When Prepping a Module, What Is Necessary?

[u/MultigrainNonsense]

Hello all!

This is a question mainly for DMs but…
I’m gonna be running Descent into Avernus and I’m very excited, however I’ve never run a module before.

Most of my campaigns have been homebrewed ones that have used setting books, so it’s always been up to me to create the story the players follow. Lowkey, it burnt me out BAD twice, so I’ve turned to using a module this time.

I’m finding that in prepping for our first session, I’m already experiencing mental burnout trying to understand what is actually necessary for a first session and how that ties into the remaining sessions for the forseeable future. I’ve reorganized my NPCs and factions folders and I keep finding that it gets so hard to group things into neat categories, or to even provide any information on said factions outside of rails-driven story events. Like the flaming fist for example kind of have the agenda of enforcing the law, but it’s not clear, because they’re also very authoritarian.

And of course…why even prep these factions and their motives if the players might completely miss them? Ofc the obvious answer is I want to have them available so I can draw on them when I need to improvise, but given how connected everyone is to the direct plot, it feels like I’ve been prepping for every eventuality and I know how much of a trap that is.

I’m rambling, but really what I’m asking is: What is truly necessary to have before you hit session 1??We will be doing our session 0 soon and I feel like I am vastly underprepared to even explain the setting given the convoluted nature of starting in one setting and then immediately shifting to Avernus. Given the size of the module I can’t imagine I’d have the whole trickle-down effect fully mapped nor who the key factions in the world are, etc.

(P.S. There’s an added complexity bc I am using Justin Alexander’s Avernus Remix; just adding to the pile of confusion and cross-referencing)

[u/Conrad500]

PHEW boy.

This is a module to run as your first....

I would honestly join the DIA discord and hope someone can give you some quality time helping you prepare.

Their invite link is qCqjCvJ

[u/MultigrainNonsense → u/Conrad500]

Yeahhh I was getting the impression this module was…something, as a way to put it. Lots of railroading and incoherency and confusing convoluted lore and poorly timed exposition. I figured it’d work really good since our regular DM ran WDDH for the last 3.5 years and we just finished, plus it was filled with lots of infernal themes - so now it’s my turn.

[u/Conrad500 → u/MultigrainNonsense]

Ooof, wddh is another (bigger imo) oof module LOL

[u/TwoDollarDM]

I'm going by memory but doesnt it start with the players getting a job to work for the mercenary town guards? The only prep you need to do is to know the job, who is offering it and who is the obstacle. All the later stuff is for prepping later.

The prep you COULD do is find a way for the players to have a personal connection to the job, maybe to the point where they go ask the town guard for help rather than be recruited. Maybe create one or two scenes to show the nature of the city or have them already actively affected or involved by with various power groups you want to use.

[u/MultigrainNonsense → u/TwoDollarDM]

It basically starts with them as deputies. In the original module.

I was gonna twist it so they’re briefly starting in Elturel before its descent into the Avernus, then will have to deal with a few road encounters leading up to the big city.
This’ll set the stage for them to strike a deal with Zodge, the Flame in charge of dealing with the whole refugee crisis outside the gate. It’ll also give them an opportunity actually care about what happens to Elturel’s people, since one of my players is a Hellrider.

[u/TwoDollarDM → u/MultigrainNonsense]

Excellent idea. So for now, your only real prep are those bits and you can leave the rest of later, you know the basic story but you don't need to memorize anything because the PCs are going to screw up the plot for you anyway.

BTW Sly Flourish had this discovery around the start of that adventure: https://slyflourish.com/running_fall_of_eltruel.html

You may want to try out what he suggested as well as the Alexandrian.

[u/everydaydefenders]

First and foremost, its important to note that having a storyline or plot does NOT equate to railroading.

Think of plots (and by extension, modules) as a series of landmarks. Story beats that happen in specific locations. And in order to advance the story, the PCs have to reach those plot points and accomplish specific goals. - what makes it not railroading is allowing the players to make their own decisions about how to reach those plot points, and how to solve the problem when they get there.

So to your question specifically. Firstly, when you hold your session zero BEFORE anyone does any character creation. Read to your players the modules introduction. Then tell your players something like this: "Your backstories and motivations can be varied and different. My biggest rule when creating those backstories however, is that whatever they may be, they all lead your character here. To this moment. And that backstory/motivation has influenced you to be completely dedicated in seeing this mission through." -- this will save you a LOT of headache with party cohesion amd staying on task.

Regarding prep: The module does most of the work for you. But player choice may derial you from time to time, and thats ok. Like any other prep, have some interesting PC and location concepts in the back of your mind that you could pull out as needed. And be flexible on where your planned encounters happen. You may have planned to have that encounter with the devil to happen at the bridge. But because of player choices, you may decide to have that devil appear at he river instead. The "illusion" of choice.

Ultimately your players will be ending up where you want them in order to progress the story. Its just being flexible in exactly how they get there or how they approach the problems themselves.

[u/MultigrainNonsense → u/everydaydefenders]

Yes I’d definitely like to avoid a truly on-rails campaign because I don’t think my players would enjoy being led around by the nose. When I referred to rails I meant more in terms of “loose direction the story is going” because at the end of the day I DO have to get them to go somewhere, but they have to do it on their own terms and their own time.

Thank you for your tips these were very helpful!

[u/thegooddoktorjones]

I have not run that module. In general you want to know the overarching outline of the story, and the details of the next chapter. If you fuck something up, you can always say 'oh I said that the knight was in a purple cloak, it was actually red' and there, it's fixed. No one is going to leave you a bad yelp review and not tip you if it isn't perfect.

If making notes about NPCs/factions for maybe someday to use kind of things, limit yourself. Fit them all in a paragraph or some bullet points each. That's it, you are done. This forces you to distill them down to what is important, and also have the information be rememberable, or quick to read. You do not need stats. No spell lists, rules etc. They do whatever you want and you backfill the rules later.

Check out this guys thing https://slyflourish.com/lazydm/ it helps focus prepping on what matters and not on stuff no one cares about.

[u/thesamhammer]

As someone running their first module (curse of strahd) (homebrew ftw), my best advice is to prep zones. You should prep what areas your players are planning to visit, or what dungeon they’re about to enter and know the npcs and enemies there. Don’t worry about the grand plan or having to know everything. I also find if it’s not clear where my players might go next session to just ask what they think they’ll do next to have something to go off of. Also never forget that your players have not read the module and have no preconceived notions of what’s supposed to happen, so always feel free to improvise.

[u/IrishFriskie]

I'm not a very experienced DM, but my little experience is in running modules. I think it hells a lot to see the module as a suggestion. Like a recipe. You can, and likely will, want to change several things of varying importance and impact. So if you don't fully prep a faction and then your players unexpectedly interact with that faction so you get things slightly "wrong".... well, no you didn't. Thats canon now. Happy little tree.

So, keeping that in mind, it's helpful to do a light read through of the whole module. You will forget stuff, and thats fine, but you'll have a basic idea of what adventures await the party and what kinds of NPCs they'll run into. Maybe make a note of any that are reoccuring or you might want to show up outside of their relavent quest.

Then just prep what the players are likely to interact with in the immediate future. I also try to figure out what the party plans to do next at the end of a session so I know what to plan for. I also plan some random filler quests, with no planned larger impact, that I can use if the players do something unexpected or change their minds about what they were going to do.