Round Four: Back to the old school modules!

[Jhaelen]

Another fantastic UK module is When a Star Falls (UK4?). It features an unusual set up (Memory Web), an interesting villain, and a very strong story. The PCs have to travel between interesting locations, deal with, e.g., Derro and some machines, avoid a dragon and sort of return to a castle filled with monks.

Ahh, the memories!

Yay! That's also been one of my favorites!

 

[Knightfall]

I'm really surprised that Night's Dark Terror has gotten so many votes. It was a last minute throw-in for this round. It wasn't even one I was seriously considering.

 

[Knightfall]

Moved here from Round Two thread!

CM1 Test of the Warlords is awesome, but is like a Birthright adventure. It also requires a large stretch of frontier and two competing empires trying to settle it. I sold it on eBay with the rest of my BECMI stuff. I don't miss most of it, but I should never have let that module go.

I've never ran or played it, but my impression of CM1 is that it could be fun in the hands of a very good DM who is capable of inventing alot of details. To me CM1 isn't really a module, it's just a campaign sketch. To make it interesting, I think you'd have to be willing to put in a ton of work to flesh out the events and locations.

Hmm... sounds interesting. And I like inventing details. That's how a lot of Kulan was built.

I have played Sabre River and enjoyed it very much. It too depends on having a good DM, but I don't think its nearly as demanding of a module as CM1 and in particular I think you can run CM3 'out of the box' without alot of prep time and additions. Sure, it probably would help to expand the dungeons to make them less linear, if the PC's were into dungeon crawling, or to flesh out the setting if the PC's are in to RPing, but none of that is strictly necessary. In fact, CM3 is a great example of the sort of event that might play out within a campaign using the CM1 framework. As far as I know, that is precisely what all or most of the companion modules that follow CM1 are intended to be - on going events within the two or three year long 'Test of the Warlords' campaign.

Sabre River seems to get a lot of praise. I think it will be a module I keep an eye out for. Thanks for the information.

Next Query: Can anyone can tell me about the four modules of the DDA series?

This includes DDA1 Arena of Thyatis, DDA2 Legions of Thyatis, DDA3 Eye of Traldar, and DDA4 Dymrak Dread.

I know that Thyatis is an empire that is part of the Known World/Mystara setting and that it has a very Roman feel but that's about it. Eye of Traldar and Dymrak Dread sounds like they might be connected to Karameikos, so I'm more interested in those two. (I think Dymrak refers to a forest in Karameikos, but I can't remember.) I have a modified version of Karameikos as part of my Kulan/Harqual hombrewed setting so those two modules might work perfectly for me.

 

[rogueattorney]

B10 has is followers. I'm not one of them. It's pretty campaign world specific and heavily plotted. Like the U and UK modules, it was done by the group of British writers.

OP1 and X6 are among the worst things TSR ever did during the 1e era. Ugh!

X10 is a sequel to the X4/X5 Desert Nomad series. It's done by a different author, and in my opinion, nowhere near as good as its predecessors.

The first two DDA modules are linked and set in Thyatis (think Constantinople or Rome) and are similar in vein to B6 The Veiled Society (intrigue heavy city adventure). The last two DDA modules were done for the Black Box Basic game and are specifically designed for younger gamers, pretty shallow and not challenging, with a number of simplifications to the established setting (which may make no difference to you, if you're not running your game in Karameikos).

Unless you're a fan of the U-UK style of module (which I'm not - I'll admit that they're well done - just not my thing), Isle of the Ape probably has the most to recommend it.

 

[Knightfall]

B10 has is followers. I'm not one of them. It's pretty campaign world specific and heavily plotted. Like the U and UK modules, it was done by the group of British writers.

Known World/Mystara, right? i like that world and I've incoroporated a lot of its races into my homebrew so it could work, maybe.

X10 is a sequel to the X4/X5 Desert Nomad series. It's done by a different author, and in my opinion, nowhere near as good as its predecessors.

Sequel to Desert Nomads, check. Not as good, check.

The first two DDA modules are linked and set in Thyatis (think Constantinople or Rome) and are similar in vein to B6 The Veiled Society (intrigue heavy city adventure). The last two DDA modules were done for the Black Box Basic game and are specifically designed for younger gamers, pretty shallow and not challenging, with a number of simplifications to the established setting (which may make no difference to you, if you're not running your game in Karameikos).

No, I use Karameikos in my homebrew with different names for the country, cities, towns, ruins, and characters. I don't use Thyatis in my homebrew but I do have a series of cities with gladitors and slavers and heavy intrigue. I think the first two interest me more than the second two.

Unless you're a fan of the U-UK style of module (which I'm not - I'll admit that they're well done - just not my thing), Isle of the Ape probably has the most to recommend it.

Another vote for Isle of the Ape. Hmm...

 

[Knightfall]

Short Update...

I bought "I2 Tomb of the Lizard King" today.


I'm definitely leaning towards getting a few of the UK modules when I have more money. "All That Glitters..." is top on my list from that module series.

 

[Knightfall]

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