if they know anything else about them.
And knowing a little something about nearby
locations will come in handy when your players
decide to throw you a curve ball and wander
a little off the beaten path.
Because, yeah, players tend to do that from
time to time.
#11 The Module Is a Guideline
Hey you guys, I’m a little confused.
The level directly above us was designed for
a level four party, so why is THIS level designed
for a level eight party?
It’s because it’s a DM screw job!
I knew we shouldn’t have run this module!
For the first module I ever ran, Princes of
the Apocalypse, I had decided to run it exactly
as written, because, like, professional game
designers had created it.
Wow, what a mistake.
I had no idea that those folks had written
the perfect storm that would frustrate my
players to no end.
Now, I do have some other choice words about
this, but I’ll save it for a rant in a live
stream.
Anyway, modules are guidelines.
Treat them as such and use your stinking brain.
If something doesn’t seem like it would
work for your group, change it.
Or if you know your players LOVE combats,
but the module is light on them, sprinkle
some more in.
Don’t worry about screwing the module up.
It’s your game.
Use the module as much or as little as you
see fit, and don't be afraid to deviate from
what is written.
#12 Tie It All Together
Some modules are better than others at tying
the different adventures together into a cohesive
plotline.
So just make sure you’re using plot hooks
and information your players find in one adventure
to lead them to the next one.
You’re going for a cohesive story where
it feels like everything belongs together
and there is a natural progression from one
thing to the next.
Don’t forget to follow me over on Twitch
for some chill live streams where we hang
out, talk D&D, and even paint minis together.
Next week I have no idea what my video will
be about, and it may totally suck, but, uh,
come back anyway.
But until then click here to learn how to
make your own D&D adventure.
And until next time…
Let’s play D&D!
