Pre-made D&D Campaigns

[HarryPotter]

Hi All !

My friends and I are taking the plunge and learning D&D together. I'm going to DM and have purchased the ultimate pack.

Our question is regarding the premade campaigns. If I purchase one of the campaigns say " Storm kings Thunder " I understand it gives the campaign dialog, monsters, maps etc. So as the DM I control what map the players see and if I click to share a map that is now the game board everyone sees. With these premade maps do they automatically place monsters and npc / animals etc automatically or do I as the DM still need to read through the campaign and pre place these things before we start our session?

The reason I ask is because I'm trying to decide the benefit to having the Digital copy Vs Hard paper copy that I would like to buy locally. I understand the Digital copy comes with the maps in the game which is helpful. If I were to buy the paper copy of the campaign would I have to create these maps myself or are there online versions I can download or buy? My guess is that I'd have to buy a generic map pack and try to create each scene the best I can using these generic maps vs the pre created ones that come with the digital campaign. Does this sound accurate?

Just wondering if I can buy the paper copy of a campaign and download maps for that campaign or if I have to hand create them in the game.


Thanks guys !

[damned]

Welcome scarhead.

The FG modules contain everything that is in the book including all the maps that come in those books. All encounters that use those maps are pre-prepped and pre-placed.
Often though there will be several encounters that you would think would have a map but the Wizards didnt supply any!
In most of these cases there are many options available on the web and Zacchaeus has done free map packs for many of the modules.

[HarryPotter]

Hi damned ! Thank you for the welcome

So if I choose to buy the paper copy of an adventure there is a chance the maps for that pack might be online for free or to purchase? I'd like to read out of the paper book and have the digital maps for everyone to see but I don't want to purchase the campaign online and hard copy If any of the map packs for download provide the official digital campaign maps that would be perfect !

[damned]

My opinion?
I buy adventures only in FG format. I do miss not being able to pick them up and read them easily while not in front of the PC but otherwise - I get waaaaay more use from the FG format than the physical.
You totally can find maps online or make your own and enter the material as you go.

Here is a screenshot from Curse of Strahd.



curse.jpg

[JohnD]

Hi and welcome.

Personally with 5e I made the choice to only buy the FG versions. I prefer having a physical copy myself, but when I'm playing 95% of everything I need to access can be found quickly within FG, and the FG versions of the adventures are fully functional with pre-placement of adversaries, etc.... I also miss being able to crack open the book and find a rule the group is trying to decide how to apply, but this really only happens rarely.

It really comes down to a time vs money trade off.

[HarryPotter]

That looks very cool ! So that map came with the digital campaign correct? Did you have to place the monsters yourself or does the digital campaign come with the maps setup for you?

[HarryPotter]

Hi and welcome.

Personally with 5e I made the choice to only buy the FG versions. I prefer having a physical copy myself, but when I'm playing 95% of everything I need to access can be found quickly within FG, and the FG versions of the adventures are fully functional with pre-placement of adversaries, etc.... I also miss being able to crack open the book and find a rule the group is trying to decide how to apply, but this really only happens rarely.

It really comes down to a time vs money trade off.

Ah alright I understand now. Preplaced objects etc is a huge benefit! Perhaps I should use digital versions and purchase hard copies for when we play locally. Otherwise, like you said it will take a lot of prep adding in monsters manually.

[JohnD]

Well, you can use FG even when you play locally too.

[HarryPotter]

Well, you can use FG even when you play locally too.

What would be perfect to me is buying the book locally and then finding the campaign maps online if possible but I don't know if that exists.

The map packs that are forsale separately are those just for custom campaign? Or do they include the maps for the official D&D campaigns too?

-the boy who lived.

[damned]

The map there is included.
The map has pins on it.
When you click on a pin it pops up all the story for that location including encounters and other info.
When you open the encounter you ca modify it before loading or just load it and it will place all those tokens on the map in the correct places.
It really makes things so much easier at game time.