D&D General Iconic and Best Adventures in each Edition

[Enrico Poli1]

I was wondering about the great adventures produced for each iteration of the game. What are the ones that you consider the "MUST PLAY", the ones you absolutely have to experience? I'll list the ones I keep in high regard.

BECMI:

• Keep on the Borderlands: iconic "enter, kill monster, take stuff" dungeon
• Isle of Dread: iconic wilderness/jungle hexploration
• Castle Amber: iconic madhouse
• Master of the Desert Nomads + Temple of Death: iconic voyage traveling to far, exotic lands, to save the world
• Red Arrow Black Shield: unique module that mixes normal adventuring with a continental-scale war and political diplomacy
• Test of the Warlords: quintessential Dominions & War experience

AD&D1e/2e:

• Against the Cult of the Reptile god: iconic mystery adventure
• The City of Skulls: iconic rescue mission
• The Tomb of Horrors: iconic deathtrap dungeon
• Ravenloft: iconic gothic horror adventure
• Dragon's Crown: captures the feeling of Dark Sun setting, epic voyage

D&D 3.0/3.5:

• Age of Worms: epic save-the-world Adventure, a love letter to D&D tradition
• Savage Tide: pirates, dinosaurs and demons. You feel as in an adventure movie

Pathfinder 1e:

• Curse of the Crimson Throne: fantastic city adventure
• Kingmaker: hexploration + Dominion
• Reign of Winter: epic voyage, you feel as inside a slavic fairytale

13th Age:
- Eyes of the Stone Thief: best Megadungeon of them all. A one unique thing of a dungeon.

D&D 5e:

• Curse of Strahd: an implemented Ravenloft
• Tomb of Annihilation: hexploration in the jungle + deathtrap dungeon
• Descent into Avernus: planar adventure done well
• Light Beyond the Wytchlight: manages to recreate the atmosphere of Oz/Neverland/Wonderland

 

[DND_Reborn]

Really? No Against the Giants...? :-(

It is one of the quintessential adventures in D&D history IMO.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

• Against the Cult of the Reptile god: iconic mystery adventure
• The City of Skulls: iconic rescue mission
• The Tomb of Horrors: iconic deathtrap dungeon
• Ravenloft: iconic gothic horror adventure
• Dragon's Crown: captures the feeling of Dark Sun setting, epic voyage

1E and 2E are separate editions and cover an awful lot of time, they should probably be covered separately. I'd also say there's a huge difference between "best regarded", "must play" and "most iconic" - it's easy for an adventure only be one of those three.

I've never even heard of The City of Skulls and I've been playing since 1989 so I have difficulty believing it's that iconic. Seems to be an obscure 1993 mid-level Greyhawk module.

The biggest 2E adventures I'm aware of are probably:

Dragon Mountain

The Night Below

Dead Gods (and possibly other Monte Cook ones - definitely not Faction War though!)

 

[Haplo781]

Pretending 4e doesn't exist yet again

Reavers of Harkenwold and Madness at Gardmore Abbey were the standouts.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Pretending 4e doesn't exist yet again

I love 4E but it had uniquely few good adventures for it, due to a combination of WotC incompetency and intentionally driving away 3PPs.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

B - Lost City, Keep on the Borderlands
X - Isle of Dread, Castle Amber
1E - Queen of Spiders, Desert of Desolation, Temple of Elemental Evil, Ravenloft, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh
2E - Night Below, Rod of Seven Parts
3E - Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury
4E - Raiders of Oakhurst
5E - Curse of Strahd

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Raiders of Oakhurst

whoaaa, stop there a minute!

Where was that? I missed that. A follow up adventure for Sunless Citadel's Oakhurst?! For 4e?!

 

[Rabbitbait]

The Red Hand of Doom was one of the best modules ever. 3e if I remember rightly.
4e's Tomb of Horrors was also brilliant.

 

[Rabbitbait]

I enjoyed the Slave Lords series in AD&D, but my memories from 40 years ago are wearing thin. It may be nostalgia rather than it actually being a good series.

 

[Hex08]

BECMI: Keep on the Borderlands: the first adventure I ever played will always hold fond memories
1E: Temple of Elemental Evil, Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh or Queen of the Spiders
2E: Night Below
3.x: Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil: wins by default because I think it was the only published adventure my group played during this era, everything else was homebrew
Pathfinder 1E: Rise of the Runelords AP
4E & 5E - never player either