What are the worst classic D&D adventure modules?

[kaomera]

S2 White Plume Mountain

I know it's a classic, but my (several) experiences with this module where simply absurdly bad. The group I played with simply was not interested in doing the whole "fetch us a shrubbery magic item" thing, especially if it meant trekking way out into the wilderness. If the powers that be can't be bothered getting it themselves, then we certainly can't be bothered to walk into the trap, thanks. On top of this, once forced into the dungeon it's simply a series of random obstacles, none of which we had any real reason to engage. The room with the spheres and the room with the hanging platforms I remember as being particularly odious.

Anyway, that's just my remembrances from playing through the module (abortively) three times... I read it years ago, and remember being dismayed to find what I thought at the time was uncharacteristically bad DMing was in fact the way the module recommended playing it.

 

[TarionzCousin]

S2 White Plume Mountain

What? This module is made of Awesome Sauce™!!!

Spoiler alert for the eight people who don't know about this module:
[sblock]
It's short and sweet and full of weirdness: a sphinx with riddles, a puzzle golem, a gigantic crab that loves to dance, a stream that flows through the air, and hanging platform circles over lava.

Okay, I made up the part about the crab loving to dance. [/sblock]

 

[Lancelot]

This module has all the trappings of a potentially cool adventure but that's about it. A good DM can effectively re-write the thing into something playable.

Another classic? UK1 Beyond the Crystal Cave. Romeo and Juliet gets em wet

Yeah, I suspected that someone would mention UK1... but it's not really indicative of the D&D experience. UK1 is the "don't kill anything" module. The optimal path through it is to avoid all combat, which isn't really the essence of D&D (kill orcs, take their pies). The Romeo & Juliet elements are only there at the end. Most of the module is actually pretty odd, and rewards a certain level of intelligence and sophistication from the player.

N2, on the other hand, is very basic. There's this crazy dwarf, see... and he thinks the ugly rats are out to get him! And there's this hideous ogre, and he's holding the flying horsie captive! Simple PC motivations and simple challenges. Good for the kids, and introduces them to the basic tropes of fantasy roelplaying (...but, admittedly, pretty suckful for us hardened veterans).

I'll maintain, however, that claiming N2 is worse than H4 (or the Avatar trilogy, or Puppets, or Castle Greyhawk, or Beyond Castle Caldwell)... man, have you read any of those latter modules?!? Eeeyuck.

 

[Henry]

spoiler about White Plume Mountain:

[sblock]Not Lava, Boiling Mud. The Mountain is a steam geyser.[/sblock]

As for my picks:

N2 Forest Oracle, because IMO something THAT much in need of an editor does not need to see print. Cool concepts are great, but cool concepts can get completely lost in the face of really bad writing.

Also, I still have to go with the the Avatar Triogy as the worst I've ever tried to play. It was King of the static cutscene -- even the Dragonlance modules don't approach it. It was like playing through Hamlet as Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, except you don't have the relief of dying part way through.

 

[Marx420]

Put another one in for tomb of horrors. I lost 8 of my thief characters in that death pit. When finally we reached the demi-lich I lost it and used the burning module to light my first joint. Gary Gygax was an unprecedented gaming visionary but his fantasy ideal was a few shades more brutal than mine, though I will admit it was a valuable dungeoneering experience. Also the 2e rehash return to the tomb of horrors somewhat redeemed it in mine eyes an I still stick Acerak into any campaign I can.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

How does something get to be a classic, yet still suck? Unless it's so bad that it remembered just for being so horrible. Forest Oracle gets my nod for that. But the absolute worst module ever is Castle Greyhawk. Everyone involved with the publication of that abomination should be locked in a room with the Golden Girls and forced to watch reruns of Roseanne for all eternity.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Put another one in for tomb of horrors. I lost 8 of my thief characters in that death pit. When finally we reached the demi-lich I lost it and used the burning module to light my first joint. Gary Gygax was an unprecedented gaming visionary but his fantasy ideal was a few shades more brutal than mine, though I will admit it was a valuable dungeoneering experience. Also the 2e rehash return to the tomb of horrors somewhat redeemed it in mine eyes an I still stick Acerak into any campaign I can.

In fairness to EGG - it was a Gencon Origins tournament module, intended to be a joke, that was created for one shot play. It was just 101 ways to die by ridiculously unfair traps and wholly unbalanced challenges with a character you had absolutely nothing invested in. It was never, ever, intended to be more than that. It's a classic because the encounters were more in the nature of a puzzle - and not a standard combat module.

At least the classic Mud Sorceror's Tomb was designed to be theoretically survivable. Tomb of Horrors wasn't and didn't hold itself out to be anything other than it was: a cruel and unfair meatgrinder

 

[Filcher]

It's got to be Castle Greyhawk. Not "classic" by any stretch, and the worst bit of dreck ever to receive a stat block.

After that, any "classic era" module for character levels 20+. Even Isle of the Ape was terrible in this regard.

 

[Connorsrpg]

I would have to completely agree with what was said about the DL modules. I only played the first few, but felt like a spectator. We HAD to do what the novel characters did and when I found out my PC couldn't die?!

But, I don't think they are bad modules/adventures. I agree it was more the novels' fault and stupid rules being added. I would actually like to run someone through the adventures one day.

We played Castle Greyhawk as a one-shot humourous session. We had fun, but I would have absolutely hated it as an adventure inserted into any standard campaign - which also leads me to agree with the post regarding judgement of The Tomb of Horrors as being harsh.

Tournament modules are completely different 'monsters' than adventures designed to slot into your campaign. There is a process of elimination (of PCs) to help the scoring. I like them for what they are, but would heavily modify them if I was to use them in a campaign.

Gargoyles was stupid when you think about the hook too, but overall I don't think I have run or played in a module that was a complete disaster. (Where it was the module's doing anyway). But I have avoided several despite owning them for many years. "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks" I am looking at you..

C

 

[Derulbaskul]

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.

I absolutely agree. It was nothing other than an unimaginative dungeon crawl and its publication marked the point where I realised that Gary, as talented as he was, was simply incapable of meeting a deadline. The fact that there was a 5-year wait and then this hack'n'slash fest was published with several incomplete levels turned me off TSR products for a more than a few years. Not only that, here was a temple of elemental evil and no effort had been made to make the clerics of each element feel at all different to each other.

Woeful.