What adventure module defines D&D to you?

[Storm Raven]

For me:

B2: The Keep on the Borderlands.

A1-4 (Slave Pits of the Undercity, Secret of the Slavers Stockade, Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords, and In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords).

GDQ 1-7 Queen of the Spiders (encompassing Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, Glacial Rift of the Frist Giant Jarl, The Hall of the Fire Giant King, Descent to the Depths, The Shrine of Kuo-Toa, Vault of the Drow, and Queen of the Demonweb).

L1-2 (The Secret of Bone Hill, and The Assassin's Knot).

S3: Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil

U 1-3 (The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh, Danger at Dunwater, and The Final Enemy).

 

[Lilaxe]

The modules that defined D&D to me from an early age were:

Halls of Tizun Thane - in an early White Dwarf

The Lichway - also in an early White Dwarf

and

Tegal Manor - Judges Guild

I still love those modules, but have come to appreciate the basic layout but extensive depth of the G and D Series.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

But to me, Tomb of Horrors.

I gotta say, if Tomb of Horrors defined D&D for me, I would never have remained a D&D player. Tomb of Horrors is an exercise in sadomasochism.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Handing someone "pure" game materials (rulebook or adventure module) will almost certainly not help a non-player figure out what the game is about.

Funny, but that's exactly how I learned. (And it was the Expert rulebook, even!) I had literally never even heard of D&D.

 

[ShinHakkaider]

Funny, but that's exactly how I learned. (And it was the Expert rulebook, even!) I had literally never even heard of D&D.

Same here. I was visiting a friend in and his brother had a beat up copy of B2. I asked him if I could borrow it, he told me I could have it and I read the whole thing over and over cover to cover and fell in love with the idea of fantasy adventure.

I saved up about a months allowance to get a Red Box.

 

[Hierax]

Tough call:

• D&D: B2 - The Keep on the Borderlands. but B4 is right up there.

• AD&D: T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil. but U1-U3 is right up there.

 

[Desdichado]

Not a fan of modules in general, but here's a few suggestions.

Tomb of Horrors as exemplary of everything wrong with D&D when I decided I'd had enough of it.

Village of Hommlet as exemplary of everything right with D&D "back in the day."

The Age of Worms adventure path as exemplary of everything D&D could be when not mired in a limited playstyle paradigm, yet still remaining iconically D&D. Plus, it's got a "shared experience" vibe to it that very little that post-dates the GDQ series, or some of the other classic modules, seems to have. People all over the place have played Age of Worms.

 

[Puggins]

I wonder how many the the B2'ers got their start during the '79 to '84 heyday. Keep was the module packed in with the basic set during the majority of that time. It may just be a matter of sheer print run- I'm betting that the number of copies of Keepin print absolutely dwarf every other module ever produced.

As for me, a couple of modules trump Keep for me.

(1) The Lost City

Mysterious Ancient Ruin in the middle of the desert that leads to a lost city inhabited by an ancient evil. Great Sandbox possibilities.

(2) Against the Cult of the Reptile God

The module essentially marked my transition into actual roleplaying. The first part of the module is very role playing-intensive, details a useful small town, involves a lot of investigation and ends up in a major confrontation against a corrupted monastery- good stuff!

The second part is a classic dungeon crawl with lots of neat elements- underwater caves, varied monsters and a cataclysmic final battle against an enemy that is seemingly far too powerful for the PCs to deal with. Great stuff.

 

[Baz King]

Tough question. Its akin to asking for the defining Beatles album. You have to take into account the edition changes, as they are very different games.

With that in mind. Basic D&D, Rahasia. 1e, Pharoah. 2e (limited knowledge, sorry). 3e, The Banewarrens. 4e, The Temple Between.

With these choices I'm trying to think beyond my own personal preferences and tap into something bigger... I may well be misled in that approach!

 

[Ketjak]

S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - it has everything, wilderness, dungeon, sandbox, foul villains