The Best & Worst of 3rd Edition: The Best Products AND Designers Are...

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Just for reference sake, here's a list of the top ten 3.x modules from a few years back, as voted on by Enworld.

1. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
2. Sunless Citadel
3. Forge of Fury
4. The Banewarrens
5. Rapan Athuk (all)
6. City of the Spider Queen
7. Death in Freeport
8. The Shackled City Adventure Path
9. Terror in Freeport
10. Madness in Freeport

RttToEE was 11th on this year's poll (which also included locations... the previous poll did not). Sunless Citadel ranked 4th this year. Forge of Fury ranked 5th this year.

 

[jeffh]

I still find it difficult to believe people who had read both would prefer Forge of Fury to half the later modules in that series (particularly the finale, Bastion of Broken Souls). I'm guessing the relatively low-level modules just got more attention because more people needed them.

 

[TerraDave]

Cool.. I own almost all of those best of books. Excepet for the Eberon Campaign Setting..

I have the EberRon campaign setting, but not one for Eberon..

Tongue 'n cheek comment aside, cool idea TerraDave.

The WORST list will probably be very volatile, and I look forward to that

I have a worst list (at least for WotC), I will throw it up at some point. Heh, throw it up...

Anyways, my systemic misspelling hasn't hurt them in the last couple of polls...

 

[TerraDave]

Just for reference sake, here's a list of the top ten 3.x modules from a few years back, as voted on by Enworld.

1. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
2. Sunless Citadel
3. Forge of Fury
4. The Banewarrens
5. Rapan Athuk (all)
6. City of the Spider Queen
7. Death in Freeport
8. The Shackled City Adventure Path
9. Terror in Freeport
10. Madness in Freeport

RttToEE was 11th on this year's poll (which also included locations... the previous poll did not). Sunless Citadel ranked 4th this year. Forge of Fury ranked 5th this year.

Hey, I did that poll! It was like this, with a bunch of threads, polls, finall poll, that was all sort of a pain in the...

...but anyways. Lets compare. The big difference being a wave of "late 3E" adventures like Red Hand of Doom and Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, plus the poll this time was only WotC (all 3rd party products came through a nomination thread and catch-all poll).

This is the top twenty, ranked by the % who liked the product mins the % who disliked (in the first polls you could vote dislike, and if you had no opinion, you could of course not vote at all on a particular product). The "true adventures" are underlined.

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss 0.9044118
Red Hand of Doom 0.8695652
Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells 0.8595041
Sunless Citadel, The 0.858209
Forge of Fury, The 0.8099174
Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk 0.7857143
Frostburn 0.7637795
Expedition to Castle Ravenloft 0.75
Stormwrack 0.7177419
Sandstorm 0.7
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil 0.6260163
Dungeonscape 0.6146789
Barrow of the Forgotten King 0.59375
Fortress of the Yuan-ti 0.5625
Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde, The 0.5394737
Expedition to the Demonweb Pits 0.5308642
Shadows of the Last War 0.527027
Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles, and Traps 0.5242718
City of the Spider Queen 0.5164835
Bastion of Broken Souls 0.5121951

So, going back to Sunless Citadel and Forge of Fury, its not just that people knew about them (though they did), its that they actively liked them. Or, to put it another way, not many disliked them. As for Bastion, 48% did not like it...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I still find it difficult to believe people who had read both would prefer Forge of Fury to half the later modules in that series (particularly the finale, Bastion of Broken Souls). I'm guessing the relatively low-level modules just got more attention because more people needed them.

That earlier list is very dated, to put it mildly.

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

That earlier list is very dated, to put it mildly.

Yes, in more ways than one. I think polls often skew recent products higher, 'cause they are more fresh in peoples' minds. (I have no proof of this, though.) I'd be interested to see the results of the same poll in 10 years time.

 

[TerraDave]

Well, if you look the final adventure poll for the last series, which added earlier editions,....it was some of the older stuff that dominated. Nostalgia vs. freshness does not always go freshnesses way.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=134397

 

[TerraDave]

Second Round Winners

Complete Book of Eldritch Might
Malhavoc Press
Monte Cook
Final 12

Draconomicon
Wizards of the Coast
Andy Collins, James Wyatt, Skip Williams
Final 12

Magic Item Compendium
Wizards of the Coast
Andy Collins, Mike Mearls, and Stephen Schubert
Final 12

A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe
Expeditious Retreat Press
Suzi Yee and Joseph Browning
Final 12

Midnight
Fantasy Flight
Jeffrey Barber, Wil Upchurch, Greg Benage
Final 12

Spell Compendium
Wizards of the Coast
Matthew Sernett, Jeff Grubb, Mike McArtor
Final 12

Tome Of Horrors I (Rev.)
Necromancer Games
Scott Greene and Clark Peterson
Final 12

 

[xnosipjpqmhd]

Well, if you look the final adventure poll for the last series, which added earlier editions,....it was some of the older stuff that dominated. Nostalgia vs. freshness does not always go freshnesses way.

True, nostalgia usually trumps freshness. The majority of the people voting in your last poll cut their teeth on 1e. That's why I said I'd would be interested to see the results of the poll in 10 years. By then we may find that the earlier 3e modules climb back up the charts due to the fact that there was somewhat of a resurgence in the hobby, and a lot of players (who are just kids right now) will be looking back in fondness at the first stuff they ever played. (And when they hear me mention Keep on the Borderlands, they'll think I misspoke and meant Shadowfell. )

I could be wrong, though.

 

[TerraDave]

Those making it through the third round:

Eberron Campaign Setting
Wizards of the Coast
Keith Baker, Bill Slavicsek, James Wyatt
Final Five, Final Three

Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords (1-5)
Paizo
James Jacobs, Richard Pett, Nicolas Logue, Wolfgang Baur, Stephen S. Greer
Winner: “Single Best”; Final Three

Players Handbook II
Wizards of the Coast
David Noonan
Winner: Best of Wotc; Winner: Best Wotc Player Supplement; Final Five

Ptolus
Malhavoc Press
Monte Cook
Winner: Best 3rd Party; Final Five

Unearthed Arcana
Wizards of the Coast
Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman
Winner: Best Wotc Core Rules; Winner: Final Five; Final Three