What adventure module have you pillaged the most without using the main plot?

[S'mon]

Of 5e adventures, Princes of the Apocalypse. Specifically, all of the pre-campaign adventure material set in and around Red Larch is great.

I ran PoTA, but I also reused Riverguard Keep independently (with Orogs in it), and have other surface sites from PoTA scattered around one of my campaign settings.

 

[Meech17]

Probably Sunless Citadel to be honest. It's light on plot anyway, but I've used the top layer of the citadel for a lot of different games.

I recently read through Sunless Citadel and I really enjoyed it. I plan on taking the bones of it for an adventure with my group. I like the overall concept. Large dungeon, two warring factions inside, each fighting each other for territory, and then secret dangers lying below.

I've got my party looking for several gems that will voltron into the main story macguffin, so I can easily just replace the family signet rings which are the default quest plot hook, with one of these gems.

I think I'm going to re-design the dungeon from the top down. I like the concept of the dragon cult temple that was swallowed by the earth. I might put it inside of a volcano or something. That sounds sick.

Then there are just a lot of weird old dungeon design philosophies that are present. Like empty rooms for the sake of filling out the dungeon perhaps? I've noticed this a lot in old adventures as I've been reading through old Dungeon magazines and modules. Sometimes as much as 25-50% of the rooms are nothing but dungeon dressing. I think part of this is to allow space to encounter wandering monsters, but it seems to be mostly ambiance and maybe tension? I don't know.

I want to rebuild the dungeon and make it more purposeful. Why would these rooms have existed in the first place, back when it was a cultist temple, and then what are they used for now that it's occupied by kobolds or goblins. I'd also like to try my hand at Jaquaysian dungeon design. It would make sense that the dungeon has more than one way in and out, considering these factions both exist there.

I also like how the original dungeon just has openings into the Underdark. Makes me wonder if this was inspiration for Baldur's Gate 3, where there is a tunnel into the Underdark hidden in the depths of an abandoned Temple to Selune, currently occupied by goblins. While this could be a great potential tie in for future endeavors, I'm not sure if I plan to include those or not though.

A session or two ago I gave my players a handout which was a found note, from a minor evil guy to a goblin minion. I have no idea where I'm placing this evil guy, but if I do end up running this adventure he can be the evil druid in the bottom of the dungeon.

All in all it looks like a stellar adventure and I can see why it has become so highly regardes.

 

[MNblockhead]

The Official Skyrim Guide. It's about 700 pages of items, spells, builds, quests, maps, towns, dungeons... I would choose it over my entire 3&D collection, but just barely.

Wow, just looked it up. That looks awesome. Only bummer is that it doesn't seem like you can get legal PDF versions. It would be much more useful in digital format so you can pull out maps for using in VTTs.

 

[GuyBoy]

I’ve used the Keep from KotB several times as a starting base for various adventures, always expanding on (and naming!) the various inhabitants.
As a teenager, I made good use of the old JG product, Frontier Forts of Kelnore, to create huge numbers of encounters using the ruined fort map. It was a great product from those early days!

 

[ShinHakkaider]

The Official Skyrim Guide. It's about 700 pages of items, spells, builds, quests, maps, towns, dungeons... I would choose it over my entire 3&D collection, but just barely.

I think that I still might have mine. It was an AMAZING game guide when it first came out and I couldn't ever part ways with it.

 

[GMMichael]

Wow, just looked it up. That looks awesome. Only bummer is that it doesn't seem like you can get legal PDF versions. It would be much more useful in digital format so you can pull out maps for using in VTTs.

I'm using mine now!

But yeah, you might have to scour the second-hand stores for one. That's how I got mine. Its hyperlinked cousin is uesp.net.

 

[Yenrak]

I'm currently running Tomb of Annihilation as an extension of Storm King's Thunder. Where STK has a dead-end quest of searching for Artus Cimber and the Ring of Winter, I decided to let that quest actually play out.

So the party went down to Chult looking for Artus Cimber. He had been in Port Nyanzaru but disappeared into the jungle sometime earlier. Basically, I ditched the plot of ToA for a missing person plot involving Artus. Lots of jungle exploration but no death curse or soul monger.