Which do you prefer: Published or Homemade Adventures?

I personally really like both. I've done lots of my own, completely custom-made adventures, sometimes with my own characters, and other times using ones that come from published works.

One thing I really like from published works is the uniqueness and creativity that I otherwise would never come up with on my own. I look at it as if when I GM I'm the director of a film. As a director, I enjoy it when I'm the one who has written the story, but I also really like "directing" things when someone else has composed the script. I still get to put my own flourishes and style into the final product. But having somebody else come up with things allows things to stay varied and exciting, both to me as GM and to my players (who might begin to see trends and similarities if I were only doing my own stories).

How about you?

I prettyicj only use homemade stuff. I still collect FGU's V&V stuff. I have used modified versions of published characters.

Both are very much used and appreciated.? While it's a toss-up as to whether any published module is going to get used in straight-out off-the-shelf condition, there have been innumerable occasions where I - and others - have ripped bits off to provide characters, situations, potential conflicts, plot lines, or any and all of the above for games we've made up.? Nothing appears out of whole cloth, and the published adventures are an invaluable resource for general reading enjoyment, adaption in whole or part, and providing supplementary material for a homeboy GM's games.

Looks like I'm in the majority here. I like both published and homemade adventures for the reasons given; published adventures give a different feel to the sessions while I like watching the players work their way through the scenarios I have created.

I rarely use published adventures as written. I almost always inject elements of my long game into the scenes because I love long story arcs that span years of game time. To me, this gives a sense of realism to the game and more closely emulates the comic books we are imitating.

That having been said, published works offer ideas I would likely not have thought of.

In the end, we rarely create new and unique stories but stand on the shoulders of giants, as the saying goes. And I'm okay with that.

Guess I'm in the minority. I haven't played much, other than play by post, in years, but I enjoy reading published works immensely. I collect pretty much everything I can find, even though I'll probably never use a tenth of it. When I do play, of course I modify the published material to fit, and I do like pulling in villains from other sources.

I like using the modules as source material and then modifying as needed. The "story" behind the source material drives events behind the scenes, but I almost never use the "setup" provided in adventures to get the adventurers involved.

This is kinda like asking do you like home cooking or going out to a restaurant? Answer: YES!

RAMBLE

685952534E3C0 wrote: This is kinda like asking do you like home cooking or going out to a restaurant? Answer: YES!

RAMBLE

While somewhat true, I have run into people who will (almost) never touch published adventures, and who prefer to make everything up themselves.

I find it incredible to realize that some people DID NOT vote "Both."

In fact, I'm not sure why the option "Published" and "Homemade" were even offered.? If I had created this poll, the ONLY option to choose would have been "Both."

Edit: Who remembers the "Pandemonium" site? There are some great plot seeds that I still have archived from '96! Does anyone remember "The Catherder's Tale?" How 'bout "One Man, One Focus?" These are fan-fiction adventures for V&V!

I remember that site! I remember reading over it numerous times (I think I still have it printed out), but I don't think I ever used anything, other than as inspiration.