What are the worst classic D&D adventure modules?

[Bullgrit]

There have been lots to discussions, articles, and lists for the best classic D&D adventure modules. But I don't think we've ever talked about the worst of them.

What are the worst classic D&D adventure modules ever published? Why are they bad?

For this discussion, let's keep "classic D&D adventure modules" to mean: officially published by TSR -- Mod Code Index

Bullgrit

 

[renau1g]

Dragons of Despair? That's the super-railroad one right?

I also dislike Tomb of Horrors, but that's because I dislike that playstyle. I usually invest more heavily in PC's and to have a "gotcha" moment that destroys them without mayn options for me to have avoided it bugs me.

 

[billd91]

I know there will be jabs at modules like WG11 - Puppets and the notorious WG7 - Castle Greyhawk, but for my money, the biggest disappointment I've ever personally run or played was T-14 - The Temple of Elemental Evil.

The Temple of Elemental Evil starts great. The village of Hommlet is a great starter module. The temple has good potential with factions that the PCs can exploit if they figure out there are nasty rivalries. But the dungeon crawl is too tedious and long, the 4th level's layout is silly, the elemental nodes can be completely dispensed with. The whole thing needed a much tigher focus and streamlining to be worth playing until completion.

Given its good bits, I couldn't classify the whole thing as the worst classic module, but I would put in the running for biggest disappointment.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I never liked:
B8 Journey to the Rock
B9 Castle Caldwell and Beyond
H1-4 Bloodstone Pass series (there was a tarrasque in a room as part of a test!)
WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
WG7 Castle Grehawk (although if played for laughs, maybe)
WG9 Gargoyle
WG11 Puppets

 

[Piratecat]

Oh lordy, WG9 Gargoyle. So... BAD. I still wince every time I think of it. Based entirely on the illustration of the wingless gargoyle in the 1e MM, the module assumes that gargoyles can remove their wings. One gargoyle's wings get stolen and you have to go save them.

Twitch.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The worst award certainly goes to N2 The Forest Oracle. This one was bad enough to get it's own thread here which has been ressurected several times. The thread still lies in wait.....slumbering.....for now.

 

[Mallus]

Tomb of Horrors gets my vote.

I'll concede it's also one of the best, depending on what you think defines the classic D&D experience.

 

[Lazybones]

The worst award certainly goes to N2 The Forest Oracle. This one was bad enough to get it's own thread here which has been ressurected several times. The thread still lies in wait.....slumbering.....for now.

I was coming in here to post that one. That thread was... memorable. I think I may actually still have the module somewhere.

 

[renau1g]

I remember reading that thread too having never experienced it in all its "glory", but at least I got to live vicariously through all of you lucky souls who got to play it.

 

[TerraDave]

I have been looking at these classics as part of my little history project.

Did you know that between 1978 and 1988, TSR produced about 150 modules for the various editions of D&D?

About 50 of these were between 78-83. This includes the 30 or so "classic classics" that make the lists of best modules and tend to come up a lot, plus some "near classics" (Bone Hill, Master of the Desert Nomads...) and some oddities, like solo modules with invisible ink.

But then there are the other ~100 that would come out in the next 5 years.

Outside of the Dragonlance ones (which shall be discussed in this thread) the horrid Castle Greyhawk (also for this thread) and a few like Black Arrow. Black Shield and Bloodstonepass, there are like 85 I have never heard of, and this is when I was following D&D pretty closely.

Just forgettable, too late, or maybe there are a lot of not very good "classics"?