What are the greatest published adventures you've run?

[S'mon]

A lot of adventures seem great, but are flawed in play. This can be an obvious flaw like Lost City of Gaxmoor's CR 20 BBEG in an adventure for 10th level PCs. It can be more subtle - B5 Horror on the Hill is beautifully designed but an absolute meatgrinder, too much for my group even using 3rd level 3e PCs -it was supposedly written for 1st level BECMI PCs! B7 Rahasia was overall very good but I had to greatly simplify the end section, and a bone golem was a bit much for 1st-2nd level PCs.
I enjoyed the C&C DCC Palace of Shadows a lot; it suffered a bit from being sketchy in places, the final battle has no room description. Typical DCC lack of editing I guess, but still very good. Lost City of Barakus is extremely robust, 30+ sessions of play, let down by an underwhelming finale battle - blame 3e's overpowered spellcasters, the lich got Scorching Blasted to death in one attack! Vault of Larin Karr is an excellent sandbox, after reducing the map scale to 1/5 the art is the only thing I dislike about it.

All the 4e modules I've seen have been pretty atrocious. I like Dungeon Delve but I'm not sure it counts.

 

[S'mon]

I think that the real memorable part of Castle Amber is the trip to Averoigne. That right there made that entire module the coolest. The Ambervilles were crazy as bat crap, but the garden and the golem, and.... Just too much coolness. Moldvay really did a great thing with that one.

I ran Castle Amber 25 years ago, when I was 13. But yes, I think that must be my all-time favourite module.

 

[Redshirt]

The Slaver's Series was my favorite, followed closely by Desert of Desolation. Another I really liked and still steal from today is Egg of the Phoenix.

 

[pemerton]

Were there any other modules from the "B" or "X" series that stood out for anyone?

I'm currently running a 4e campaign using Night's Dark Terror. In addition to converting I've tweaked it a lot and fleshed it out with both my own stuff and bits and pieces of H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth. But I think it's a good module, and I'm not surprised to find it high on the list in Mearls' latest Legends & Lore.

 

[pemerton]

So many people love Desert of Desolation. I've got the modules and have looked through them, but have never tried to run it. And haven't really been inspired to.

Can someone tell me more about why it is so good in play? Also, does anyone have any tips for what I might cut if I wanted to run it in a fashion that highlighted the good bits but took out what seemed (at least on a superficial reading) like a bit too much dungeon crawling?

 

[MerricB]

The choices so far...

Note that I've excluded a few from the list if the nominator mentioned that they had to heavily modify it: that speaks highly of the initial premise and their skill as a modifier, but not of the quality of the adventure module itself!

The current TOP 6 choices are:
I6 Ravenloft x7
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief x5
U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh x5
A2 Secret of the Slaver's Stockade x4
B2 Keep on the Borderlands x4
I3 Pharoah x4

Here's the list...

Basic Dungeons & Dragons
B2 Keep on the Borderlands x4
B4 Lost City x2

Expert Dungeons & Dragons
X1 Isle of Dread x3
x2 Castle Amber x2
x4 Master of the Desert Nomads
X5 Temple of Death

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
D1-2 Descent into the Depths of the Earth
DL1 Dragons of Despair
I3-5 Desert of Desolation x2
I3 Pharoah x2
I4 Oasis of the White Palm
I6 Ravenloft x7
I11 Egg of the Phoenix
A1-4 Scourge of the Slavelords x3
A2 Slaver's Stockade
G1-3 Against the Giants x3
G1 Steading of the Hill Giant Chief x2
L1 Secret of Bone Hill x2
L2 Assassin's Knot
N2 The Forest Oracle
WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun x3
WG5 Mordenkainen's Fantastic Adventure
WG8 Fate of Istus
N1 Against the Cult of the Reptile God
U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh x5
U2 Danger at Dunwater
U3 The Final Enemy
S1 Tomb of Horrors x2
S2 White Plume Mountain x2
S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks x2
S4 Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth
T1 Village of Hommlet x2
T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil
UK4 When a Star Falls
UK6 All that Glitters
Caverns of Thracia
The Black Manse

AD&D 2nd Edition
Return to the Keep on the Borderlands
Fires of Dis
Return to the Tomb of Horrors x2
The Eternal Boundary
Harbinger House
The Gates of Firestorm Peak
Hellbound
Dead Gods

3rd Edition:
The Sunless Citadel x2
Forge of Fury x2
Heart of Nightfang Spire
Gary Gygax's Necropolis
The Whispering Cairn
The Prince of Redhand
Red Hand of Doom x3
Age of Worms
Kobold King trilogy
Of Sound Mind x2
Lost City of Barakus
Vault of Larin Karr x2
The Sea Wyvern's Wake
Here be Monsters
Dragon Fiend Pact
Death in Freeport
Life's Bazaar
Expedition to Castle Greyhawk
McMoren's Vault
Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
Palace of Shadows

4th Edition:
H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth
P2 Demon Queen's Enclave

Warhammer FRP
Shadows Over Bögenhafen x2
Death on the Reik

Call of Cthulhu
Masks of Nyarlathotep x3
The Haunted House (Trail of Tsathoggua)

Villains and Vigilantes
From the Deeps of Space

Dragon Warriors
Fury of the Deep
Box of Old Bones

Rolemaster
The Orgillion Horror

Runequest
Borderlands

Paranoia
The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues

Pendragon
Blood and Lust

Classic Traveller
Mission to Mithril

 

[Fifth Element]

Against the Cult of the Reptile God (1e): I used to know this one backwards and forwards.

Fighter's Challenge (2e): You heard me. I played through it and later DM'ed it. Lots of good stuff.

 

[medanum6298]

I have good memories of running G1 Steading of the Hill Giants


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[Primitive Screwhead]

First: I6 ravenloft... nuf said there

Runner ups include:
Deserts of Desolation
Temple of elemental evil
War of the burning sky
Ravenloft II: house on griffon hill
Of Sound Mind
Chrome Berets

Not ran (yet). Coils of Set


The unifying theme is that the modules above all create a dynamic world with NPC involvment. The world is more than a prop for the players.


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[rgard]

For me:

G1-3: Killing really big orcs is always fun.

S4 Lost Caverns of the Unpronounceable Word. Lots of great new spells to be had.

JG's City State of the Invincible Overlord. Not a module exactly, but we gamed many a session in that city.