Prebuilt Modules?

I frequently see a lot of the same campaign settings and games being run by different people, regardless of which rule set you use, because these games are prebuilt modules in table top. I was wondering if people were working from a template, or importing pre-existing modules, or if this was something people had to go out of their way to make every time? I ask because I'm a new GM to Roll20, and I want to get started but the default "build it from scratch" is pretty intimidating.

The MarketPlace has a number of pre-built, self-contained modules available for purchase (one or two are free) You might be seeing these listed as they significantly cut down on setup times needed to start a game. You may also be running into the listings of more popular game systems like Pathfinder and D&D 5e which only have so many pre-made modules written for them.  (Goodness knows we've seen enough Rise of The RuneLords and Hoard of the Dragon Queen)

I'm not going to lie, Rise of the Runelords was the first thing that popped into my head. I'm trying to make my own campaign, but the kind of hand drawn maps that would work in person, won't cut it online. Making every map, every npc, and every token from scratch is looking to be a monstrous task. Are there any tools, or tile sets, I can use to help lessen this blow without opting into full pre-built maps?

If you have a specific subset of tokens you would need, or settings you want to use, you can probably find some good tile sets and token packs in the Marketplace. Outside that, you can bring whatever you want from the internet into your own personal game.  (If you plan on streaming, you'll have to be a bit more careful about content pulled willy-nilly from abroad.)

Well thanks for telling me how the system works. I was thinking of buying, and running, a module (RotRL); though I've never played either of those listed. Just to shake things up (because they really are that common) I was thinking of banning all first-party (Paizo) classes, and prebuilt races, and using Race Point system with just 3PP classes. I don't know if the module is flexible enough to handle that though, and if it isn't I'd need to learn to compensate.

I'm not actually aware of any system agnostic modules, though those would be pretty nice.

Well, I'm no stranger to character creation, so I'd think any kind of module you'd use would have some degree of customization, even if that meant tearing it all down and re-building the characters (and monsters) from scratch. Module narrative itself is independent of the mechanics involved. I imagine there may be some difficulty on the sheets, where you might not be able to have two different kinds of sheets at the same time. Then again, I don't know exactly what you get with a pre-built module.

When making your own tokens I really recommend:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.rptools.net/toolbox/token-tool/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rptools.net/toolbox/token-tool/</a> And if you decide to make up your own stories remember that you don't have to create everyhing at once. Start small.

LegionPothIX said: Well, I'm no stranger to character creation, so I'd think any kind of module you'd use would have some degree of customization, even if that meant tearing it all down and re-building the characters (and monsters) from scratch. Module narrative itself is independent of the mechanics involved. I imagine there may be some difficulty on the sheets, where you might not be able to have two different kinds of sheets at the same time. Then again, I don't know exactly what you get with a pre-built module. Yeah, but at that point you're barely using the module and you're losing out on a great deal of what you actually paid for, espesially if you have to go through and drastically rebalance the encounters.