Tell Me About The Famous Dungeons of D&D

[humantorch40]

Im in the process of homebrewing my setting at the moment and I really want to include all those great famous dungeons of the games colourful past for the players to look at on the world map and get excited about.

Can you guys post on the most famous or great or just even your own personal favs you have experience with in the past.

I dont intend to convert and run them as is but instead recreate them myself in my own way.

To help me with this when you post about one can you give a short summary of why you felt it was fun, unique, what kind of monsters were important to it, its flavour etc.

thks guys.

 

[Jack99]

Tomb of Horrors, because nowhere is are there so many dead adventurer corpses piled up in such a small area.

For me, ToH is the ultimate DM vs Players dungeon, with lethal traps around every corner and no attempt to justify the very powerful monsters living virtually side by side. I do not like this type of dungeon normally, but once it a while, I love breaking it out and "test" my players.

 

[Mark Hope]

Tomb of Horrors for sure. It's a classic. (Although there aren't "very powerful monsters living virtually side by side" in the ToH - in fact, the Tomb is notable for its almost total lack of creatures.)

White Plume Mountain - another classic that has featured in every edition of the game so far in one form or another (except for 4e).

Rappan Athuk - awesome 3e megadungeon with a huge variety of denizens, societies, and cool features scattered throughout. Perfect for sandbox-style dungeoneering.

Undermountain - Promises far more than it delivers, but the detailed areas are rich and engrossing. Perfect if you don't mind doing lots of additional work yourself.

Desert of Desolation - A series of adventures featuring one cool dungeon after another, from Amun-Re's pyramid, to the Crypt of Badr-al-Mosak, to the fabled Lost Tomb of Martek. Oodles of oddball goodness.

Castle Greyhawk - Depending on which version you use (stay away from the joke one!), you'll have different experiences. The 3e hardcover provides an authentic Greyhawk experience, but the 2e Greyhawk Ruins is a huge dungeon with great potential in its own right, even if it strays from "canon" and common sense alike. Lots to see and do and kill and loot.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I'll throw in a vote for Dragon Mountain. Having read the module after playing it, there was a lot there I didn't like, but the central premise - a giant, plane-hopping mountain within which an ancient Red Dragon rules over about 10 different tribes of kobolds, was awesome fun.

I'd love to have another crack at that sometime, in 4e, because I think we could have a lot of fun negotiating, infiltrating and generally wreaking chaos across the tribes.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Tomb of Horrors: Of course. This is a gimme, even if your players never decide to go there, it should at least have a presence.

Keep on the Borderlands: Perhaps the second or third best known D&D module ever.

The Temple of Elemental Evil: I prefer the original over the Return, but both are good.

G 1-3: You know, Hill Giants, Frost Giants and Fire Giants. Adsolute classics.

 

[Prism]

Some less famous yet still famous ones

Hidden shrine of Tamoachan is an Aztec themed dungeon where you had to fight your way out rather than in

Tsojcanth was a proper old school crazy dungeon with plots and history mixed with random monsters

Maure Castle is a massive dungeon which was updated to 3e in Dragon

 

[howandwhy99]

Castle Greyhawk is likely vaporware, but it is also the most famous dungeon in D&D. Tomb of Horrors is probably second, but everything is relative after CG.

 

[justanobody]

Undermountain....

I'm lazy, so what Mark Hope said...

 

[Belorin]

Tomb of Horrors definitely, Keep on the Boderland, Temple of Elemental Evil and my two personal favorites, Ghost Tower of Inverness and White Plume Mountain.
A couple of honorable mentions are Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and the original Ravenloft.
Oh and Vault of the Drow!

Bel

 

[Betote]

I'd like to add Tomb of Abysthor, one of my personal favorites because of the dungeon politics and different spaces. It's a place your PCs can visit many times, each one on a different quest, and find the dungeon changed because of their acts.

Add my vote, too, for Tomb of Horrors, Temple of Elemental Evil, Castle Greyhawk, Undermountain, Rappan Athuk and Castle Ravenloft (although for this one, the "real deal" is the village of Barovia).

I'm liking a lot the Runeforge (dungeon from Pathfinder #5), and the Whispering Cairn (from the Age of Worms AP) is on its way to become a new classic.