D&D General Dungeon Magazine's Top 30 Adventures: Do they hold up?

[edosan]

Whenever a discussion like this comes up I realize I can never really understand what people are looking for in a "good" adventure.

So many times the I hear "Well, I played X and we had fun" but I'd argue that "fun" has more to do with the group than the adventure itself because I know we've had fun with some godawful adventures over the years.

I'd also say it isn't because they're well-designed and easy to run because you get adventures that people day "Man, you have to spend ages to whip it into usable shape but, man, it's a good adventure" which begs the question it it really that good then?

Nostalgia is a factor too - part of me wants to put Keep on the Borderlands on the list but I also acknowledge that since it was one of the few adventures we actually had because we are all kids with no money we played it to death and most of my memories come from that.

 

[el-remmen]

No, he is not. He is the typical Gygaxian "screw you" that undermines the adventure whose purpose is to undermine the party ever trusting a NPC in the future. From level 1.

Having run this adventure many times, this has not been my experience. Though this brings to mind the following scenario:

NPC the party should have trusted but didn't: Who hurt you?
PC: Ned, Ned hurt me.




To be fair, however, the last two times I have run U1, instead of the ridiculous idea that Ned has been tied up naked as a trap - I have him be there for a punishment by the other bandits for being a drunk and a layabout - thus, I have him be less loyal to the bandits and how (and if) he screws over the party depends on whether he thinks he the PCs can be defeated and it gets him back in his gang's good graces. It has never happened, but I can imagine a version playing out where Ned never turns his coat during the old mansion search, but later tries to signal the Sea Ghost to warn them about the PCs.

 

[John R Davis]

The Starstone is my fav module from "way back then".
One day I may run it under 5th ed

 

[delericho]

In case it's of interest, here's the top 10 list of Dungeon adventures from that same article in #116:

10. "Siege of Kratys Freehold", by Ted James Thomas Zuvich (#33)
9. "The Forgotten Man", by Steve Daveney (#75)
8. "The Lich-Queen's Beloved", by Christopher Perkins (#100)
7. "The Lady of the Mists", by Peter Aberg (#42)
6. "Eye of Myrkul", by Eric L. Boyd (#73)
5. "Life's Bazaar", by Christopher Perkins (#97)
4. "Into the Fire", by Grant & David Boucher (#1)
3. "Kingdom of the Ghouls", by Wolfgang Baur (#70)
2. "The Harrowing", by Monte Cook (#84)
1. "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb", by Mike Shel (#37)

I should note that I've only ever run #5 (when I did "Shackled City" - it was really good), and have only ever read a handful of them (and that a long time ago), so I'm making no comment on the quality of this list.

 

[Mannahnin]

As I recall Bryce Lynch culled the entirety of Dungeon's print run to ten adventures he genuinely liked.

Dungeon Magazine – Final Retrospective | tenfootpole.org

tenfootpole.org

Bryce gives detailed capsule notes on his top 10 at the link, but here is the list:

10. The Spottle Parlor, issue #12, by Rick Swan, for levels 2-4
9. The Ruins of Nol-Daer, issue #13, by Howard McClesky, for levels 5-8
8. Ancient Blood, issue #20, by Dave Boucher, for levels 3-5
7. Incident at Strathern Point, issue #21, Matthew Maaske, for levels 8-10
6. Mightier than the Sword, issue #29, Willie Walsh, levels 1-4
5. Thiondar's Legacy, issue #30, Steven Kurtz, levels 8-12
4. Dovedale, issue #46, Ted James & Thomas Zuvich, levels 1-3
3. Peer Among the Waters, issue #78, Johnathan Richards, levels 1-2
2. Depths of Rage, issue #83, JD Walker, level 3
1. Shut-In, issue #128, F. Wesley Schneider & James L. Sutter, level 2

He also gives special mentions to Kingdom of the Ghouls, from issue #70 and The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb, from #37.

And has a series of six more articles each covering 25 issues and highlighting adventures that he thought were decent or had something interesting about them.

Dungeon Magazine | tenfootpole.org

tenfootpole.org

 

[el-remmen]

In case it's of interest, here's the top 10 list of Dungeon adventures from that same article in #116:

10. "Siege of Kratys Freehold", by Ted James Thomas Zuvich (#33)
9. "The Forgotten Man", by Steve Daveney (#75)
8. "The Lich-Queen's Beloved", by Christopher Perkins (#100)
7. "The Lady of the Mists", by Peter Aberg (#42)
6. "Eye of Myrkul", by Eric L. Boyd (#73)
5. "Life's Bazaar", by Christopher Perkins (#97)
4. "Into the Fire", by Grant & David Boucher (#1)
3. "Kingdom of the Ghouls", by Wolfgang Baur (#70)
2. "The Harrowing", by Monte Cook (#84)
1. "The Mud Sorcerer's Tomb", by Mike Shel (#37)

I should note that I've only ever run #5 (when I did "Shackled City" - it was really good), and have only ever read a handful of them (and that a long time ago), so I'm making no comment on the quality of this list.

My list would be completely different, except maybe for #10. I have never read #3. I have it and have heard it is great, but haven't gotten around to it.

My list might look something like this (in no particular order).

Moor-Tomb Map (#13)
Tallow's Deep (#18)
Chadranther's Bane (#18)
Ex Libris (#29)
The Wayward Wood (#32)
Is there an Elf in the House? (#32)
Song of the Fens (#40)
Unhallowed Ground (#54)
Janx's Jinx (#56)
The Bullywug's Gambit (#140)

 

[Jer]

In case it's of interest, here's the top 10 list of Dungeon adventures from that same article in #116:

4. "Into the Fire", by Grant & David Boucher (#1)

I should note that I've only ever run #5 (when I did "Shackled City" - it was really good), and have only ever read a handful of them (and that a long time ago), so I'm making no comment on the quality of this list.

This is the only one I actually ran mostly "as is" from the list (mostly because we used BECMI rather than AD&D for it). I ran "Into the Fire" 100 years ago when I was a wee pre-teen. We were a bunch of 11-12 year olds around a table going to fight a dragon. I can't remember much beyond that tbh.

The rest of the list has some stuff that I've stripmined for ideas though never actually run - I actually found a lot of Dungeon adventures after the first few years of publication to be way too plot heavy for my use at the time and used it mostly as a source for interesting maps until I let my subscription lapse in high school (when I had a job and had to start paying for my own fun). Picked it back up again in the 3e era so some of the later stuff I've seen though never ran - thought about running both The Shackled City and the Lich Queen's Beloved at times but never got around to it.

(I also periodically think about an adventure from issue 2 that's not on that list at all, and in fact I think has a poor reputation, but I keep thinking about trying it - "The Titan's Dream". A weird adventure where the PCs stumble into a Titan's fragmented dream and have to figure out the right decisions to put the stories he's dreaming about into their proper order to get out again. I didn't think much of it as a kid, but I reread it a few decades ago when I was looking at my Dungeon collection and even 20 years later I'm still thinking about that premise).

 

[Mannahnin]

Is there an Elf in the House? (#32)

Co-authored by Professor Dungeonmaster of the Dungeoncraft YouTube channel, back in his college days. I remember he's mentioned that TSR editorial policy required him to make some changes; I think there was supposed to be a demon involved originally, but this was 1991 and those were off the menu.

 

[el-remmen]

Co-authored by Professor Dungeonmaster of the Dungeoncraft YouTube channel, back in his college days. I remember he's mentioned that TSR editorial policy required him to make some changes; I think there was supposed to be a demon involved originally, but this was 1991 and those were off the menu.

Yeah, I saw that when I was checking out his videos and thought it was cool.

Edit to add: It may not make an actual list I'd make if I was going back re-familiarizing myself with them all, but it is one I remember really enjoying running.

 

[David Howery]

My question is... does this list hold up under scrutiny?

I'd have to agree with the people throughout this thread who are noting the nostalgia value of most of the list. The ultimate example is B2... this one was a very early module and reflected the 'it's all new and we're not really sure what we're doing' attitude at the time. When the game was just starting out, there was a lot of 'murder hobo/hack and slash' going on. The module is very bare bones by not only modern standards, but the standards of later 1E modules... not one NPC or monster is named in the whole thing, for example. The premise of it all is generally that the PCs are going to use the Keep as a base and make multiple forays into the Caverns, resting up in between raids, until they've wiped out everything there and looted everything as well. This kind of play was pretty standard in most of those very early modules, and it took a few years for modules to change.
That said, for those of us who were around and playing in those early years, it was all pretty exciting. I have fond memories of running through B2, as well as the whole GDQ series and others. Still, I'd think a "Top 30 Best Ever Adventures" list would change a lot depending on the ages of those making them up....