Game Masters, Pre-Made Campaigns Still Need To Be Tailored To Your Table

Have you ever noticed that when a celebrity wears a certain brand of clothing it always seems to fit them perfectly? Even if you have the same body type, wear the same size, etc., those jeans always look better on them than they do on you? Well, there's a reason for that... it's because when the rich and famous buy their clothes off the rack, they take them home and get them tailored to fit perfectly. This used to be a pretty common practice, actually. You'd go to the store, find the shirt, pants, jacket, etc. that fit you the best, then make the final modifications to it at home so it was just right.

If you're a game master running a pre-written campaign, that's the attitude you need to take. Because while the game is written for a general size and style, it is highly unlikely to be just what your group needs. So you can either grapple with the campaign being too loose in the challenge, or too tight in the story, or you can make modifications to suit the group you're actually playing with.

While it might seem like a lot of work, I highly recommend it.

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It Saves You Energy in The Long Run

It really does, trust me.

I've got the experience of being on both sides of this particular fence, so I thought I'd share my perspective here. For folks who don't know, I authored a series of modules called the Critical Hits series from TPK Games, including the murder mystery False Valor, the slasher-inspired The Curse of Sapphire Lake, and the particularly grim Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh. These modules are meant as one shots for 1-2 level characters, and they're pretty self-contained.

When I wrote them, I had to do my best to think of everything players might realistically do given the situation presented. Hence why there's usually 2-3 looping paths to lead the party to the information they need, and to reach the conclusion of the adventure. And when I chose the monsters in question, I had to try to find a balance for them. Because if the players brought a bunch of expected, in-the-box PCs, I didn't want the enemies to steam roll them. On the other hand, if the players souped-up their characters with high stats, good spell and gear choices, etc., I didn't want them feeling like it was on easy mode.

I tried to build the modules to suit the hypothetical "average" party. The problem is that, even while I was doing that, I knew that such a group doesn't actually exist.

It's all about prediction... and players are unpredictable.

According to the feedback I got, some groups were able to run the modules as I wrote them with no problem whatsoever. Some groups almost got wiped out by what I'd expected to be easy encounters, either due to bad rolls, or unforeseen choices being made (an all Small-sized party getting swallowed by giant toads, thus making them a far bigger threat than they were intended to be). Other games found the monsters far too easy, again either due to lucky rolls (two crits in a row on a big-bad that was a sack of regenerating hit points, but which wasn't built to take that kind of punishment), or due to highly competent player builds.

As the creator, I could only predict so much. In short, I was making size 36 jeans. There were some groups who could just take that module off the rack, slip it on, and bam, a perfect fit! Other groups were going to have to hem the legs so they didn't drag, or let out some space in the crotch because the GM opted to give everyone much higher stats, or to run a party of 6 PCs instead of the recommended 3-4. Some groups might need a belt in the form of a helpful NPC to provide support and healing because the group is a little on the thin side, and others might tear the seams because they're trying to play a lower level module with characters that are too beefy.

In order to make that game fit your table, the game master needs to look at the characters that are actually present, and tailor the experience to fit them.

Maybe that means adding a few more bandits in the ambush, or taking a few out. Maybe it means skipping a skill check that no one's proficient in to get them information more expediently. Or perhaps instead of snooping around town the barbarian decides to get drunk with the local hard cases, who attempt to recruit him to the race war they're trying to start with the elves, spilling their guts when they get too many shots in them. Whatever is going to make the game smoother for your table, the GM needs to do that.

Because it's impossible for someone writing a module (let alone an entire campaign) to predict exactly who or what is going to be at your table, let alone the actions they're going to try to take! The best they can do is offer a framework that should get the bulk of the heavy lifting done... but you still need to fine-tune it in order to get the most out of the experience.

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