D&D 5E Nominate Today's Top Adventures for Use in 5E

[LordEntrails]

Great replies so far everyone!

(I know that I am cheating a little with 2 OARs, but if I had to get rid of them I'd probably just put in Saltmarsh and Yawning Portal)

I don't think that's cheating. The Goodman Games' "Original Adventures Reincarnated" are totally fair game imo. They can be run in 5E so totally appropriate!

3rd: Dragon Heist
Controversial, I know. ...

I agree with you on all of that. I felt it requires too much remixing to qualify, but that's up for everyone to decide when we get to voting

Honorable because it's not actually built for 5E.

No need to be built for 5E. I bolded that part of the OP so we don't miss anything that should/would otherwise be included.

 

[Koppe]

The thread OP mentioned inspired me to make a Whatsapp poll to my group that has played D&D for over 30 yeras now. We made a full list of 30 best with some reasoning for the TOP 5. 4th edition adventures are not included because we play old school and they are diificult to convert.

30. X1 Isle of Dread

29. X4, Master of the Desert Nomads

28. The slumbering Tsar saga (OSR)

27. Tomb of Annihilation

26. A1-4 Scourge of the Slave Lords

25. B4 The Lost City

24. Night below

23. Dungeon #38 Horror's harvest

22. U1 The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh

21. Operation unfathomable

20. Dungeon #121 The Styes

19. Carrion hill (Pathfinder)

18. Dungeon #90 Tears for Twilight Hollow

17. Lost mine of Phandelver

16. House on the Hook street (Pathfinder)

15. Caverns of Thracia

14. J1 Entombed with the Pharaohs (Pathfinder)

13. Better than any man (Lotfp)

12. Freeport trilogy

11. Feast of Ravenmoor (Pathfinder)

10. Rise of the drow (Pathfinder)

9. I1 Dwellers of the Forbidden City

8. I3 Pharaoh

7. The Red prophet rises (OSR)

6. Way of the wicked (Pathfinder)

5. X10 Night's Dark Terror
- Great story and content for closer to 10 sessions. Showed us that D&D can be much more than dungeon crawling.

4. Hot springs island (OSR, system agnostic)
- Awsome jubgle sandbox that just feels so alive. Gives you the feeling that no matter how much you explore there’s still a lot to be found.

3. Death frost doom (Lotfp)
The atmosphere in this one is 10+. When the first ice skull drops on the floor and we hear a door opening somewhere in the dark, its like playing Doom on tabletop.

2. Curse of Strahd
The atmosphere in this one is only 10, but god there is a lot to play in this one and unlike other 5E adventures, this has cohesive narrators voice.

1. Red hand of doom
A war sandbox like no other. Players are free to help the community the way they see fit and their choises really matter and add to the outcome. Best RPG experience I’ve had during my 30+ years of gaming.

 

[Retreater]

I've only got three for the list. I can't think of anything else for this generation worthy of being on the list - and anything from previous editions would be too difficult to overhaul.

1 The Curse of Strahd
A thematic sandbox with great individual dungeons, randomized goals for replayability, a legendary villain, detailed towns and side quests - this update to the classic Ravenloft expands on every aspect of the original to make the best 5e adventure.

2 Lost Mines of Phandelver
Phandelver is 5e's Keep on the Borderlands. This is the adventure that modern players cut their teeth on. With the growth of the number of players in this edition, it's very possible that more people have played Phandelver than Keep on the Borderlands. While veteran players may find it cliche, it has all the familiar tropes and is an excellent teaching adventure for new DMs and players alike.

3 Tomb of Annihilation
Exotic locations, flavorful starting city, fantastic climactic killer dungeon, legendary villain, and probably the best hexcrawl put out by WotC, ToA deserves a spot on this list. If Phandelver is this edition's Keep on the Borderlands, ToA is its Isle of Dread.

 

[GuyBoy]

OK, 5 greatest adventures that still work today, regardless of system they are written for:
5 Lost Mine of Phandelver: a masterpiece of an introduction.
4 Curse of Strahd: I was genuinely terrified playing this
3 Rappan Athuk: puts the “dungeon” into D&D
2 The Enemy Within: multi-layered intrigue and looming menace
1 The Night Below: simply the greatest campaign

And I hate myself for leaving out Dwellers in the Forbidden City, Saltmarsh, Tsojcanth and Caverns of Thracia

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I agree with you on all of that. I felt it requires too much remixing to qualify, but that's up for everyone to decide when we get to voting

The first time I've run it (I've run it three times now) I essentially did it as written and had a great time. I still feel it's gold when you don't just use the adventure but also the rest of the book, and other material (there is a Xmas adventure somewhere that uses the Cassalanters which is perfect for the level 2 gap). If you don't use the villain lairs for example, that's a travesty. For me it's less "run as written" and more "super excellent outline that a skilled DM can do wonders with." Not sure how that qualifies.

No need to be built for 5E. I bolded that part of the OP so we don't miss anything that should/would otherwise be included.

I probably should revise my answer to specifically Death on the Reik (not the Enemy Within) as Enemy in Shadows actually doesn't work well for 5E. Problem is folks need to convert the adventure, making 5E equivalents of the encounters, hence the Honorable Mention. if they do it though, great adventure.

 

[Shiroiken]

Pharaoh
Castle Amber
Keep on the Borderlands
Mines of Phandelver
Five Coins for a Kingdom (very railroady though)

 

[overgeeked]

That's tough. My top five would be:

Curse of Strahd. I mean, come on. It's already a classic. Ravenloft, at least a small part of it, done mostly right. The adventure and writing are top notch. It's tougher than your standard "we just win" 5E adventure.

Dragon Heist. Despite the hate this one gets, it was the most fun I've had playing 5E. The factions, the NPCs, the city...it was a blast. The DM who ran it is not the best with factions, cities, intrigue, or non-combat stuff, so I can only assume he ran it as straight as possible...while reacting to the players' inevitable shenanigans.

Dark of Hot Springs Island. Absolutely brilliant hexcrawl adventure. Lots of secrets and mysteries to uncover. Lots of NPCs and creatures to interact with. Lots of points of interest to explore and investigate. Hexcrawls done right with a wonderful presentation and layout.

Enemy Within. What's left to say about Enemy Within? It's a spectacular intrigue campaign. I prefer the 4E version to the original. The end isn't spectacular but it's better than the original. The added grognard boxes help change things up for people who've run through it before or if the DM wants to fiddle with it but have specific advice on how and where to.

Skull & Shackles. A great pirate adventure path for Pathfinder. Easily adapted to 5E. Covers all the bases you'd think of in a pirate campaign and then some. Way more railroad that I'd like to run straight. But with even a little work it would make for a great sandbox.

 

[pukunui]

2nd: Age of Worms. The best of the 3e adventure paths. A really solid campaign of growing evil. Strong individual chapters and a nice overarching theme. Part One the Gathering of Winds has probably the best dungeon I’ve seen in a game for tier 1 characters.

3rd: Odyssey of the Dragonlords. Epic, campaign with a capital E. Heroes at the heart of everything in a great setting. Very thematic. Beautiful to read and to DM. Best Greek campaign I’ve seen.

Ugh, no. Both of those are as bad as Dragon Heist if not worse. Age of Worms has some fun moments, but none of them let you affect the outcome of the AP in any way. The PCs are just along for the ride. And Odyssey of the Dragonlords is a hideous mess written by people who don't understand that a TTRPG adventure shouldn't be written like it's a CRPG - and it needed at least one more playtesting/proofreading pass than it got.

3rd: Dragon Heist
Controversial, I know. The reason people dislike this is due to its overall layout, and elements of railroading that seem difficult to avoid. However, in the hands of a skilled DM this adventure is pure gold. The plot and mystery is well-written to intrigue PCs, and the hook (100,000 gold!) is guaranteed to raise their hackles. The key is to take all the disparate pieces and coalesce them into something truly awesome. Other folks like the Alexandrian have done a great job with this, but I hacked together a version not nearly as complex that worked fantastic. Pick a villain and use their lair as the actual end to the adventure (while giving the PCs help to balance against a possibly too powerful foe) and they'll talk about this adventure for years.

I thought the OP said not to include ones that require extensive prep to make them work. Dragon Heist is a hot mess as written and therefore doesn't really fit the OP's criteria.


As for me, here are my current top 5, in no particular order:

• Curse of Strahd - A solid, self-contained sandboxy adventure with a compelling villain, a strong theme, and plenty of interesting encounter locations. It's by no means perfect, but I've both played and DMed it and enjoyed myself immensely both times.
• Tomb of Annihilation - Another solid, self-contained sandboxy adventure. Yes, the hexcrawl can get a bit tiresome, but it's even more fun when you don't introduce the death curse right away. I've DMed it all the way through once and am a good chunk of the way through a second run-through.
• Storm King's Thunder - This one is a fun open world with some great locations. The giant lairs are fantastic. The mid-section is wide open, allowing the PCs to stretch their legs and really get a feel for the setting. You can have a lot of fun with this one. (I recommend skipping the opening mini-adventure, though, as it's a bit rushed and naff.)
• "Trouble in Red Larch" - This is the opening mini-adventure from Princes of the Apocalypse. It's become my 5e version of the Village of Hommlet. It's a great little location with fleshed out NPCs, some fun little mini quests, and a fun little mystery to solve.
• Scourge of the Sword Coast - One of the D&D Next playtest era adventures. It's an unsung treasure. Does a great job building on the Daggerford area lore from previous editions. Plot is a wee on the thin side but the five main adventure locations are evocative and fun, with plenty of entry and exit points. They are all great examples of the Alexandrian's "Jaquaying the dungeon" concept. The only real letdown is that the real conclusion of the adventure was included as the opening segment of the follow-up, Dead in Thay - although it was left out of the updated version that appears in Tales from the Yawning Portal. The adventure locations and attention to detail easily add up to make this one of my most favorite D&D adventures to run ever. I've run it twice and would happily run it again.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I thought the OP said not to include ones that require extensive prep to make them work. Dragon Heist is a hot mess as written and therefore doesn't really fit the OP's criteria.

As an outline and toolkit to improve the adventure, it's a great book. It's horribly laid out, but if you read the thing back-to-front you'll have everything you need. First time I ran it almost as-is-written and it was great.

 

[pukunui]

As an outline and toolkit to improve the adventure, it's a great book. It's horribly laid out, but if you read the thing back-to-front you'll have everything you need. First time I ran it almost as-is-written and it was great.

I tried to run it as written and it was horrid. I think the part we all hated the most was the very railroady chase sequence. (It doesn't help that 5e's chase rules suck.) YMMV I guess.

I did use the Xanathar's lair to great effect in a different campaign, though. I also gave Trollskull Manor to my DotMM group, but they've been spending 99% of the campaign in the dungeon, so it hasn't really been used. So yes, as a toolkit, it's great. As an adventure, it is absolutely hands down the worst adventure WotC has published for 5e. So I maintain that it does not fit @LordEntrails' criteria for inclusion.