Best Dungeon Magazine Adventure(s)?

Stone Angel · Dec 17, 2002

SPOILERS

I don't remember the name or issue# but you were hired to find out information about a Dragon. You get a magic item that allows you to sacrifice another magic item, it was kind of like saving a video game. Just killing the dragon never worked, you had to find out what it ate, it's lair, MM essentially but everyone really enjoyed it and it was a blast to run.

Also the Hero's Fairs or challenge was always kind of fun.

I also remember the ghoul empire adv. I never got to run it either.

Balrog · Dec 17, 2002

I will second (or third) the kudos for "Out of the Ashes" from Dungeon #17. I think I still have that one lying around here somewhere, along with a few other old issues from the first 2 years. Then I quit gaming of any sort for several years. It wasnt until right before 3rd Ed came out that I really and truly got back into DnD again. I have found several good 3rd Edition adventures since Dungeon started putting those out.

The following are adventures I have used so far in DMing 3E:

1)Iriandel(Dungeon 83/3rd Level)--by Tito Leati
2)Gorgoldand's Gauntlet(Dungeon CD/1st level)--by Johnathan Richards
3)Natural Selection(Dungeon 85/5th level)--by Matthew Adkins
4)Stormdancers(Dungeon 86/ 3rd level)--by Ole Munch
5)The Rock and the Hard Place(Dungeon 91/ 16th level Side Trek)--by Brian Corvello
6)Bloodlines(Dungeon 94/ 7th level)--by Luke Johnson

I have to say that I loved Gorgoldands Gauntlet, Iriandel, and Natural Selection. I dont have issue 84 but it sounds like I missed out on some good ones there.

Not to hijack this thread, but does anyone know a good source for Dungeon Back Issues, mainly since 3rd Edition came out? I am missing issues 82, 84, 89, and 93 and my FLGS doesnt carry back issues. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Anyone with any info can email so we don't clog up this thread.

Silver Moon · Dec 17, 2002

Dungeon Magazine

I've used seven of them so far. I'd say that the single best was "The Ghost of Mistmoor" from Dungeon 35. A great mystery with a few good plot twists.

"Flesh to Stone" from Dungeon 85 is a great short fun adventure with comical NPC's.

"The Crypt of Istaris" from Dungeon 9 is a short but challenging adventure if your party likes undead.

The other four I did as a linked series for a spin-off group of new 1st level characters. They were the following:

"Mightier than the Sword" from Dungeon 29 - A murder mystery set in a city;

"And a dozen Eggs" from Dungeon 30 - a variation on the old alligators in the sewers theme;

"A Wrastle with Bertrum" from Dungeon 30 - a short silly game set in a tavern;

"Lurkers in the Library" from Dungeon 9 - fairly self-explanitory from the title;

and I finished that series with the following two classic modules from old Dragon Magazines:

"The Assassins Run" from Dragon #64 - excellent skills-based challenge test for the characters of any class

"The Chapel of Silence" from Dragon #50 - standard undead now haunting abandoned chapel scenario with a few surprises.

Silver Moon · Dec 21, 2002

Dungeon Adventures

There's one more Dungeon Adventures Module that I wanted to put in a plug for:

"The Akriloth" from Dungeon #79 (March/April 2000). It's a really interesting undersea adventure set in the ruins of a Merman/mermaid city. I was all set to run it, but the player's decided they wanted to do something else instead - oh well, some time in the future...

Kryndal Levik · Dec 21, 2002

Almost forgot two, as well- I (heavily) converted "Granite Mountain Prison" (Dungeon #36) into a single-PC adventure for the rogue in my campaign. It was an absolute blast.

I'm also planning on using a (once again) heavily converted version of "Sleep of Ages" (Dungeon # 69) to round out a story arc in my campaign.

Wicht · Dec 21, 2002

Chadranther's Bane and Out of the Ashes are both two that I remember well, though I never got a chance to run Out of the Ashes. I always wanted to run Tallow's Deep too but never had a party I disliked enough to send them on such a suicide mission.

Another I like, Sleepless Night, I think it is called, featured a doppleganger murdering people in an Inn and I have used that to great effect many, many times as a 1st time adventure for new players.

The one I really always wanted to run however, and I lost the issue and can't remember the name, was a tale of were-rats infecting everyong in a town famous for its cheese. Anyone know the name and issue number of that one?

Byrons_Ghost · Dec 21, 2002

I can't remember the issue (I think it was somewhere in the teens or twenties- a while back), but it was called "The Wounded Wyrm". The foe was a wounded red dragon, who some time ago had been assaulted by a group of adventurers and left for dead while they made off with his loot. Lacking his magic items, the dragon wasn't able to heal itself properly, and is basically left with only two legs and no wings, plus a lot of scars. And it's seriously pissed off.

Over a few years, the dragon uses various ruses and tricks to charm humanoids, passers-by (it can still leave the cave to crawl around, appearing as a crippled old man), and the like into becoming it's agents. They then go out into the countryside and "recruit" more people. In addition to adding their money to the dragon's horde, they also guard his lair, spy on humans, and attempt to find the group that made off with his possessions.

The PCs get inolved with this when they are hired by one of the dragon's agents, posing as a member of a fallen adventuring party. He wants them to go and take on this wounded dragon and help him recover his fallen comrades, and the dragon's treasure. Actually, the agent is a recruiter, and the plan is to charm the PCs and make them more agents of the dragon. By this time the dragon has gotten enough power that he's targetting competent people, ie monsters and PCs.

I always liked this one because it's the first adventure I saw with a dragon using its resources intelligently, instead of sitting in a cave waiting to be killed. Plus he has actual motivation, and an almost-sympathetic agenda- he just goes about it in the way that a powerful, CE monster would. And the double-cross on the PCs was pretty rare back then, I think.

Now that I think about it, this could be a whole mini-campaign, with the PCs uncovering a mysterious conspiracy and finally tracking it to the dragon. They'd definately be in for a surprise.

gordonknox · Dec 30, 2004

Mere of Dead Men

Any more comments on the Mere of Dead Men Series, Dungeons #69-73?

I have heard that it is very interesting and yaun-ti are always cool...

gk

MonsterMash · Dec 31, 2004

I've used Evil Unearthed from issue #82, though I had to convert to 3.5 and found it to be a good 1st level addy.

Psychic Warrior · Jan 1, 2005

The Contest of Champions 1-4. I don't know the issue numbers but I have now either played or ran my group through all of them. A series of 10 challenges that the PCs must overcome using only what is provided for them by the Wizard's Guild running the show. There are 10 events in each. They are cleverly designed and will have your players wracking their brains for the answers to the puzzles.