What are the new 'Classics'?

[SoldierBlue]

I'd say that both Goodman Games' Castle Whiterock and Rappan Athuk 1-3 (or reloaded) are superior large dungeons to WLD, though Whiterock is much less well known, and I suspect fewer have played RA than WLD.


If I had to pick one of those as a classic, I'd go with Rappan Athuk.

I should have noted Rappan Athuk. Never played, but it echoes through the early days of 3rd Edition...

Castle Whiterock - check - thanks for the recommend. I'd always wondered of all those (hundreds?) of Goodman Games mods, which ones were good and/or great. There are so many...I was concerned there might be a case of an infinite number of monkeys on an infinite number of typewriters, but you're not the first one to recommend this mod and others from Goodman...

I'm just dismayed that there don't seem to be any 4th Edition classics in the offing, either from WotC or from third-party publishers (like Goodman...).

 

[Steel_Wind]

Hello out there,

I play Pathfinder, so I'm vaguely aware of what might (and I stress might) be considered the new classic adventures for Pathfinder. 'Stolen Land', perhaps? 'Burnt Offerings' (which, of course, was actually a 3.5 mod...)?

For Pathfinder? The two you listed as well as The Sixfold Trial are the strong candidates.

For 3.5, The Whispering Cairn has the pole position, certainly.

I don't think the others mentioned, including Freeport, have both the enduring popularity and the shared experience element to rate as a trueclassic. I think Bulmahn's Mad God's Key (Dungeon #114) also comes close, but probably falls a little short in the shared experience element, as does Red Hand of Doom for the same reason.

Freeport was purchased FAR more than it was played during 3.xx (this can be said of almost all adventures, to be honest). Point is: it's popularity has not endured, so I don't think it makes the grade, in retrospect.

Mind you, I'm not sure any of the Pathfinder APs, other than perhaps Kingmaker 1: Stolen Land, also have the shared experience element to rate as a true classic, either.

That will change next June when Burnt Offerings is re-released as part of the RotRL hardcover complilation. Then I think its classic status will be assured.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

This is excellent - I love hearing about hidden gems that weren't necessarily a part of the larger 'conversation'.

Auld Grump - any particular mods you can recommend from Monkeygod?

Being quite old myself and sometimes very grumpy I think I'd might chime in.

We have had a lot of fun with "Shadows Under Thessaline" an early work (2001) by none other than Ari Marmell.

It is for levels 3-4 and give you three separate and different dungeons with a background story that's rather original and sports some twists and turns to surprise the players.

Heartily recommended!

 

[NewJeffCT]

I liked Burnt Offerings quite a bit, and the initial goblin encounters went over really well at the table (I ran it in 4E). I thought Skinsaw was a good follow-up, but I didn't love the rest of the AP, so I'm in the process of switching over to Kingmaker.

I'm starting it at a higher level, but I like the open-endedness of it. (FYI - the bandits are higher level and more numerous, mites are replaced with spriggans, the taetzlwyrn is replaced with a hydra, etc. Keeping the kobolds, but trapping up their lair...) I think I may cut out an encounter or two per module because the party is already verging on level 9.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

S'pose I should include Ptolus and World's Largest Dungeon. Not my cup of tea, and I never played them; I never bought into the implicit "bigger is better" credo around either of these things. However, they seemed to resonate through the community...

Have you read Ptolus? It's not a mega-dungeon like Undermountain; it's a city atop a mega-dungeon.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

This is excellent - I love hearing about hidden gems that weren't necessarily a part of the larger 'conversation'.

Auld Grump - any particular mods you can recommend from Monkeygod?

Adventures from Monkey God Enterprises were often mysteries, thinking things through being at least as important as being a quick draw with a blade.

At the Edge of Dreams -

Spoiler

in a time of tension between the humans and the Fey someone is committing atrocities, with each side blaming the other.

All the King's Men,

Spoiler

a group of doppelgangers disguise themselves as... a troupe of actors? Doing plays?

Song of Storms -

Spoiler

Disastrous storms seem almost to under somebody's malignant will.

The Magic Dump - about, well, a garbage dump, for magic....

Not adventures, but, damn - Stone to Steel: equipment and rules broken down by era, from paleolithic to blackpowder. Also excellent is Frost & Fur - what Frostburn really should have been.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Available from Highmoon Media.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Well, if you're looking for "hidden gems" as well as classics I can list a few more.

Just about everything by Open Design is of very, very high quality. They switched from a pure patronage model (where only patrons would be able to buy the adventures) to more of a patron designed kickstarter model and others would be able to purchase the adventures. They have good 4e and 3e/pathfinder materials.

For Monkeygod, I'll agree with Auld, but also add the Maze of Screaming Silence, and for one of the better high level adventures out there hellstone deep.

The Freeport Trilogy and the Witchfire Trilogy were great, and of high quality, I'll agree (not sure they're classics, but they're awesome).

MUCH of Necromancer Games modules were fantastic. I'm almost comfortable with just reccomending the company as I have for Open Design. I'd say there were no bad ones, but possibly one or two "meh" ones.

Goodman Games is somewhat as you say. Sometimes it feels like "plop, here's a dungeon" and sometimes it's a really clever, innovative, and exciting romp. Oddly, I think most of their best "dungeon crawl classics" are actually the ones that stay out of the dungeon the most.

Possibly up for "classic" status (it's a collectible, and beloved by people with more old school bent) is not really an adventure, per se, but more of a giant sandbox...The Wilderlands of High Fantasy.

Of Sound Mind is consistently reccomended as the "gold standard" of how to write an adventure.



I can give more reccomendations if you like, or be more picky about some of the companies I've mentioned...but I'll stop here for now.

 

[SoldierBlue]

Funny you should mention Of Sound Mind. I was just thinking of what an excellent little module that was. Not a classic, in that it never had the ubiquity, but a fine outing all the same. Perhaps if Return to Temple of Elemental Evil is the The Joshua Tree of modules (epic beginning, middling middle, grand conclusion), Of Sound Mind is like a Pavement album (Slanted & Enchanted, anyone?) - dearly appreciated by a small minority...

 

[SoldierBlue]

Necromancer Games' modules from the early '00s...I have a few of them. They're good, but would it be a fair criticism to suggest they were perhaps a little too in the thrall of Tomb of Horrors (more than could be considered healthy)?

I have to check out MonkeyGod and Open Design...I wonder if there are any left out there for purchase on the 'information superhighway' ...

 

[gamerprinter]

Although Rite Publishing has a solid list of supporting products for Pathfinder, among some other games, the Kaidan setting is one such product and of the introductory 3 part module trilogy, The Curse of the Golden Spear, at least the first module, The Gift, has been called an 'instant classic' by Game Knight reviews (on their Facebook page). All the other reviews on Kaidan products on the Paizo page.

Next week on Thursday, we are releasing a free PDF download adventure module called The Frozen Wind as one-shot game as a Halloween promotion.

Note: I'm just a freelancer for Rite, and Kaidan is my patronage project and concept creation.

While we continue to release support material for the setting: monsters, factions, races, etc., my hope is to begin a larger, full AP going from 1st to 16th (or 20th level) set in Kaidan sometime next year.

Might be worth considering.