Remember when Modules were Modular?

As mentioned before, I've been gaming since the early 80s.  I like using modules even if I rarely leave them unchanged.

Ranting here.

The NICE thing about the old modules is they didn't expect/force you to use a specific campaign world.

Look at this example, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks from the S1-4 Realms of Horror reprint:  

Locating the Adventure

It is assumed that this adventure is located in the WORLD OF GREYHAWK fantasy world setting.  As presented here, the spaceship lies in the Grand Duchy of Geoff, i the mountains northwest of the city of Hornwood.

Of course, if you want to use this adventure in your own campaign world, feel free to do so.  You need only to locate it in a mountain range not far from a city large enough to finance the expedition.

Boom.  Done.  

Most of the old stuff was set up this way.  The handful of BX/BECMI* modules I have were every bit as easy to drop in anywhere.

I was happy to see that they left Saltmarsh in Greyhawk, but from what I've seen of the rest of the 5e modules, you BETTER love the Sword Coast.

I don't.  In fact, I don't care for the Misbegotten Realms at all; Ed Greenwood and his Elminster totally my OC <cough, cough Gandalf cough, cough> and RA Salvatore are hacks.

So what's my point?  Well, to cut on prep, and since thematically it worked well with my homebrew of Folia, I decided to run Tyranny of Dragons.

The first book was fine and reasonably easy to use - but FFS, The Rise of Tiamat is a grand tour of the Forgotten Realms, and in true FR fashion, NPCs and factions that are cooler than you are waved in your PCs faces.

I grumbled about this over on theRPGsite, and was pointed to promising project: Tales of Lothmar.  We need more of this.

*BX is Basic/Expert, BECMI refers to Basic/Expert/Companion/Masters/Immortal sets

Gygax, G., &amp; Schick, L. (1987). Locating the Adventure. In Realms of horror (p. 43). Lake Geneva, WI, WI: TSR.