D&D General The most played D&D Adventure of all time

[A'tuin]

Ravenloft is my guess. It has a version in at least four editions of the game.

I have to concur, at least in theory, due to the sustained popularity of the adventure since its first release. Even back in the day, I don't remember B2 being nearly as popular as G1-G3 (The Giants series). Furthermore, of the B-series, I think B3, The Palace of the Silver Princess must have been more popular than B2. Certainly, C1, The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan was played much more than B2. So, in my opinion, B2 wouldn't even be on the radar in terms of sheer numbers if that is what you are going for. So, I'd say, if not 5e Phandelver then it has to be Ravenloft (in general), so long as we are considering the Curse of Strahd as equivalent to Ravenloft. While it is routinely considered the best of the 5e campaign adventures, Curse of Strahd pales to a proper campaign integration of the original adventure, I6, Ravenloft.

 

[A'tuin]

Most of us on this forum are kind of old, though, so I think we might overrate the ubiquity of B2. Would someone who started playing in the 90s or later think about it the same way? Would they even be aware of it?

Who are we? Have I just found the community of other old geezers like me who lament the absence of the good old days of D&D?

 

[Mistwell]

I briefly wondered the same, then realized that the only chance Sunless Citadel would have had to be #1 all-time would be if it were brought forward and re-released in 4e and 5e versions when those editions came out. It wasn't, and so it's now well down the most-played list.

Uh it certainly was brought forward and re-released by WOTC for 5e and was a bestseller.

 

[Parmandur]

At this point, probavly Lost Mines.

 

[Kurotowa]

I tend to think Lost Mines as well. Wondering if Sunless Citadel got played as much as Keep on the Borderlands for people starting with 3e.

Sunless Citadel was pretty prominent in 3e, it's true. Meepo had meme status for a reason. But it doesn't have Keep's longevity, and Lost Mines is riding the 5e boom wave. Still, Citadel is probably a solid third place.

 

[mamba]

We have no way of knowing that. There's no reliable data from the 20+ years of the TSR era as to the actual number of D&D players, and probably the first decade of WoTC as well.

yeah, we kinda do know that, or at least there is sales data out there that tells us that, whether you want to take that as evidence is up to you

 

[mamba]

If the Starter Set sold about 1 million copies, that's doing quite well. But it's also probably not the whole story of sales since it's not a set of figures coming from Hasbro.

agreed, guestimates say this is about a quarter of the story...

 

[Clint_L]

Who are we? Have I just found the community of other old geezers like me who lament the absence of the good old days of D&D?

Yes, I'm pretty sure you have. We welcome you!

Edit: concur on Citadel as a likely third. Also agree with Lanefan that Strahd is one of the best known but likely not as widely played. It's more of an investment, and it's not built for beginners (though I recommend the "Death House" intro for anyone!).

 

[ezo]

yeah, we kinda do know that, or at least there is sales data out there that tells us that, whether you want to take that as evidence is up to you

Sales data really doesn't represent anything about people who've actually played the game, or happen to have played a particular adventure (B2 or LMoP or whatever). I'm met people who've bought D&D stuff, but never played; and many more who play but haven't bought any books, etc.

So, no thank you. It is hardly a reliable source for "data" IME. There's no way to "prove" which adventure has seen the most play. Which is why this thread is simply about opinion.

 

[aco175]

I ran a Google search earlier and found a site from 2018 that says they references a lot of blah, blah, blah. They had Temple of Elemental Evil as number 1 and Ravenloft as number 2. I guess it makes sense, but it was 5 years ago so some may change.