How to Run Published Adventure Modules for Dungeons and Dragons 5e

🎁🆗️

Its not an official WotC adventure but if you look at the Doomed Forgotten Realms adventures, they have a lot of great organization that several of these suggestions. There is a roster, adventure and chapter summaries, flowcharts, etc. I've found it well laid out to run from the book and easy to find things.

I’ve done side bar summary notes for eac eventful room
Including mobsters traps and relevant numbers of each

Read it noooo I just want to wing it and have it go perfectly!

This'll definitely help when I man up and DM tomb of annihilation

We need more G couples on here teaching DnD ! Thank You dudes !

The WOTC Lawyers DO NOT F AROUND .... guys please and I beg of You because I like your channel, but please do not try and goad them into a fight by mentioning them. Please stick to the pages and so not veer off the module path please ! Don't get sued dudes

You dudes are cool I really dig your videos

"Wizards of the Coast lawyers are not gonna send a squadron of bugbears" which is true! But they will send Pinkertons.

never meat a person who can use any of the dnd modules they are insanely difficult to use

"Wizards of the coast lawyers are not going to send a squadron of bugbears to break down your door."

Me watching this in April of 2023: Maybe just Pinkertons...

Great video

DungeonFog has been a game changer for myself as a DM and for my groups experience as players. Having the fog of war map displayed on my TV for the group has been invaluable in dungeon crawls. It mitigates my need to flip back and forth, it visualizes doors and directions much easier for them. And it opens up so much creative play that theatre of the mind doesn't quite enable. Seeing the setting physically has been absolutely wonderful.

Wait, you people read actual modules in the middle of the game?..
I just write down what I need and go off my notes. Way less annoying than flipping a huge book :/

One thing I do with the list of NPCs is add some notes for their personal characteristics and mannerisms, so if the PCs go back to them weeks later I can look and say “Dierdre: female half-elf with brown hair and eyes. Cleric of Lathander and healer for the town of Indelin. Kind and motherly with a soft voice and Irish accent. Married to Torren the Innkeeper.” That way I can at least attempt to keep my limited range of voice acting consistent. If the party has particular interactions with the NPC, I’ll update the note after the session: “suspects Jora stole her missing locket.”

Guys, thanks for this helpful info. Your experience is a great benefit to new and veteran DMs alike.

Well played fellas - great points - cheers 🍻

I fully admit I read the modules. One, I want to choose one that sounds interesting to me and so I can more easily search for someone running that module. It’s what I did with Icewind Dale. Two, I like stories. I just like to read through stories and modules are basically that for me. I try to skim though if I find a module I like though. That way there is more surprises for me when I play in them. This is just me though. I’m totally comfortable with a dm changing up the story a bit though. I can see why one would need to, having read through the modules myself. This is just me though.

Thank you for making these guides, Dudes, they are fun, informative and well made :D

this is REALLY helpful. thank you!!!

All right, some tips for using published adventures!

"Step one, read the adventure."

... All right, come on guys, serious suggestions only please

Kelly, love

The past participle of run is run.

After I’ve run them
Modules I’ve run

Dungeon Dudes: "There are pages and pages spent on lore but the module doesn't explain how to present this in a interesting or interactive way."

Waterdeep Heist:
"Volo gives them a tour of the city and hands them a pamphlet."

dramatis personae!

How about this. Set up your Dm screens. Make a video about what is behind the board. Instead of just a lecture, we get some visual references as you explain. Not just modules, but literally anything.

Was hopping there was some advice on what you could do to up the difficulty for fights if you have more players than the adventure would have wanted. But I'll make sure to look up some advice for upping the difficulty from people that have ran the adventure.

I mean this is a good video on how to run modules in general but i have to say on the curse of strahd itself. There wasnt a lot of info. Id like to see a part 2 that talks more about the campain and characters rather then what the book doesnt have

You guys really helped me become a Dungeon Master. Your advice has been invaluable and absolutely helpful :D!!!!

Regarding maps and "no one has figured out how to do this" . Reminds me of playing in the 1980s. The modules were semi-soft cover books. The adventure text 'slipped' out of the cover. The inside cover was the map!. You could have the map on one side of the desk and the contents/details on the other. A perfect solution......but....not a hardy or long lasting one.

When playing Out of the Abyss for the first time, I decided that the water would go downwards and to a semi-bottomless pit (Chapter 1). As the party was escaping, the half-orc paladin decided to check how deep the pit was and if there was a well at the end. To my surprise, he managed to convince Ront (the orc bully) to jump and see how far he could get 😂. He ended up breaking both his legs and being devoured by some Quaggoth...

Your wishes for a roster were answered guys! Wild Beyond the Witchlight has a roster in the back of the book! They are in cut out card form with the quick character role bullets!

Do you have recommendations for the best published campaigns to run as a one-on-one duet? DM and one player?

I ran Lost Mines of Phandelver a while ago for some friends. The big bad, The Black Spider, ended up being pretty underwhelming because there just wasn't any real buildup. Running it the second time, and Mr. Spider is being a bit more active. Setting bounties on the players, throwing thugs at them, stuff like that.

I'm going to apply these tips when we run Drakkenheim next year :)

This is expensive, but running a module on roll20 AND having the hardcopy really help with map navigation. I am doing this for Storm King's Thunder and i love it

Some of the best moments in my party running Storm King's Thunder weren't part of the publication lol.

The best example of a major character not known to the party until late in the module is the Black Spider.

I got recommended this video while preparing to run the waterdeep dragon heist for the first time, incredibly helpful as always!

Glad to have the confirmation that I'm doing it right. Just started running the Lost Mine of Phandelver for my wife and son. They've never played before. It's first time DMing. And I haven't played since 2nd & 3rd editions.

Dndbeyond has been my friend since 2018/19. Started as a player with a free account and now use it, paid account, to run a campaign and sharing my sourcebooks with players so they have more character options and can use items from the modules.

Dungeon Dudes: “Notes should be one page.”
Me, running a campaign as someone who writes stories: “Right. Unlearn EVERYTHING I’ve been taught and learned to do over the last 20 years.”

I'm trying to figure out how to run Out of the Abyss, thank you so much for this. I'm already more confident in my ability to provide for my players!

One of the campaigns I run started as the Adventurers League Tyranny of Dragons play through, its been adapted, and new mysterious villains have been added, yes its still set in the vicinity of Phlan, but who is The Diplomat, and what does he have to do with everything that is happening? Or is it all to do with a dragon? The adventurers are trying to find out.

I was really worried about the green dragon encounter in LMOP. I was sure that my 3 inexperienced players would suffer a TPK. Adapting some tips online I had the druid NPC give the party 2 potions of poison resistance, In this case this was enough to make the encounter very challenging but survivable. It ended up being a super fun night of D&D.

I'm here cause I just downloaded a free one-shot and was absolutely lost reading what was basically just a general idea of a plot and a list of rooms and stuff that might be in them.