RPGaDay 19: Favorite Published Adventure

Since I do not (normally) use published adventures, I cannot provide a favorite, but I will talk about some of the ones I have read through, or used for inspiration.

• Ilse of Dread - an oldie but goodie.  One of the first modules I owned.  A D&D "Jurrassic Park" style adventure.  If I remember correctly we were halfway across the island before we were killed by Rakshasa.
• Castle Greyhawk - interesting adventure, the party can easily become side-tracked.  There are some serious traps in this one from my recollection.
• Keep on the Borderlands - how can one not list this one?  Most of us older players have been through the goblin caves, maybe even died once or twice on this one.
• Desert of Desolation series - LOVE IT!  Especially the scorpion-man battle!

Most of my module inspiration comes from the news, or a song, something I want to introduce, or something going on that I am thinking of, sometimes it changes mid-story arc in order to fit in with what the PCs are doing.

For example, I started working on a BPN (adventure/mission) for SLA Industries that would have the PCs tracking down a civilian that was taking advantage of the welfare system, essentially tripling his benefits.

During this time there was something in the news regarding people having multiple lifeline cellphones, people taking advantage of disability claims and also people getting more food benefits than they should because they were not declaring their incomes properly.

When the Ravenloft boxed set was released and the Loupe Garou detailed, I took that opportunity to introduce my players to the setting.  It started off simply enough, find out what is killing the local cattle...with fire.

The bad guy was a Loupe Garou/Wizard that was trying to find a way into Ravenloft to become a lord of a domain.  He succeeded in opening the portal and the brave heroes charged in after him.  Was a great amount of fun, and introduced the players to Ravenloft in a "not go against Strahd" way.

Another SLA Industries campaign I based the BPNs and downtime stories on Duran Duran's Greatest Hits album.  That was a super fun campaign, one of the longest I have had the chance to run.

Basically, you can find inspiration for your games anywhere, as long as you keep an eye out.  We spend so much time driving from one place to another, or walking, or taking a bus, whatever, why not use that time to pick out interesting people or situations and turn them into stories for the games we play?

Have fun and game on!