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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8851675" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Adding in third-party adventures certainly muddies the waters a bit.</p><p></p><p>In the 1970s Judges Guild were churning out D&D-adjacent adventures, of quality ranging from 11/10 spectacular to -1/10 abysmal.</p><p></p><p>Then TSR got on the adventure train and put out a whole bunch between about 1978 and 1985 (ignoring, for the moment DL), of quality ranging from pretty damn good to vaguely-playable. Other than JG, third-party publishing wasn't much of a thing.</p><p></p><p>The big change for me isn't the release of the first few DL modules, it's the release of the next few coupled with the release of Unearthed Arcana. Sadly, 1e would never be the same again; and DL (and Ravenloft, 1986) became the Big Deals in adventures.</p><p></p><p>For the next bunch of years - roughly 1985-1998 - TSR did just about all the adventure-writing and, despite a few highlights, for the most part didn't do it very well. Third-parties were actively squashed, and JG pretty much petered out. Dungeon magazine provided a steady stream of new adventures (though of a quality variance not seen since JG days), meanwhile the whole game nearly died out from under it all.</p><p></p><p>There was a very short run from about 1998-2001 that produced a string of pretty good adventures: the late-2e Return To..." series and the early 3e WotC adventures e.g. Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury are some highlights here.</p><p></p><p>Underneath this, however, the Age of Dreck was brewing. The OGL allowed everybody and their little dog to churn out adventures, and from about 2001-2003 the game stores were stuffed with third-party garbage. There were a few real highlights, to be sure, e.g. the 3e treatment of Rappan Athuk is brilliant; but for the most part it was pay yer money and take yer (not good) chances.</p><p></p><p>By about 2004 everyone involved became a bit more demanding and as a result the overall quality improved significantly. From here on, due to all the third-party involvement, few if any patterns emerge. [USER=6716779]@Zardnaar[/USER] has hit the patterns nicely as they apply to WotC and maybe Paizo; but there's also been enough third-party material over that time that the WotC adventures have been somewhat pushed to the back-burner. Further, that third-party material covers the whole span of D&D - there's excellent adventures (and, of course, not-so-excellent ones as well!) still coming out even today for every past edition out there.</p><p></p><p>One could argue that right now is the true Golden Age for adventures, in that there have never been so many available no matter what edition you want them for.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8851675, member: 29398"] Adding in third-party adventures certainly muddies the waters a bit. In the 1970s Judges Guild were churning out D&D-adjacent adventures, of quality ranging from 11/10 spectacular to -1/10 abysmal. Then TSR got on the adventure train and put out a whole bunch between about 1978 and 1985 (ignoring, for the moment DL), of quality ranging from pretty damn good to vaguely-playable. Other than JG, third-party publishing wasn't much of a thing. The big change for me isn't the release of the first few DL modules, it's the release of the next few coupled with the release of Unearthed Arcana. Sadly, 1e would never be the same again; and DL (and Ravenloft, 1986) became the Big Deals in adventures. For the next bunch of years - roughly 1985-1998 - TSR did just about all the adventure-writing and, despite a few highlights, for the most part didn't do it very well. Third-parties were actively squashed, and JG pretty much petered out. Dungeon magazine provided a steady stream of new adventures (though of a quality variance not seen since JG days), meanwhile the whole game nearly died out from under it all. There was a very short run from about 1998-2001 that produced a string of pretty good adventures: the late-2e Return To..." series and the early 3e WotC adventures e.g. Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury are some highlights here. Underneath this, however, the Age of Dreck was brewing. The OGL allowed everybody and their little dog to churn out adventures, and from about 2001-2003 the game stores were stuffed with third-party garbage. There were a few real highlights, to be sure, e.g. the 3e treatment of Rappan Athuk is brilliant; but for the most part it was pay yer money and take yer (not good) chances. By about 2004 everyone involved became a bit more demanding and as a result the overall quality improved significantly. From here on, due to all the third-party involvement, few if any patterns emerge. [USER=6716779]@Zardnaar[/USER] has hit the patterns nicely as they apply to WotC and maybe Paizo; but there's also been enough third-party material over that time that the WotC adventures have been somewhat pushed to the back-burner. Further, that third-party material covers the whole span of D&D - there's excellent adventures (and, of course, not-so-excellent ones as well!) still coming out even today for every past edition out there. One could argue that right now is the true Golden Age for adventures, in that there have never been so many available no matter what edition you want them for. [/QUOTE]
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