Remixes have become a great way for DMs to talk about how they are using published content in the wild for their actual 5th edition games. It focuses on how you arrange or change the elements to suit your individual game and style, and avoids the o-so-very-internet thing of labeling things as broken or awesome.
I am currently running a D&D Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign and I’m enjoying it very much. I like the module, I think it has great atmosphere and an interesting take on pacing and the adventure as a whole. The module has taken a lot of heat for things like balance, pacing, editing, etc, and all the things people love to complain about online. I have to say that I think these concerns and complaints are significantly overblow, a number of people are now running this module and it seem to be working out for them.
The key to realize is that most of the things people complain need work in the module, are things I would have changed in the module anyway.
I have yet to meet a module or piece of content, even ones I’ve written myself, that I don’t change, adjust, or tweak to my liking for a particular game or situation. That’s kind of what running a game is about. Creating a customized experience not just based on your own taste and style as a DM, but to the individual pacing, playstyles and story of an individual game. All games need adjustment, and by their nature, campaigns are a derivative work at best.
So that leads me back to the idea of Remixes. I love seeing the real world experiences of DMs at-the-table and how they are adjusting the module to run well for their sessions. I’ll be posting a series here in the near future of my own remixes. Little vignettes for different elements and how I’ve readjusted them to fit my own needs in hopes that you find some utility in it yourself. Stay tuned and watch the blog or follow me on Twitter to follow this and all the content I’m generating. I also do a lot of theorycrafting for these remixes in my weekly game-prep and D&D discussion livestream on Twitch at noon on Saturdays so I hope you’ll join me there.
Happy Gaming!