D&D General Most pulpy Sword & Sorcery adventures?

[Olgar Shiverstone]

D&D has a lot of influences and has had many different styles of adventures released over its many editions.One of its key influences is pulp Sword & Sorcery -- Howard's Conan, Leiber's Fafhrd & Grey Mouser, and the like.

So what do you think are the "most pulpy" or best Sword & Sorcery style adventures for D&D?

From the classics I think I'd vote for B4 The Lost City, X1 The Isle of Dread, and I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City. Curious what other suggestions there might be (I'm thinking the Conan modules and Lanhkmar modules might be gimmes, but IIRC they were not particularly good.).

 

[Lyxen]

To me, D&D has never been very much sword and sorcery, magic has always been very present in most modules especially at mid+ level, especially in AD&D, so your examples match my views. I remember some parts of CM6 Where Chaos Reigns being fairly S&S, but it might have been because of the adaptation of it that I ran.

 

[jdrakeh]

N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God is pretty pulpy. You've already named my top two picks, however (B4 and I1) . Those two are great because they're really campaign starters, rather than one and done adventures.

 

[Lyxen]

Actually, thinking about it, the Sinister U1 Secret of Saltmarsh and U2 Danger at Dunwater feel a bit S&S, although U3 definitively is not, at least to me.

 

[Voadam]

Maybe add in some of the Savage Tide Dungeon adventures from 3.5. Pirates, jungles, dinosaurs, demons.

The Conan and Lankhmar AD&D ones I do not think of as particularly S&S D&D although I like the Lankhmar setting book a lot and the Lankhmar sections of the AD&D Deities and Demigods/Legends and Lore. I would expect to get more of an S&S feel from the old Mongoose d20 Conan ones or particularly the Dungeon Crawl Classics Lankhmar ones.

 

[LoganRan]

N1: Against the Cult of the Reptile God is pretty pulpy. You've already named my top two picks, however (B4 and I1) . Those two are great because they're really campaign starters, rather than one and done adventures.

I've always felt that the title of N1 could have been ripped from any R.E. Howard Conan tale. The mere title: Against the Cult of the Reptile God just oozes pulpy goodness!

 

[David Howery]

I1 is about as pulpy as it gets... you're exploring a lost city in a jungle. One of the reasons it's my favorite...

 

[Scott Christian]

What about Conan Unchained? I remember owning it, but remember very little of the contents inside.

 

[not-so-newguy]

X4 Master of the Desert Nomads and X5 Temple of Death

Never played them, but they seem S&S.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I've always felt that the title of N1 could have been ripped from any R.E. Howard Conan tale. The mere title: Against the Cult of the Reptile God just oozes pulpy goodness!

I think along with Dwellers of the Forbidden City that Against the Cult of the Reptile God is the most REH title in D&D I can think of! Cults, Reptile Gods, and of course the heroes are always Against something -- darkness, deviltry, wizardry, the list goes on!

X4 Master of the Desert Nomads and X5 Temple of Death

Never played them, but they seem S&S.

I love those two modules. Pretty epic in scope though I think they take an experienced DM to get the most of and avoid the first half being a railroad and keep the second half manageable.

Now I'd like to run a BX/OSR campaign that starts in the Republic of Darokin, signs the party on as caravan guards across the lower Sind, loses them in a sandstorm to encounter B4, has them escape back to civilization having found Rory Barbarosa's letter and map to X1, then has them return from the jungle with riches and stories just in time to join the back end of the army going to defend Darokin against the Master's forces in X4/X5!