What is THE classic dragon-hunting/slaying adventure?

[Mercurius]

A couple hundred years ago an elder blue dragon destroys a thriving dwarven city, taking up residence in its ruins. Many a dwarven adventurer has sought the fabled riches of the city, in particular the Crown of Kings, but to no avail...

An adult female red dragon has been terrorizing a rural community, requiring sacrifices to appease her appetite. Why is the dragon so angry? And what lies within her cavernous lair?

Deep in the heart of the Mistmarshes dwells an ancient green dragon who rules over a court of ensorcelled elves. The green is the guardian of a powerful emerald jewel which holds the elves in thrall...

These are just what came to mind as I typed, as an attempt to illustrate variants on archetypal dragon-slaying stories (although, I must admit, they were all inspired by various sources...I'm curious if anyone can name them).

What are the classic dragon adventures? Off-beat ones are great, but I'm really looking for those core, mythic--archetypal--dragon quests.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I've never played a good (published) dragon hunting adventure.

There are quite a few adventures that feature a dragon in the role of "Guardian on the Threshold," including the moathouse of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, and the black dragon that guards the tomb Sakathka in Tomb of the Lizard King.

(Of Sound Mind is a great adventure, with a dragon capstone, but I don't think it fits your criteria.)

 

[Thanael]

You'll find a few of these in Dungeon magazine but mostly in the older issues. The very first issue has one, with a spectacular cover image, and there's a sequel to it in #17. But the actual adventure is not that good iirc. There are a few more and better ones in the later issues. See this Dungeon Magazine Index

 

[Agamon]

I can't think of anything either. I'm guessing it's such a cliche that it wasn't a worthy subject if publishing. So the irony is that it's so cliche that it doesn't exist!

 

[Thanael]

There's also the old 2E Dragon Mountain Boxed set, which is a large quest to find and kill the dragon. Here's a review.

 

[llamatron2000]

4e's Draconomicon has a couple of good plot hooks for dragon-hunting quests.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I remember playing Dragon Mountain back in my 2e days. I remember it sucking so bad that we never even got to the mountain.

The RPG.net review is interesting.

A while back I started a project with Destan (from ENworld) to do a "dragon adventure done right" but moth-balled it for various reasons-- I'll blame Destan's laziness, or his unwillingness to work for no pay, or both. Jerk.

I still think it is an adventure cliche that has yet to be done well. I'd love to see Paizo tackle it.

 

[hafrogman]

Dragons of Despair, the first Dragonlance adventure seems to have been fairly well received. I can't claim to have played it myself, but it seems to be a dragon-slaying type adventure.

You referenced Dragonlance in your own post, so it must have been there in your mind.

 

[Remathilis]

In the 2e anthology Treasure Tales, there was a variant of the "dragon captures the princess" story. Its interesting to say the least...

 

[Treebore]

The adventure wasn't all about the dragon, but for me it is the most significant and coolest part:

Sabre River