Never Do This in Your D&D Adventures

Summary

While running Danger at Dunwater from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, the DM found that the adventure’s emphasis on exploration and diplomacy left little room for combat. After two hours of talking to lizardfolk and even helping set a dinner table to earn their favor, some players seemed bored.

The DM’s main lesson: Make sure adventures offer all three D&D pillars—exploration, social interaction, and combat—rather than neglecting one. Combat is also a form of roleplaying; roleplaying should not be treated as synonymous with conversation.

What the DM Changed

• Added an attack by bullywugs on the lizardfolk lair, giving the players a chance to defend the colony and earn its trust.
• Built a lighthearted story around the lizardfolk becoming fond of a player’s gecko-form familiar and wanting geckos of their own.
• Sent the party to find geckos, where a yuan-ti offered them a deal: drive bullywugs from a nearby ziggurat in exchange for the geckos.
• Kept exploration and social scenes while adding conflicts with a purpose, instead of inserting combat just for its own sake.

The players enjoyed the revised adventure, though the DM had prepared far more of the lair than the group ultimately explored. The takeaway is to consider what the whole table enjoys and adapt published or original adventures when one pillar is missing.

Gamers and Sources Mentioned

• The DM/presenter: The DM Lair; unnamed in the subtitles.
• Players: Two players in the group; unnamed.
• Danger at Dunwater: The adventure discussed, credited in the video to Dave J. Brown and Don Turnbull and described as a 1982 release.
• Ghosts of Saltmarsh: The campaign collection in which the DM was running the adventure.
• Wizards of the Coast: Mentioned in connection with published commentary on the adventure.
• “Layer Force and Freedom” / “Layerzine”: The presenter’s crowdfunding project, briefly promoted in the video.