D&D 5E Storm King's Thunder is someone's Demonweb Pits

[Lakesidefantasy]

Okay, this is a good thread for me to relate one of my favorite finds.

I shop at a lot for old Dungeons and Dragons stuff at Half Price Books, and one day I made the purchase of a lifetime there. I bought a 2nd edition boxed set of Undermountain, but when I got it home inside was not anything about Undermountain. Instead there were six modules--the G-series, the D-series, and Q1... The Demonweb Pits! All originals! And what did it cost me?--$5!!!

Somebody didn't do their homework. Each one is worth $20-$30.

Anyway I've always wanted to tell that story.

 

[CrashFiend82]

I remember running Sunless Citadel many times as the starter 3e adventure. The two things that jumped out were being able to quickly get in over your head (having to run away) and choices to use diplomacy to set up a fight between the goblins and kobolds, plus Meepo was a great npc. A kobold the players often grew to love. The only other module I've heard great things about from 3e was Red Hand of Doom, did that come from Dungeon?

 

[jgsugden]

I remember running Sunless Citadel many times as the starter 3e adventure. The two things that jumped out were being able to quickly get in over your head (having to run away) and choices to use diplomacy to set up a fight between the goblins and kobolds, plus Meepo was a great npc. A kobold the players often grew to love. The only other module I've heard great things about from 3e was Red Hand of Doom, did that come from Dungeon?

Meepo may be one of the top 10 NPCs of all time. He joined many an adventuring party, and died many a comedic, horrific or just bizarre death in countless stories I've seen on various boards. My Meepo never advanced in level, but stuck with the party until a certain Black Dragon ambushed the party from beneath the waves...

 

[Voadam]

The only other module I've heard great things about from 3e was Red Hand of Doom, did that come from Dungeon?

No. I believe James Jacobs (one of the two authors) worked on Dragon at the time in a key role, but Red Hand of Doom was a full WotC stand alone 128 page module.

 

[Voadam]

2e depended on the setting for what people thought was best.

I heard really good things about The Great Modron March and Dead Gods from Planescape, but Ravenloft was more my thing. For Ravenloft I'd say about 1 in 3 was fantastic and at least 1 in 3 were terrible. For my tastes a lot of the earlier ones were on the fantastic end.

 

[Reynard]

No. I believe James Jacobs (one of the two authors) worked on Dragon at the time in a key role, but Red Hand of Doom was a full WotC stand alone 128 page module.

It is a great module. I think one of the reasons folks were so disappointed with Hoard of the Dragon Queen is that adventure's description kind of promised a RHoD type experience.

 

[Zardnaar]

2e depended on the setting for what people thought was best.

I heard really good things about The Great Modron March and Dead Gods from Planescape, but Ravenloft was more my thing. For Ravenloft I'd say about 1 in 3 was fantastic and at least 1 in 3 were terrible. For my tastes a lot of the earlier ones were on the fantastic end.

It had good adventures but they seemed to be in Dungeon, late TSR or pistvWotC buyout.

Night Below is generally regarded as great but a classic adventure requires a lot of people to be familiar with it imho.

Quality doesn't really matter it's the collective memory imho.

Ymmv of course. There's a difference between best 20 adventures of D&D ever and top 20 classic adventures. B2 belongs on one list not so much on the other.

 

[Umbran]

While new players can treasure the adventure paths as much as we treasure Demonweb pits, they won't be having our experience. It just isn't possible to relive it when so much has changed.

I don't at all think he was saying that they were having the older-gamer's experience. He was saying, that these have the same position in their experience, as the older modules do for older players. Saying they are analogous is not suggesting they are exactly the same experience.

 

[Mistwell]

I often say that Dragonheist is a terrible module that gave me some of my favorite 5E gaming memories. As an adventure, it is an absolute mess. But everything in it can be repurposed for a great open ended urban campaign.

We're finding Dragon Heist is just a city book, which has one potential string of linked adventures as a sort of model to start from.

Right now our party, after returning from finding some treasure in the depths of the mad mage's dungeon below the city, are attempting to expand our base of operations from the revitalized tavern. We're starting an orphanage to help the kids in the Field Ward district, working with one of the temples we encountered in the original Dragon Heist adventure, and taking on Xanathar's who has been using those kids as a recruiting pool for some horrible tasks.

We have a dragon ally under the waters, and another from the vaults. We have helped place the pirate king on the privy council that runs the city, and have allies with several factions who now owe us favors. We're trying to gain humanoid rights for the intelligent constructs of the city, and trying to solve the mystery of undead attacks from the cemetary. And we're fomenting a war between the Zhentarum and Xanathars.

This is all super awesome stuff, and it wouldn't exist without that baseline adventure from the book.

 

[Stormonu]

Correct. Rise of the Runelords was the first Pathfinder Adventure Path after Dungeon was canceled, but it was still in 3.5

Oh, sorry - my mistake. I remember running it with my group using Pathfinder rules. I somehow missed it was actually a 3.5 adventure.

Also, while I said Age of Wyrms earlier, I actually meant Shackled City. Though from what I've heard, both were well-liked and had lots of play.