Adapting a Published Adventure

Sometimes, even the most creative Dungeon Master needs a little help—whether that’s to jumpstart a session, overcome writer’s block, or just save some time. For me, adapting published adventures has become one of my go-to approaches. I don’t always want to run the adventure as written, but there’s usually so much great material in these books that it’s a shame not to use them.

The first thing I do is read through the adventure from cover to cover. I want to really understand the story, the characters, the challenges, and what’s at stake. Then I start taking detailed notes and decide if I’m going to use the entire adventure or just pull out specific pieces. My process boils down to three categories:

Adding & Subtracting: I adjust the adventure’s content to fit my homebrew world—sometimes adding new NPCs or encounters that tie into my players’ backstories, and sometimes removing elements that don’t fit the tone or pacing I’m going for.

Amplifying & Condensing: Here I figure out what to highlight and what to simplify. Maybe there’s a subplot that could connect to one of my players’ goals—so I’ll amplify that. Or maybe there’s a part that’s too drawn-out, so I’ll condense it to keep the momentum going.

Replacing & Re-skinning: This is my favorite part. I take monsters, traps, or even entire story arcs and re-skin them to fit my homebrew setting or sub-setting, like the kid-friendly Guardians of Getica world I’ve created. This allows me to keep things fresh for my players while using the structure that the adventure provides.

I also lean on tools like dScryb to enhance the descriptions, especially when adapting boxed text to fit the tone of my table. And I always make sure I’m not breaking the balance of the adventure too much when I swap things around.

When I’m done, I create a one-page summary with page numbers for easy reference during play. This saves me a ton of time at the table and helps me stay present in the moment with my players.

If you’re curious to see how I do this in more detail, check out the full video! And if you’ve got tips for adapting published adventures to your own game, I’d love to hear them in the comments.

Cheers,
Brian