Modifying Licensed Campaign Content

[shawge39]

First post here so I'm not 100% sure I'm in the right place. My gaming group is converting from tabletop to VTT and the story I want to tell is comprised of bits of at least 2 officially licensed D&D modules: Tales from the Yawning Portal and Princes of the Apocalypse.

The story threads together Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, The Temple, and White Plume Mountain, as well as later parts of Princes of the Apocalypse; all set on the Eberron continent of Xen'Drik. I'm not changing the content of the modules, all I want to change and NPC from one race to another to fit the story location, add an item/clue into certain areas to lead the players along in the story, and add some fluff encounters and tidbits for the time between those modules.

I know I can click the padlock and "unlock" the text areas but If I edit the content in the licensed module does it get overwritten if/when a patch to the module is published? If that does happen, how do I go about building my campaign to avoid that issue?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, and if I posted this in the wrong form I apologize.

[LordEntrails]

When you unlock it, you are only making a change in that campaign. You are not changing the actual official module etc. The only time your changes will get overwritten is when you select "Revert Changes" either on the individual entry or on the module in the library.

[shawge39]

So, for example, Belak the Outcast is a human in Sunless Citadel. If I edit the NPC to make him a Drow, that is only changed in my specific campaign file, not the underlying source modules? If Wizards were to errata something related to Belak's stats, that errata would not modify my campaign edits; or am I totally missing the mark?

[Zacchaeus]

Any changes you make would not be overwritten in the campaign you make the change in if the module were to be updated. You cannot change the actual module at all. Any changes are saved just in that campaign.

[shawge39]

Thank you both for the replies. I had just found LordEntrails Adventure Creation Guide after my first post and I'm looking through it now; I will undoubtedly have more questions as I learn more.

[Halfront]

@shawge39
Change away! I'm running HotDQ and have re-written large sections by "unlocking" the entries and changing/modifying as much as I need to run the campaign with my style and flavor. If you don't like something in a module then change it - that is what I love about how easy FG makes it for a DM/GM.

I do plan on running PotA down the road so if you care to share down the road with me some of your thoughts on running that one I would surely appreciate it :)

[shawge39]

@Halfront
I plan to do a fair bit of customization, mostly in tying such different adventures into a cohesive story arc; I was just afraid to spend all the time doing the work and lose it on a patch.

I'll surely share thoughts on PotA, though this story won't be going through the initial intrigue stages of "rooting out" the cults and their activities.

[Halfront]

@Halfront
I plan to do a fair bit of customization, mostly in tying such different adventures into a cohesive story arc; I was just afraid to spend all the time doing the work and lose it on a patch.

I'll surely share thoughts on PotA, though this story won't be going through the initial intrigue stages of "rooting out" the cults and their activities.

I ALWAYS backup my campaign before and after a session. Call it paranoid, but I too have a fear of loosing my hard work. I also export all my players characters before they level so IF something does mishap I can restore easily - although I have yet to have any issues with leveling.

[shawge39]

Hopefully last question on this subject. I was going through LordEntrails Adventure Creation Guide and I like the development module idea as an easy single module source for the campaign. Is there a way to mass export tables, NPC, encounters, etc. from Sunless Citadel, and other modules, into the campaign development module or do you really have to duplicate every single piece?

[Zacchaeus]

Yes, you would need to duplicate everything that you wanted. Note you cannot duplicate any images so you would need to find or create alternatives and relink all map pins and encounters to the new ones.

[LordEntrails]

Yep, no easy way to duplicate an offcial module. Unfortunately, such a feature would no doubt be used by pirates to make and distribute illegal copies :(

[shawge39]

Unfortunately that is true and now that I know my edits won't be undone, I'll just load up the modules as I need them instead of trying to put it all under one single module.